When neo-Nazi Frazier Glenn Cross stormed on to the grounds of two Jewish institutions in Kansas and allegedly shot three strangers to death in April, it was only the latest reminder that the United States faces its own homegrown terrorists.
After his arrest for a racially motivated rape and killing spree committed the day after Barack Obama was inaugurated in 2009, white supremacist Keith Luke told police he had planned to end his rampage by killing himself.
The number of far-right extremist groups fell significantly in 2013 for the first time in a decade, the SPLC found in its annual count, released today. But with a total of more than 2,000 groups, the radical right remains at historically high levels.
When Craig Cobb showed up in the near-ghost town of Leith, N.D. a few years ago, he told his new neighbors that he was looking for a quiet place to live. But he was lying. Instead, Cobb was quietly buying up lot after lot as part of a plan to create a "Pioneer Little Europe" – an all-white community he hoped to rename Cobbsville.
Volksfront, once a powerhouse neo-Nazi skinhead group, appears to have collapsed. So have most of the other once-important groups on the radical right. Still, hate groups continue to present a serious threat and their numbers remain at record levels.
