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to Islamist extremism — and, even 
then, the perpetrator had ties to white 
supremacy. In 2018, the U.S. was 
spared the mass murders by Islamist 
extremists we’
ve seen in recent years.
To be clear, there were Islamist-
inspired terrorist plots and people 
arrested on charges such as providing 
support to such individuals. And we 
have seen real challenges from this 
type of violence abroad. However, it 
is a reminder about the unfairness of 
peddling anti-Muslim bias or making 
hysterical claims about faith-based 
extremists grounded in fiction rather 
than fact.
And yet these statistics communi-
cate a clear message that the U.S. must 
pay more attention to dangers posed 
by domestic right-wing extremism 
— without neglecting the genuine 
need to prevent all forms of extremist 
violence. There are more than a dozen 
active right-wing extremist movements 
in the U.S. that are violent, such as 
white supremacists, anti-government 
sovereign citizens and militias, and 
anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant 
extremists.
The fact is right-wing extremists 
collectively have been responsible 
for more than 70 percent of the 427 
extremist-related killings over the 
past 10 years, far outnumbering those 
committed by left-wing extremists 
or domestic Islamist extremists — 
even with the sharp rise of Islamist-
extremist killings in the past five years.
These murder statistics send us a 
clear message: Right-wing extremist 
violence needs to be addressed. It will 
not go away on its own. Indeed, as 
the ADL
’
s Center on Extremism has 
documented, the white supremacist 
movement is growing. The Pittsburgh 
synagogue shooting in October 
was a reminder of what can happen 

when anti-Semitism, a key ingredi-
ent of white supremacist bile, is left 
unchecked. If we want a safe society 
for Jews and all Americans, we must 
address this problem.
Extremist, right-wing violence is 
a problem that can be addressed. 
Congress should ensure that the exec-
utive branch is tracking and focusing 
on domestic terrorism through leg-
islation like the Domestic Terrorism 
Prevention Act. The federal govern-
ment should collect data on domestic 
terrorism and provide for training for 
law enforcement on best practices.
Hate crimes laws can also be 
improved. Five states still don’
t even 
have a hate crimes law on their books. 
Many other states have significant gaps 
or weaknesses in their laws.
We also need to address our broken 
hate crimes reporting system because it 
is woeful. Hate crimes are significant-
ly underreported to the FBI because 
of victims not coming forward or by 
law enforcement agencies failing to 
report hate crimes. This, too, must be 
addressed.
We can and must do more to count-
er this growing threat of extremism. 
We can promote anti-bias and civic 
education programs. We can promote 
programs within communities to 
counter extremist propaganda and 
recruiting. We can help educate the 
technology sector about the need to 
combat hate and extremism on its 
platforms.
We can’
t solve extremism. But there 
is so much more we should do to make 
sure the people who died at the hands 
of extremists in 2018 — and those who 
died before them — did not perish in 
vain. We can do better. ■

Jonathan A. Greenblatt is CEO and National 
Director of the Anti-Defamation League.

A White Lives Matter rally in Austin, Texas, in 2017

commentary

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