Op-Eds & Media Appearances

The challenges posed by extremism in the United States today demand new approaches and new ways of understanding. Fundamental to this is an appreciation for the role that historical legacies of injustice and authoritarian hierarchy play in the emergence of extremism today. Preventing radicalization and extremism is not simply a matter of stopping violent behavior. Indeed, the ongoing and worsening conditions of extremism in the United States are in part the result of ignoring fundamental conditions in favor of band-aid security solutions. 

Real progress in preventing extremism depends on a society-wide effort to build better, more just, and more inclusive communities. This can only be accomplished through addressing the historical and structural conditions that enshrine racism, misogyny, homophobia, and other forms of prejudice and hate as ongoing features of our society. While this requires addressing radicalization and extremism specifically, it also calls for us to present deeper and more self-critical, but also more hopeful, understandings of our society—past, present, and future.  

This commitment to facing the legacies of the past is central to SPLC and PERIL’s work together. The links provided here will take you to materials that explore these issues from that point of view.  

• Brian Hughes in USA Today, “Four reasons extremist Trump supporters aren’t protesting his indictment- yet.” April 4, 2023.
• Pasha Dashtgard in KAPPAN, “Preventing online radicalization and extremism in boys.” March 27, 2023.
• Cynthia Miller-Idriss on CNN This Morning. March 4, 2023.
• Lydia Bates and Pasha Dashtgard in LFJ, “Conversations about Gun Violence, Disinformation and Extremism.” February 27, 2023.
• Cynthia Miller-Idriss for MSNBC, “Andrew Tate’s violent, misogynistic teachings are seeping into classrooms.” February 7, 2023.
• Cynthia Miller-Idriss for MSNBC, “How the internet supercharged white supremacist homeschooling.” February 3, 2023.
• Pasha Dashtgard, EdWeek, “Misogynist Influencer Andrew Tate Has Captured Boy’s Attention. What Teachers Need to Know.” Feb 2023.
• Cynthia Miller-Idriss in The Hill, “As hate crimes surge, most are going uncounted.” January 20, 2023.
• Kesa White in USA Today, “Two years since the Jan. 6 insurrection, extremist groups are fragmented, but live on.” Jan. 6, 2023.
• Cynthia Miller-Idriss for MSNBC, “Elon Musk’s Twitter is a welcoming home for Trump-disillusioned QAnon.” December 17, 2022.
• Cynthia Miller-Idriss for Lawfare, “The FBI’s 2021 Hate Crime Data Is Worse Than Meaningless.” December 16, 2022.
• Rae Jereza for GNET, “The Cissexist Assemblages of Content Moderation.” December 12, 2022.
• Cynthia Miller-Idriss on NBC News. November 22, 2022.
• Rae Jereza for C-REX, “Inheritance as Alternative to Ethnographic Empathy with the Far Right.” November 11, 2022.
• Lydia Bates for Learning for Justice, “Prevention and Resilience: Supporting Young People through Polarizing Times.” Fall 2022.
• Cynthia Miller-Idriss on UpFront Al Jazeera. October 28, 2022.
• Susan Corke testifying on “Countering Violent Extremism, Terrorism, and Antisemitic Threats in New Jersey.” October 3, 2022.
• Cynthia Miller-Idriss on Humanity in Action with Andrew Keen. August 20, 2022.
• Cynthia Miller-Idriss for MSNBC, “How the loss of Roe directly serves white supremacists’ horrifying plot.” August 14, 2022.
• Brian Hughes on ABC News Radio. July 29, 2022.
• Cynthia Miller-Idriss for MSNBC, “The Jan. 6 hearings will not prevent the next wave of extremism.” July 17, 2022.
• Cynthia Miller-Idriss for Foreign Affairs, “America’s Epidemic of Hate.” July 8, 2022.
