We picked up a copy of The Southern Poverty Law Center’s The Year in Hate & Extremism 2021 the other day. It lists, state-by-state the groups it considers to be hate and extremist organizations.

The SPLC was founded in 1971 as a civil rights and public interest litigation organization. It has become known for filing suits against white supremacist organizations and other discriminatory groups. It promotes tolerance education programs.

Some of those the conference has listed have criticized the listings as being politically-motivated or not warranted or so broad they are not accurate.

There are thirty Missouri organizations on the 2021 list.  Thirty out of 733 hate groups spread throughout the 50 states.  Nineteen of Missouri’s thirty groups are “general hate” (10) and “general antigovernment” (9).

We have no active KKK, racial Skinhead, neo-confederate, anti-immigrant, anti LGBTQ, conspiracy proponent or constitutional sheriffs organizations.

This does not mean, of course, that there are not those who fall into those categories as individuals or that these movements have not infiltrated mainstream politics, society, and religion. Clearly there are many people who have bought into the ideology of these groups. The SPLC singles out one political philosophy in particular.

The storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 exposed an alarming reality: that extremist leaders can mobilize large groups of Americans to use force and intimidation to impose their political will…They’ve coalesced into a political movement that is now one of the most powerful forces shaping politics in the United States….Within the GOP, a radical faction is attempting to rout the few remaining moderates unless there is a robust counter-effort from democracy supporters.

Let’s be clear.  The SPLC is not saying every Republican is within this sphere. We know many who are not.  But many of these groups or those individuals buying into their rhetoric see that party as their best vehicle to achieve power and they see the upcoming midterm elections as their best road to the top.

Just as it took a record involvement of Democrat, Independent, and disaffected Republicans to defeat Donald Trump in 2020, so it is likely to take a record forceful involvement of mainline Republicans (along with some Independents and crossover Democrats) in the August primary and the November general elections to blunt this movement in Missouri.

The commission warns of the danger of these groups and those supporting their attitudes.

Extremist groups have also found ways to insert themselves into mainstream politics. In the aftermath of Jan. 6, they shifted their efforts to local politics, focusing especially on COVID safety protocols and school curricula. Hard-right organizations disrupted school board and city council meetings around the country and, in the process, created space for more extreme and bigoted voices. As a result, public servants have experienced a wave of threats that will likely continue as the country heads toward the 2022 midterms.

We have talked to many people who shake their heads, unable to understand why some office-holders and candidates who have seemed thoughtful and reasonable people until now are sounding as unreasonable as several seem to be—or either side of the ballot.

The mainstream citizens, the ones who shake their heads is despair at what our politics have become, must be vigilant and active in 2022. Sitting back and wringing their hands is not an option.

The Southern Poverty Law Center concludes:

The United States must…look for ways to build a more resilient democracy…Even more, a reinvigorated vision of a more inclusive democracy is necessary, ne that creates a stark alternative away from the destructive path of the hard right. That means expanding and protecting access to voting, creating legislation to protect people who face discrimination, promoting civics education and teaching students an anti-racist curriculum, and ensuring all Americans have healthcare, housing and other vital services so they can lead safe and dignified lives.  History tells us that the threat is real, but it also reminds us that we can turn the tide.

Some of this language can be dismissed easily as “hard left” language and in the poisoned atmosphere of our politics today it is easy to dismiss it instead of exploring it.

Our state is protected by the explorers, not the fighters.  None of us should be afraid to explore even if we face the hateful charge that we are “woke,” or some other word or phrase intended to brand us as immaterial.

It is a truism that if you cannot intellectually justify your point, you can always think you win by calling someone a name, giving them a brand, assigning them to a mythical place of dismissal. Such pronouncements should be dismissed out of hand.

Getting back to where we started—

Missouri being the home to thirty groups considered hate or extremist organizations is not something to be proud of. Letting them or individuals sharing their views dominate our political discourse is a danger to all of us no matter what side of the aisle we are on.

A silent majority can become a silenced majority if it is afraid to assert its power against those bent on destruction and control.

Perhaps naively, we place our hope in that silent majority, that silent courageous majority, that we hope is quietly waiting to turn itself loose on our election days in 2022.