Shana Povlov can vividly recall the moment in eighth grade when she was instantly set apart. Other kids teased and pelted her with pennies.
“At first, I didn’t know what it meant,” said Povlov. “Later, my mother explained to me that they were throwing pennies at me because I was Jewish.”
Povlov asked to be identified with her maiden name because she fears anti-Semitic attacks in the Philadelphia suburbs. Her fears might well be justified.
White supremacist groups are actively recruiting in Bucks and Montgomery counties, according to the Anti-Defamation League. Since January 2020, more than three dozen incidents of white supremacist propaganda have been reported in both counties.
White supremacist propaganda reached alarming levels across the US in 2020, according to a new report by the Anti-Defamation League.
There were 5,125 cases of racist, anti-Semitic, anti-LGBTQ and other hateful messages spread through physical flyers, stickers, banners and posters in 2020, according to Wednesday’s report. That is nearly double the 2,724 instances reported in 2019.
Online propaganda is much harder to quantify, and it is likely those cases reached into the millions, the organisation said in a statement.
The ADL said last year marked the highest level of white supremacist propaganda seen in at least a decade.
Its report comes as federal authorities investigate and prosecute those who stormed the US Capitol in January, some of whom are accused of having ties to or expressing support for hate groups and anti-government militias.