Reports show rising antisemitism, white supremacist propaganda, anti-LGBTQ sentiment in MO

A record amount of white supremacist activity was reported in Missouri in 2023, placing it among the states with the highest number of incidents in a new report from the Anti-Defamation League.

Missouri ranked sixth in the nation, with 283 incidents of white supremacist activity last year — a 74% increase over the previous record of 123 incidents set in 2022. According to the study, it marked the highest level of incidents since ADL began tracking such data in 2017.

"Missouri's white supremacist activity was fueled by national and local groups," said Jordan Kadosh, regional director of ADL Heartland based in St. Louis. "With national and homegrown hate groups actively peddling hate in our region, this is a real and growing problem we need to solve together."

In 2023, white supremacist propaganda was reported in Washington, D.C. and every U.S. state except Hawaii and Alaska. The states with the highest levels of activity, from least to most active, were Virginia, Texas, California, New York, Massachusetts, Missouri, Tennessee, Michigan, Maryland, and North Carolina.

The ADL Center on Extremism data includes the distribution of racist, antisemitic and anti-LGBTQ+ fliers, stickers, banners, graffiti, posters, and laser projections by members of various white supremacist groups. The ADL reported more than 50 different white supremacist groups and networks that distributed propaganda but three groups — Patriot Front, National Justice Party and Goyim Defense League — were responsible for 92% of the activity.

"The alarming scale of just the incidents we've been documenting can overshadow the vibrant communities that continue to practice their faith and come together regardless of the situation," Kadosh said.

Disturbing trend in Missouri: 317% rise in antisemitic activity in 2023

According to Kadosh, the Jewish community in Missouri has seen a spike in antisemitic incidents like no other state. Nationally, he says, the number of antisemitic incidents has been at a record high for the past five years. The number of incidents categorized as assault, vandalism, or harassment increased 140% nationally between 2022 and 2023, according to the ADL's Audit of Antisemitic Incidents. But in the Show-Me State, that same number rose by 317%.

Rabbi Jeff Friedman told the News-Leader in January that Children of Jacob, a Springfield synagogue, experienced thousands of dollars in damage due to vandalism. On the morning of Tuesday, January 23, Friedman found windows smashed in and two damaged signs, one of which was dragged into nearby bushes.

Friedman said in January that he wasn't surprised to find vandalism at the Messianic Jewish synagogue, which is located along Seminole Street near Ray Kelly Park. He said in the months leading up to the vandalism, the synagogue had received several threats, including one in which a man told the congregation he would kill them.

The threats and vandalism inclined Children of Jacob to ramp up safety precautions, including adding mirrors and door peepholes. There is also an armed security person whenever the congregation is present, which is common globally, according to Friedman.

Rabbi Daniel Bogard of the Central Reform Congregation in St. Louis described the measures taken to protect his congregation and the synagogue there. They have faced bomb threats in the past, and regularly employ security officers to protect their events.

“We have things that look like stone benches surrounding our sanctuary outside. The reality is these are ballasts designed to prevent a truck from being able to crash into our sanctuary during prayer and murder us,” Bogard said. “Our synagogue, even in the midst of significant budget issues, is trying to figure out how we can pay a quarter million dollars to replace all of our windows with bulletproof glass.”

Bogard said that they’ve faced growing security concerns for years, and it isn’t limited to his synagogue alone.

“Every synagogue that I know of spends often hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on security, to keep us safe from people who would murder us,” he said. “Those are dollars that aren't getting spent on our community or on serving the vulnerable or on justice work or on education or on hiring staff or publishing newsletters for the community or all the other things that synagogues and religious communities do.”

In 2022, the ADL reported 30 antisemitic incidents in Missouri, setting a record. In 2023, Missouri broke that record with 125 incidents. This increase is the largest of any state with at least 100 incidents, according to the ADL audit. The report adds that 66% of incidents recorded in Missouri last year occurred after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

"We do see organized groups taking advantage of the Middle East situation," Kadosh said. "In particular, Oct. 7 of last year was the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust anywhere in the world. And we've seen white supremacist groups not just welcome the massacre, but really trying to take advantage of the conflict and spreading their own ideology."

Bogard said that security expenses to keep his congregation and community safe have skyrocketed since Oct. 7, with Jewish communities across the country reporting as much as a 50% increase in safety spending.

“What has changed for me after Oct. 7 is I have become something of an antisemitism fatalist,” Bogard said.

