New York, NY, January 29, 2004…The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) expressed concern over the recent increase in activities of the nation's largest neo-Nazi group, the National Alliance, as they attempt to garner new support, membership and publicity for their cause.  The National Alliance has been blanketing communities around the country with racist, anti-Semitic and anti-gay fliers.

"We are deeply concerned about the recent increase in the National Alliance's grassroots recruitment effort and use of unconventional means to spread its message," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director.  "They are manipulating local tensions to further their message of hate and intolerance."

In a coordinated nationwide National Alliance leafleting campaign, initiated this past fall to coincide with the birthday of the National Alliance's late founder William Pierce, members of the group have distributed fliers in at least 18 states, including Maryland, Kentucky, California, Wisconsin, Arizona, Massachusetts, Texas, Florida, New Jersey, Colorado, Washington, New York, Ohio, Alabama, Michigan, Virginia and Nebraska. 

Some of the leafleting has been used to exploit local racial tensions in the targeted communities.  One flier in Nebraska focused on the shooting of a white police officer by an African-American youth; it read "Crimes, both violent and non-violent are disproportionately a "Black Thang"... Nebraska is not exempt from the Black burden of crime...But we can do something about it..."  More recent fliers have attacked the celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday.

The National Alliance has also used more aggressive tactics in states where it is particularly active.  In Florida it purchased a mailing list of criminal defense lawyers from the Florida Bar Association and mailed the attorneys literature and recruitment letters.  The group also rented a billboard, on a highway near Orlando, to advertise their Web Address.

ADL, which has been tracking the National Alliance since 1974, has been providing assistance to community leaders and law enforcement official in areas targeted by the National Alliance campaign.  

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.