• Kesa White in USA Today, “How a network of researchers is searching for the next hate-fueled attack.” July 2, 2022.
• Rae Jereza in The Washington Post, “In the mostly white world of extremism research, new voices emerge.” June 28, 2022.
• Cynthia Miller-Idriss on PBS News Hour with Judy Woodruff. June 13, 2022.
• Cynthia Miller-Idriss on PBS News Hour with Ali Rogan. June 5, 2022.
• Cynthia Miller-Idriss on CNN with Fareed Zakaria. May 22, 2022.
• Brian Hughes and Kesa White in HuffPost, “What To Do If You Suspect Your Teen Is Getting Radicalized Online.” May 18, 2022.
• Cynthia Miller-Idriss on CBS News. May 18, 2022.
• Cynthia Miller-Idriss on CNN with John King. May 16, 2022.
• Cynthia Miller-Idriss on CNBC The News With Shepard Smith. May 16, 2022.
• Kesa White in USA Today, “In Buffalo shooting, outrage grows as details emerge about white supremacist motive.” May 16, 2022.
• Cynthia Miller-Idriss for MSNBC, “The racist theory that allegedly motivated the Buffalo shooter suspect.” May 16, 2022.
•  Cynthia Miller-Idriss on MSNBC. May 15, 2022.
• Cynthia Miller-Idriss for MSNBC, “Pandemic fitness trends have gone extreme-literally.” March 22, 2022.
• Miller-Idriss, USA Today, “What is extremism? Does it include far-left? Far-right? Choosing a definition is fraught.” Mar. 2022.
• Hughes in WUSA9, “Jan. 6 didn’t lower the political temperature- it heralded ‘mass radicalization,’ experts warn.” Jan. 6, 2022.
• Cynthia Miller-Idriss for The New York Times, “America’s Most Urgent Threat Now Comes From Within.” Jan. 5, 2022.
• Cynthia Miller-Idriss for Foreign Affairs, “How Extremism Went Mainstream.” Jan. 3, 2022
• Miller-Idriss, USA Today, “White supremacist threat remains, but experts see hope in combating online extremism.” Dec. 26, 2021.
• Cynthia Miller-Idriss for MSNBC, “A Global Summit for Democracy won’t mean anything if we don’t protect our own.” Dec. 10, 2021.
• Cynthia Miller-Idriss testifying on the recruitment of veterans by violent extremists. Oct. 13, 2021.
• Cynthia Miller-Idriss on CNN, “On GPS: Far-right extremism is on the rise.” October 11, 2021.
• Cynthia Miller-Idriss for Foreign Affairs, “From 9/11 to 1/6: The War on Terror Supercharged the Far Right.” Sept./October 2021
• Cynthia Miller-Idriss for MSNBC, “The Next Covid War: School Vaccine and Mask Mandates.” August 22, 2021.
• Cynthia Miller-Idriss for MSNBC, “QAnon moves from pro-Trump rallies to local schools.” July 10, 2021.
• Cynthia Miller-Idriss for The Atlantic, “The US is Fighting Extremism All Wrong.” June 15, 2021.
• Hannah Gais for The New Republic, “A New ‘War on Terrorism’ Is the Wrong Way to Fight Domestic Extremists.” May 18, 2021.
• Susan Corke on WPFW 89.3 FM in Washington, D.C. May 17, 2021.
• Margaret Huang & others on an Obama Foundation webinar, “Reimagining Policing in the Face of White Supremacy.” May 11, 2021.
• Cynthia Miller-Idriss & Susan Corke for USA Today. May 8, 2021.
• SPLC’s Year in Hate & Extremism, “Preventing Radicalization: A Conversation with Cynthia Miller-Idriss.” February 16, 2021.
• Cynthia Miller-Idriss on CNN, “On GPS: Who were the people who stormed the Capitol?” January 17, 2021.
• Cynthia Miller-Idriss for The Conversation, “Portland and Kenosha violence was predictable–and preventable.” Sept. 8, 2020.
• Cynthia Miller-Idriss for The Hill, “We’re Asking the Wrong Questions about Far-Right Extremism.” Sept. 3, 2020.
• Cynthia Miller-Idriss for CNN, “We’re living in a perfect storm for extremist recruitment. Here’s how to stop it.”July 19, 2020.
• Cynthia Miller-Idriss for CARR, “The Risks of Online Radicalization in the COVID-19 Era.” April 26, 2020.
• Cynthia Miller-Idriss for Politico, “Stop calling far-right terrorists ‘crazy.’ ” Feb. 20, 2020.