Hate Groups Active In Connecticut, Report Says

By Kathryn Masterson

Associated Press

HARTFORD –– While Connecticut is not a haven for hate groups, the activities of white supremacists and other extremists in the state should be monitored for possible hate crimes, according to a study released Monday.

The Anti-Defamation League’s report, “Extremism in Connecticut,” details hate groups and anti-government factions at work in the state. They include the white supremacist groups World Church of the Creator and the National Alliance, and the government-defying “sovereign citizens.”

ADL selected Connecticut as a state case study to defy the stereotype that right-wing extremists are found only in Montana or Texas, said David Waren, the ADL’s regional director for Connecticut.

“No region of the country enjoys immunity from extremists,” Waren said.

World Church of the Creator leader Matt Hale, a self-proclaimed anti-Semite and racist, has held two rallies this year in Wallingford. Hale said the town is the center for the group’s Connecticut chapter, which has been active for about three years.

Besides Wallingford, the WCOTC website lists addresses in Fairfield, Middletown and Clinton as contact points for information about the group.

Hale said his group does not engage in illegal activity. Instead, he said, it participates in activities protected by the First Amendment, such as passing out literature and preaching the groups’ message of racial separatism and white superiority.

The ADL’s report was released the same day as the FBI’s new annual statistics on hate crimes in America.

The bureau announced Monday that crimes reported to the FBI as triggered by prejudice against the victim’s color, religion, disability, national origin, or sexual orientation rose two percent in 2000.

The FBI said local law enforcers reported 8,063 incidents in 2000. The data were supplied by 11,690 local law enforcement agencies in 48 states and the District of Columbia whose jurisdictions include 84 percent of the population.

The 2000 total was 187 higher than the 7,876 hate crimes reported in 1999, even though the information came from 432 fewer police agencies.

Local law enforcement agencies in Connecticut reported 151 hate crimes in 2000 to the FBI, including 92 crimes based on race and 29 based on religion. State police report 136 reported hate crimes in 1999.

Bridgeport led all Connecticut cities with 19 crimes based on race, according to the FBI. The University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington led all colleges and universities with 12 crimes based on race.

John Solomon, president of the Connecticut Police Chiefs Association, said extremist groups need to be monitored to make sure “their hatred does not cross the line.”

At a news conference Monday, ADL officials and law enforcement agents said the state must be vigilant of hate groups and their messages after the September 11 attacks.

“Post 9-11, you have to take what people say seriously,” Waren said.

State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal warned hate groups may find new audiences in people angry and afraid after the terrorist attacks and the decline of the economy.

“Hate is as virulent and dangerous in the wake of the terrorist attacks as it ever has been,” Blumenthal said. “Connecticut needs to be on as high alert for hate as for terrorism.”

The ADL report does not include post-September 11 attacks or activities from “single issue groups” such as the groups that target reproductive clinics with letters threatening to contain anthrax. At least 12 clinics in Connecticut received such letters, filled with powder later determined not to be anthrax, earlier this month.