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This fact brief was originally published as an experiment to test the concepts behind fact briefs.
Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of useful information in fact briefs like this one, not all of them reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.
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FACT BRIEF

Do US officials say Black separatist groups pose as large a domestic terror threat as white supremacist groups?

By Jacob Alabab-Moser
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NO

While the Federal Bureau of Investigation monitors Black separatist groups for "racially motivated violent extremism," the agency's director said in September that "people subscribing to some kind of white supremacist-type ideology is certainly the biggest chunk of that." According to the FBI, Black extremist violence peaked in the 1960s and 1970s.

The Department of Homeland Security deemed white supremacy the most "persistent, lethal threat" in an October 2020 report, making no mention of Black separatist groups.

The 2019 Global Terrorism Database report reports that from 2015 to 2019 white supremacist and nationalist groups carried out 34 armed attacks and killed 64 people, while Black Hebrew Israelites, a Black extremist group, carried out 3 armed attacks and killed no one.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
The Hill: Racially motivated violent extremism makes up most of FBI's domestic terrorism cases
DocumentCloud: Department of Homeland Security—Homeland threat assessment, October 2020
DocumentCloud: FBI Intelligence Assessment—Black identity extremists (shared by Foreign Policy)
Southern Poverty Law Center: Black separatist movement
Anti-Defamation League: Black Hebrew Israelites
University of Maryland: Global Terrorism Overview—Terrorism in 2019
Center for Strategic and International Studies: The escalating terrorism problem in the United States
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Gigafact
Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.
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About fact briefs published on Gigafact
Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.