Hate group membership on rise in GOP South

[Jabbery]

I'm in Atlanta, but I've got friends who work with the the Southern Poverty Law Center over in Montgomery, and they're telling me that hate groups are feeling very emboldened by the increasing Republican inroads being made in the South here lately. They say that Texas in particular is seeing a massive increase in hate group affiliations among young people. They say that South Carolina and Georgia are also seeing a rise in hate group membership and activity. They say that law enforcement efforts to monitor these groups, especially at the Federal level, have dropped off significantly in the last three years.

We should have known this would happen. This is the Republican dream coming true - the entire South turning 100% Republican based on the GOP's appeal to the racist Civil War mentality of ignorant, undereducated Southerners. It makes me sad for my native region.

But it also strengthens my resolve to fight the racist Republican party with every fiber of my being.