On Friday, the trump administration cut $400,000 in federal funding for the US group that fights white extremism. The Department of Homeland Security canceled funding for Life After Hate, a group based in Chicago that helps individuals leave white power groups.
As reported on Yahoo News, the group was awarded the money during the last days of the Obama administration in January. Life After Hate which is managed by a former skinhead is one of the few local programs devoted to assisting individuals to abandon white power associations such as the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazi movements.
The group was among the few grant recipients devoted mainly to fighting white extremism.
Group expressed dissatisfaction
In a statement, Christian Picciolini co-founder of the group expressed disappointment over the slash. He said that The Department of Homeland Security violates its pledge by amending the rules to the grant after Life After Hate had already won it. He added that it was disturbing that the Trump administration fails to recognize that white nationalist extremists’ pose a major domestic terrorist threat.
Picciolini has on several occasions blasted the Trump administration for its closeness to white extremists and promised to continue in his service to those needing help.
The Department of Homeland Security award a total grant of $10 million to 26 community organizations and police.
However, none of the organizations awarded has a clear-cut aim to counter groups in the alt-right, a hodge-podge of white superiority.
The majority of the white nationalists and populists organizations endorsed Trump for president.
Fund for fighting violent extremism
The Department said the fund, were meant for organizations committed to fighting Violent Extremism programs that target all manner of extremism which include the emerging trend of Islamist terrorism.
The spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security David Lapan also refutes claims that the program was focused solely on Islamic extremism.
All applications for the grant were reconsidered based on factors such as the track records of an organization in fighting all forms of violent extremism, and groups that did not fulfill this requirement were removed from the program, the department stated.
Ten other organizations covered under the Obama administration were also removed, including the University of North Carolina’s $867,000 approved for the production of anti-jihadist videos and the Muslim Public Affairs Council Foundation’s $393,800.
The group accused the Trump administration of mismanaging the grant award process.
