SPLC: Hate Groups Rise in Pa., Wane in N.J.

The Southern Poverty Law Center’s map of hate groups in Pennsylvania.

The number of hate groups in Pennsylvania rose slightly in 2015, a new report says, while dropping greatly in New Jersey.

The Southern Poverty Law Center last week issued its annual “Year in Hate and Extremism Report, a project that also includes the center’s interactive “hate map” showing which groups are active in each state.

The map shows that Pennsylvania has 40 documented hate groups, up from 38 in last year’s report. New Jersey, meanwhile, saw a radical change — from 40 groups in the 2014 report to in 2015. (Delaware had just five named groups.)

SPLC officials said they were at a loss to completely explain the disparity in New Jersey’s year-to-year numbers.

“New Jersey used to have a whole bunch of skinhead groups,” said Mark Potok a senior fellow with the Southern Poverty Law Center. “That scene has diminished in recent years.”

The groups listed by SPLC as “hate” groups include the usual KKK and skinhead chapters, as well as black separatist groups and the like. The list also includes right-wing churches and religions organizations, like the American Family Association — known for its anti-gay activism — and Catholic Counterpoint, which promotes a pre-Vatican II understanding of the Catholic Church.

Here’s the full list of Pennsylvania groups named, along with their location.

H.L. Mencken Club
Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania

Reformation-Bible Puritan-Baptist Church
Newmanstown, Pennsylvania

Nation of Islam
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Keystone State Racist Skinheads
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Ku Klos Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
Wormleysburg, Pennsylvania

Catholic Counterpoint
Broomall, Pennsylvania

Ku Klos Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
Bally, Pennsylvania

Keystone State Racist Skinheads
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The Traditional Rebel Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Israelite School of Universal and Practical Knowledge
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

As-Sabiqun
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Nation of Islam
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

New Nation Productions
Shamokin, Pennsylvania

Robert Sungenis
State Line, Pennsylvania

Blood and Honour Social Club
Pennsylvania

Eastern Hammerskins
Allentown, Pennsylvania

Supreme White Alliance
Allentown, Pennsylvania

Poker Face
Allentown, Pennsylvania

Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ, The
Allentown, Pennsylvania

The Shoebat Foundation
Newtown, Pennsylvania

Committee for Open Debate on the Holocaust
Drums, Pennsylvania

East Coast Knights of the True Invisible Empire
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania

Original Knight Riders Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
Pennsylvania

Aryan Strikeforce
Pennsylvania

Right Wing Resistance
Pennsylvania

The Creativity Alliance
Pennsylvania

National Socialist Movement
Pennsylvania

European American Action Coalition
Pittston, Pennsylvania

East Coast Knights of the True Invisible Empire
Scranton, Pennsylvania

Militant Knights Ku Klux Klan
Dixonville, Pennsylvania

Alliance for Catholic Tradition
Pleasant Unity, Pennsylvania

Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
Export, Pennsylvania

Casa D’Ice Signs
North Versailles, Pennsylvania

Nation of Islam
Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania

The White Church
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

The Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Israel United In Christ
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Ku Klos Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
Oil City, Pennsylvania

American Family Association
Franklin, Pennsylvania