By that, he explained that, while he used to deliver sermons to his congregation saying that antisemitism wasn’t prevalent in the U.S., he has grown to realize that most religious cultures have mythologized Jews in some sense, such as Christian or Muslim societies.

Because his people have played a certain role in their religious history, even in the end-of-times events depicted in Christian and Muslim religious works, Bogard feels it is impossible for the Jewish community to escape these stereotypes that have been developed.

“You have an image of who Jews are and what we are about and what our values are, and how we operate in the world, and that image is often radically disconnected from the reality of who Jews are and how we understand ourselves,” Bogard said.

He drew a distinction between how many antisemitic sentiments are acted out — Jewish institutions attract far more hate crimes than individual Jewish people do.

“The reality of Jewish life in the United States in the 21st century is that most American Jews are not targets because they are Jews, and Jewish institutions are incredibly targeted because they're Jewish,” Bogard said.

To dispel some of these mythological fallacies about Jews, Bogards explained a few key distinctions.

“Jews are not primarily a faith community. We're not a religious group,” Bogard said. “We have a religion of Judaism, but you don't become a Jew by believing, and you don't stop being a Jew by not believing. An atheist Jew is just as much of a Jew as an ultra-orthodox Jew, and everyone agrees on that within the Jewish community because we're not primarily a faith. We're a tribe.”

Bogard, who regularly visits the Missouri Capitol to speak in favor of progressive issues, witnessed what he called “an almost fetishization of Jews” among many of the Republican lawmakers, who, despite disagreeing with his viewpoints, were always open to hearing a “Jewish perspective” on their legislation.

“As these lawmakers have learned who American Jews really are, as opposed to who they imagine us to be within their own Christian nationalist mythologies, we've seen this sort of philo-semitism turn into overt antisemitism,” Bogard said.

However, since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, Bogard has experienced some hostility from members of the progressive community, as well. As protests against the prolonged conflict in Gaza continue to grow, he often finds himself facing increased scrutiny from the very communities he has spent years advocating for in the state capitol.

“My heart is breaking every day for Gazans who are suffering under this military bombardment and I feel unwelcome in progressive bases frequently now, or feel like there are litmus tests that I have to overtly say my feelings on Gaza and Israel and pass the tests in order to even be welcome in those spaces as an American Jew. I'm not even Israeli,” Bogard said. “That's been really troubling and alienating.”

More: Education advocates cite Missouri as a top battleground in fight over public schools

Anti-LGBTQ+ incidents by white supremacists jump 141%

Members of the LGBTQ community were another group targeted by white supremacists, with more than 20% of their events including some kind of anti-LGBTQ hate element. There were 164 incidents of anti-LGBTQ propaganda being spread in 2023, an increase of 141% from the 68 incidents in 2022.

Members of PROMO, a statewide LGBTQ advocacy group, spoke to the News-Leader about the growing anti-LGBTQ legislative climate that they felt was contributing to the increase.

According St. Louis University’s 2023 Missouri LGBTQ Political Climate Survey, there were 15 bills in 2023 and 35 bills in 2024 that were “seeking to limit the rights and visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, nonbinary, and queer (LGBTQ) youth and adults in educational and healthcare systems.”

During the 2023 legislative session, lawmakers passed two of these bills, one of which excluded trans athletes from participating in sports that aligned with their gender-identity and another that prohibited minors from receiving gender-affirming care in Missouri.

Katy Erker-Lynch, executive director of PROMO, referred to the Overton Window, which refers to the notion that when policies are proposed that push the boundaries of what is considered acceptable in government, even if those policies fail, they have succeeded in expanding the range of what is considered acceptable.

Erker-Lynch said this is what is happening in Missouri, citing as an example a bill filed by Rep. Jamie Gragg, R-Ozark, that proposed criminalizing teachers for using a student's preferred pronouns, and would require those educators to register as sex offenders.

“There's no pathway to passage for that bill, but it's so extreme,” she said. “It's so outrageous, that it is shifting what is popular and what is acceptable.”

Despite the unfriendly climate revealed in these reports for those who are the focus of hate, whether antisemitism, white supremacy or anti-LGBTQ sentiments, Erker-Lynch shared a message of hope and perseverance.

“I truly believe this is a decade's long war, and we will lose battles along the way, but ultimately we will win the war,” she said. “That's always what Sen. Greg Razer says, and I think he's right. When you're on the right side of justice or love, ultimately you do win.”

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: White supremacist, antisemitic, anti-LGBTQ+ activity on the rise in MO