On a cold November morning, about 30 posters popped up on the University of Central Florida campus in Orlando. The posters spotted around campus were from a pop-up white nationalist group American Vanguard. A group that exists entirely online with a website, twitter feed and little else; yet its reach stretches across the country with the group targeting college campuses.
The group’s website and twitter feed is filled with “white pride” and anti-Muslim propaganda. One of its pages is a series of posters that anyone can download and distribute, this is how its message gets out. On Oct. 12, one month before the posters were discovered at UCF, American Vanguard took to its Twitter page and wrote, “It's time to raise awareness of issues faced by the White community. Retweet, print, and paste! #altright.”
“White pride has long been an expression of racists and white supremacists,” said Ryan Lenz, of the Southern Poverty Law Center. “I think it’s very concerning and it’s a trend that we’ve been seeing develop over several years.”
From 2011 to 2014, the number of groups listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as “hate groups” fell from 1,018 to 784. However, in 2015, the number shot up 14 percent to 892 percent, fueled by the emergence of many new “white pride” and “white nationalist” groups; almost all existing entirely online.
“Shame is not a factor for them,” said Lenz. “Alt-right is really white nationalism rebranded and white nationalism is really white supremacy rebranded.”
The anonymity of online provides these groups with a way to disseminate their message without ever meeting in person. American Vanguard, the group behind the UCF posters, registered its website in September of 2016.
“The internet has made it quite easy for racists to communicate quickly and without interference, it makes it easier for them to organize, and to propagate their ideas,” said Lenz.
“There are many campuses that are seeing these recruitment things,” said Central Florida Hillel executive director Aaron Weil. “There is no doubt that this is out there and it’s starting to take a life of its own.”
Central Florida Hillel is UCF’s Jewish student group. In the hours after the posters were discovered, the group put out a statement saying in part, “While we respect everyone’s constitutional right to free speech, particularly speech that we disagree with, we are concerned that the messages in these posters could lead to divisiveness and hatred on campus.”
9 Investigates requested an interview with American Vanguard, but was told there would be no interview, however, the group said it would answer questions. The questions that were submitted twice were never answered.