Pittsburgh Gets Real

Growing concerns about increase in white supremacist activity

PITTSBURGH — There are growing concerns about an increase in white supremacist activity including in Pennsylvania.

“Domestic terrorism is a very serious issue and it is the greatest threat to America’s internal security,” said Kimberly Ellis, who has a doctorate and has spent over 25 years studying white supremacist and domestic terrorism.

Channel 11′s Michele Newell dug through our archives to uncover other cases of racism or domestic terrorism in western Pennsylvania.

  • In 2018, Ku Klux Klan flyers were spread throughout Elizabeth Township.
  • That year, Channel 11 also covered hate crimes that involved self-avowed white supremacists or members of white nationalist groups.
  • In 2019, the FBI met with concerned Lawrenceville residents to talk about hate-related incidents in the neighborhood.
  • In 2020, Ku Klux Klan flyers filled with hateful messages toward the Black community were spotted in yards and driveways in Greene County.

Kenneth Huston, president of the Pennsylvania NAACP, is concerned about Allegheny County and the record number of race issue complaint his team is investigating.

“People are actually being approved in a way that is absolutely racist,” Huston said. “People are writing on people’s cars and on their property and basically referring to them as ‘N’ lovers and you are not welcome here.”

So how do you put a stop to it?

The FBI said investigating domestic terrorism requires three things:

  1. The existence of a potential federal violation
  2. Unlawful use of force or violence
  3. The existence of ideological motivation

Those can be hard to establish without help from the community.

Pittsburgh’s Public Safety Department said that in 2020, there were eight reported ethnic intimidation incidents in the city, with an arrest rate of nearly 40%. It’s something they regularly train to combat.

“There is no room for extremism or violence anywhere in our democratic society. While we cannot discuss specific threats or intel, Pittsburgh Public Safety is committed to identifying and disrupting extremism,” the department said in a statement.

The Public Safety Department said it partners with several agencies to constantly develop plans and identify possible threats.

The president of the Pennsylvania NAACP said his team is planning to create a database of all the complaints they receive and send them to the FBI to investigate.