According to The Spokesman-Review, residents in North Idaho are reportedly receiving anti-Semitic robocalls from a prominent neo-Nazi.
Patrick Little is a self-described “white advocate” who ran an unsuccessful campaign to unseat California’s four-term Democratic U.S Senator Dianne Feinstein.
“This is a loser who lost in California,” Brian Levin, director of the Center For The Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, said. “He’s now moving his roadshow of snake-oil selling to another state.”
Levin said the media shouldn’t give neo-Nazis like this too much coverage – it only emboldens them – but these incidents are important to know about.
“Once these folks put a foothold in a community, they can intimidate people,” he said.
The Inland Northwest has long been a hotbed of white supremacy. The Aryan Nation was headquartered there until financial difficulties stemming from a lawsuit helped shut them down in the early 2000’s.
According to the left-leaning Southern Poverty Law Center, hate groups are on the rise in Idaho and Colorado. Since 2015, Idaho’s hate groups have grown from eight to a dozen. Since 2016, Colorado’s hate groups have grown from 16 to 21.
There are currently three hate groups in Utah. In Montana, the number has gone up and down over the last few years with a high last year of ten.
There is only one designated hate group in Wyoming, down from two last year.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, Yellowstone Public Radio in Montana, KUER in Salt Lake City and KRCC and KUNC in Colorado.