ARYAN NATIONS DEFLATES ‘SOVEREIGNS’ IN MONTANA

SPRING 2016 // ISSUE 160
HATE GROUP MAP // HATE GROUP LISTING // ‘PATRIOT’ GROUP LISTING // STARTING ON PAGE 43
ON THE COVER
35 The Year in Hate & Extremism
The year 2015 was marked by record levels of violence from domestic American
extremists, including jihadists, white supremacists, antigovernment “Patriots” and
others. Accompanying what has been described as the worst such violence since
1995 has been a growth in hate groups and so-called Patriot, or militia, groups, both
of which expanded their numbers by almost 15% after a period of decreases.
COVER ART BY ALEX WILLIAMSON
14 Fear and Loathing
in Montana
The strangers showed up in St. Marie,
Mont., three years ago, and their weird,
Constitution-quoting signs began to pop
up soon after. Today, the few remaining
residents of this abandoned Air Force
base worry that the “sovereign citizens”
who bought hundreds of empty homes
are building a community for radicals.
22 Aryan Deflations
Sixteen years after a Southern Poverty
Law Center lawsuit crippled the Aryan
Nations and 12 years after the death
of its founder, what was once one of
America’s most infamous neo-Nazi
groups has all but faded into history. Its
last would-be leader has closed up shop,
while another wannabe führer is now
in prison.
28 Backlash
A year that began with bloody Islamist
attacks on Paris’ Charlie Hebdo magazine
and ended with jihadist massacres
in France and San Bernardino, Calif., has
sparked a major wave of violence and
hatred directed at American Muslims.
And the fact that major presidential
candidates are shrilly attacking Muslims
hasn’t helped.