Orange County Register, June 3 2017
Hate crimes in the county rose from 44 in 2015 to 50 in 2016, while hate incidents increased from 43 in 2015 to 72 in 2016, according to the 2016 Hate Crime Report compiled by the Orange County Human Relations Commission.
The spike was particularly noticeable in November and December at the conclusion, and immediately following, the presidential campaign.
While African Americans (14 percent) and members of the LGBT community (10 percent) were prime targets for hate crimes, a majority of hate incidents involved Muslims (35 percent) and Latinos (18 percent).
The report, which is expected to be approved by the commission next week, shows that hate incidents mainly involved harassment and occurred most often in public areas and schools.
A hate crime is a criminal act directed at someone because of race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation or national origin, while a hate incident involves behavior (not criminal) that is motivated by these factors. Typically, hate incidents are protected by the First Amendment right to freedom of expression.
Examples of hate incidents from the 2016 report include a Latino gardener who was harassed by his client’s neighbor and told to go back to his country; a Muslim community organization that received threatening phone calls featuring xenophobic and Islamophobic language; and an Indian woman who was harassed with derogatory remarks about her race and skin color while picking up her daughter from school.
Snapshots of hate crimes include a Muslim woman whose head scarf was yanked and eyes pepper-sprayed; a Latino man who was struck in the face after his attacker hurled racial epithets; and an African-American teen whose home was vandalized by fellow students who smashed a watermelon on his porch.
While the raw numbers may not seem like cause for alarm, they “shed a spotlight on what’s happening in Orange County,” said Commissioner Rabbi Richard Steinberg.
“This report doesn’t tell the whole story because a lot of hate crimes and incidents go unreported,” he said. “But, as far as I’m concerned, one incident is too many. We should not tolerate any of it and should fight against it, and that’s the purpose of this report.”
The 2016 report is also indicative of a shift when it comes to hate crimes and incidents, said Rusty Kennedy, CEO of the Orange County Human Relations Council, which partners with the commission to put out the report.
“We’ve been experiencing declines in hate crimes over the last several years,” he said. “So this is a step in the wrong direction.”
The rise in hate crimes and incidents sparked the OC Human Relations Council’s #HateFreeOC campaign, a public awareness and education program designed to promote diverse, inclusive communities, Kennedy said.
Orange County’s numbers are consistent with statewide and national trends that show significant increases in hate crimes and incidents, said Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino.
Hate crimes are a small percentage of overall criminal incidents, but their impact on the morale and well-being of a community cannot be minimized, he said.
“Hate crimes fall within that category of crimes that can spark changes in behavior and rifts between groups,” Levin said. “They are also vastly under-reported and their impact on individual victims and communities is significant.”
Levin was the lead author of a report released in May which showed hate crimes in 2016 were up 14 percent in California’s largest cities.
The rise of anti-Muslim hate incidents is disturbing, Levin said, and goes hand in hand with political rhetoric, which demonizes Muslims.
The barrage of anti-Muslim comments and the increase in hate incidents did take an emotional toll on the community, said Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Anaheim-based Los Angeles chapter.
“Muslims and Islam became punching bags for candidates during the 2016 election,” he said. “When you follow that talk with an executive order that amounts to a Muslim ban and present ideas for a Muslim registry, it fuels anti-Muslim sentiments. Words matter.”
But, Ayloush says the community has received an outpouring of support nationwide, exemplified by women’s marches and rallies at airports protesting the Trump administration’s proposed travel ban.
“Those expressions of solidarity have energized the Muslim community and encouraged us to become more active and defiant than we’ve ever been,” he said. “The community is eager to be part of the movement to resist hate talk and unjust policies coming from the White House or locally.”
The recent incident in Oregon in which two Caucasian men were killed and another injured coming to the aid of two women” one Muslim and the other African American” who were being taunted by a self-proclaimed white supremacist, exemplifies the best and worst of America, Ayloush said.
“It shows the impact of xenophobia and Islamophobia and how it drives people to harm others,” he said. “But we also saw three complete strangers coming to the aid of these two young women, knowing the risks involved, but understanding that it was the right thing to do.”
The faith community has an important role to play in countering hate and violence, said the Rev. Mark Whitlock, pastor of Christ Our Redeemer African Methodist Episcopal Church in Irvine.
“We need to worship, pray and break bread together,” he said. “It’s difficult to hate someone you’ve had dinner with. It’s difficult to speak hate speech in a worship environment. How can we say we love God, but hate our neighbors?”
