Experts say they’re seeing a rise in white nationalist movements in Illinois and across the country that are disguising themselves as fitness groups.
"Active Clubs" present themselves as sporting or fighting clubs focused on brotherhood.
Art Jipson, associate professor of sociology and criminology at the University of Dayton, said they recruit both online and in-person, targeting young, white men using shared interests as tools to gradually introduce and normalize racist ideologies.
"You add to that the willingness to engage in violence against people of color, LGBTQ people – there's a clear potential for violence here," Jipson explained.
Jipson pointed out that Active Clubs often meet in Christian churches and gyms, with recent activity showing multistate coordination, like Wisconsin and Illinois groups meeting for "family days." They use distinctive symbols like the Celtic cross – a well-known neo-Nazi symbol – and share content on social media to maintain connections between chapters and other white supremacist groups.
Active Clubs are growing internationally as well, with the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism reporting a 25% increase since 2023. Jipson noted the groups are a huge shift in organizing for white supremacists, following what he calls a decentralized, leaderless resistance.
"Their decentralized structure makes them difficult to track, but it also allows them to spread pretty quickly," Jipson stressed. "They're embedding white supremacist and white nationalist ideology in everyday spaces rather than only the political rally."
Jipson added new chapters of Active Clubs that are frequently being created and linking with one another. Members said they are dedicated to "self-improvement and brotherhood" seeing themselves as "a noble resistance" in the cause of preserving the white race.
"They are mobilizing around really powerful images and ideology that at the end of the day, gives people something to believe in," Jipson underscored. "And that's really difficult to combat."
This story was originally published by Illinois News Connection, a news partner with KRCU Public Radio.
