ADL: Bigots Gloat Over Hurricane Victims; Spew Racist and Anti-Semitic Hate Online

While Americans around the country watched in sympathy and horror as Hurricane Katrina devastated southern Louisiana and Mississippi, there were some who looked on with a grim satisfaction borne of implacable hatred. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) found hundreds of bigoted messages on white supremacist and anti-Semitic Web sites across the Internet expressing hatred rather than compassion. Though some white supremacists expressed concern for white victims of the hurricane, overwhelmingly reaction of the racists and anti-Semites was one of derision and even glee for the hundreds of thousands of African-American and other non-white victims. Realizing that Louisiana and Mississippi have huge non-white populations, the bigots expressed hope that the hurricane would be deadly and "cleanse" the areas hit. Employing classical anti-Semitic canards, they claimed that Jews would seek to benefit from the devastation and that Jewish control of the media skewed the reporting of the hurricane. "Once again, the racists and anti-Semites are exploiting a tragedy of great proportion and one that binds the nation to spew their hatred and seek to divide the nation," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. "While they may be small in number, their reach through the Internet is of great concern. Their messages of hate must be countered by the good words of good people."