Former Neo-Nazi leader Christian Picciolini, who is currently helping to de-radicalize white supremacists, said the Trump administration had rescinded a grant of $400,000 for his group, known as Life After Hate. Picciolini was hoping to expand his program with the grant from the federal government which was approved in January.
Then Homeland Security Secretary John Kerry conducted a review on the List Of Groups and organizations receiving federal funding under a program to fight violent extremism in the U.S. Kelly said the program was reviewed to ensure that taxpayers money goes to programs with high probability of success, that encourages and assist men and women on the main aim of the fight, and that can sustain itself in the future.
Funding for 12 groups was canceled by the former Homeland Security Secretary while seven others were added.
Groups fighting white extremism excluded from list
Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman said 16 organizations out of the 26 recipients of the grant are working to combat all forms of extremism, which include racially motivated extremism and domestic extremism. The majority of the award recipients are law enforcement agencies and police departments.
Organizations that exclusively focuses on white supremacism were excluded from the final list, the decision is not going down well in the White House. The action is currently under scrutiny at the White House after the violent white nationalist rally in Charlottesville that saw one person dead and more than a dozen injured.
A professor at the department of psychology at Georgia State University, John Horgan criticized the cutting of funding for such programs. He described the decision as ultimately short-sighted and lack of imagination.
Violent cases traceable to domestic extremist groups
U.S. intelligence agencies finding shows that white supremacists were directly responsible for about 49 homicides in 26 incidences from 2000 to 2016.
The figure outnumbers any other domestic extremist group. In another estimate by Peter Bergen, a national security expert, indicates that jihadi-inspired terrorists were responsible for the death of more than 96 Americans since 9/11 terrorist attack, while other far-right extremists were responsible for 68 deaths.
Picciolini said most of the factors that lead a young man to the extremist imagery of the Islamic State could also lead many others to come to terms with extreme white supremacy.
However, following last weekend’s violent rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, critics have questioned the rationale behind the cutting of funding for the groups who fight white extremism.
