Anti-Semitism in America is becoming flashier and louder

One chilly morning in January residents of Blackstone, a posh neighbourhood in Providence, Rhode Island, woke up to find Ziploc bags strewn across their lawns. Stuffed inside were recruitment pamphlets looking for men “of European descent” who wish to see a “better future for [their] people”. The pamphlets were distributed by NSC-131, a New England-based neo-Nazi group. Targeting Blackstone was no fluke—the neighbourhood is home to Rhode Island’s largest Jewish population. Adam Greenman, head of a Jewish community centre there, says it is part of a growing trend. According to his office’s tally, anti-Semitic incidents in Rhode Island have more than doubled in the past year.