Since 2000, the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist movements in the United States have been on the rise, totaling 784 active hate groups in 2014. The groups have traditionally targeted African-Americans and gays, but have expanded to target groups with rising populations in the U.S. such as Latinos and Muslims. The Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center is a nonprofit anti-terror organization that helps find solutions to encourage tolerance and stop racism. The Center started filing civil lawsuits against the Ku Klux Klan in 1981 over the lynching of a young black man in Mobile, Alabama. The goal is to take away money and drive hate groups out of business, according to Heidi Beirich, leader of the Intelligence Project. Beirich said the causes of the uptick in hate groups were due to growing fears of changing demographics after the 2000 census found that by 2042, whites will no longer be the majority. The election of President Barack Obama, the first black president, also stoked fears for white supremacists. Education is the number one solution in fighting racism and the rise of domestic terror groups, Beirich said. If the U.S. could get through this challenging transitional period, she remains optimistic about the future, she said.

racism — the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races hate group — an organized group or movement that advocates and practices hatred, hostility or violence toward members of a race, ethnicity, nation, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation or any other designated sector of society radicalize — to cause someone to become an advocate of radical political or social reform lone wolf — a person who acts alone