Hate groups use Obama election

CHICAGO, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama's inauguration has become a rallying call for hate groups, experts say.

The Chicago Tribune reported Friday that the inauguration and the nation's worsening economic situation may promote a surge in hate group activity not seen since the late 1980s.

"I think it's very clear that we're at a worrying moment now, despite the remarkable accomplishment of electing a black man president," said Mark Potok, who heads a department at the Southern Poverty Law Center that monitors the activity of extremist groups. "We are seeing several things coming together that favor the continued growth of these groups and this movement."

The newspaper reported that an array of neo-Nazi and white separatist Web sites are now calling on people to join their ranks in response to Obama's election.

"Every time the television shows an image of Obama it will be a reminder that our people have lost power in this country," said a recent posting on an Arkansas-based Ku Klux Klan Web site. "The betrayal will stare them in the face each time they watch the news and see little black children playing in the Rose Garden."