Odette Yousef
Odette Yousef is a National Security correspondent focusing on extremism.
In her reporting, Yousef aims to explore how extremist ideas break into the mainstream, how individuals are radicalized and efforts to counter that.
Before joining NPR in August of 2021, Yousef spent twelve years reporting for member station WBEZ in Chicago, where she was most recently part of the Race, Class and Identity team. While there, she was reporter and host for Season 3 of WBEZ's investigative podcast, Motive. The podcast, which won a 2021 national Edward R. Murrow award, explores the emergence and spread of the neo-Nazi skinhead movement in the U.S. and its connections to the far right extremism of today. Yousef was also part of a team that won a 2016 National Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Continuing Coverage, and she received a 2018 Studs Terkel Community Media Award. Prior to joining WBEZ, Yousef reported at WABE in Atlanta.
Born and raised in the Boston area, Yousef received a Bachelor of Arts in economics and East Asian studies from Harvard University. She is based in Chicago.
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When the FBI developed its program to collect hate crime data, it included a category to track anti-Arab incidents. But this code was dropped, masking the scale of the problem. -
The families of three men of Palestinian descent who were shot in Vermont say it was a hate crime. But investigators aren't sure, and tracking anti-Arab hate crimes is uniquely complicated.
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Videos praising a letter written by Al Qaeda founder Osama Bin Laden briefly circulated on TikTok this week. But the reaction exceeded the reach of the videos themselves.
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Surges in religious hate crimes in the U.S. historically follow conflicts between Israel and Palestinians. Extremism experts say the latest outbreak of U.S. violence may have more profound effects.
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Municipal and county officials are consistently experiencing high levels of harassment and even threats, according to new data. Many worry this may tip into violence as the 2024 election nears.
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The case against 61 people who oppose a planned police and fire training facility in Atlanta is charting new – and to some, concerning – territory.
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The former national chairman of the far-right Proud Boys was sentenced to 22 years in prison. Tarrio had been convicted for seditious conspiracy for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
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Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio has been sentenced to 22 years in prison for his role in attempting to overthrow the 2020 election. Prosecutors had been asking for a 33-year sentence.
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Tarrio was one of six Proud Boys leaders to be charged for conspiring to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election results. Of them, he has received the longest prison sentence to date.
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During the last year, some organizations have staged increasingly brazen displays of hate in Jacksonville and across Florida.
