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Hate group linked to man charged with Blaze Bernstein’s murder lures angry, affluent youth, CSUSB expert saysThe Orange County Register/Southern California News GroupJan. 27, 2018
The neo-Nazi group to which 20-year-old accused killer Samuel Woodward has been linked by an investigative news agency tends to target angry, affluent, white men eager to commit violent acts, says a Southern California expert on hate groups and violent extremism.
A report by ProPublica on Friday said Woodward belonged to Atomwaffen Division, a neo-Nazi group linked to four slayings over the past eight months.
Atomwaffen Division bills itself as a neo-Nazi, anti-Semitic, anti-government, fascist organization is a numerically insignificant hate group, comprising perhaps some 100 members nationwide, which was started in late 2015, said Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino.
“But, even though they are small, a combination of social media, white nationalism and developments before and after the Charlottesville march have made this group dangerous,” he said in an interview with The Register on Saturday. “This is a group that glorifies violence. Their hero is Charles Manson and they want to start a race war.”
Woodward was arrested Jan. 12 on suspicion of killing 19-year-old Blaze Bernstein of Lake Forest and was charged with murder. Prosecutors say Woodward stabbed the teenager during a late-night meeting Jan. 3. Bernstein’s body was found a week later, on Jan. 10, in Borrego Park in Lake Forest. Woodward is scheduled to appear in court on Friday.
Levin said the group has drawn the attention of those who research extremism because they have gone out and committed violent acts. The group’s members have been tied to four other murders and an elaborate bomb plot over the past eight months.
Newer hate groups such as Atomwaffen Division, which has been kicked off Twitter, according to Levin, are known to target all types of recruits, particularly wealthy young men.
“Upscale, young, angry, white youth are the exact demographic these newer hate groups want. We’re in an era where bigots are more likely to wear collared shirts than hoods.”
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