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Hate
Magnified

Communities in Crisis

Hate Magnified is a report by The Leadership Conference Education Fund analyzing nearly 4,000 stories collected in the Communities Against Hate online reporting database and the Hate Incidence Poll.

Our nation cannot solve the problem of hate without first fully understanding it–and that is precisely what this report seeks to achieve.

The report’s findings explore where hate is prevalent, which communities are most likely to fall victim to hate incidents, and what form those incidents most often take.

The data are clear: Hate is pervasive in America. From our analysis of the nearly 4,000 stories collected in the Communities Against Hate online reporting database and the Hate Incidence Poll, hate incidents touch every demographic and can occur nearly everywhere, from city streets to places of worship to the workplace.

The Communities Against Hate database and hotline are places for people who have experienced or witnessed hate to share and document their stories. The Hate Incidence Poll helps to contextualize reports made to the database and provide more information about people’s experiences with hate in America. We would like to note the quotes in the report appear as they were submitted to the database to honor the contributor’s story. However, we did make an attempt to alter words derogatory in nature.

Acts of hate not only devastate individuals, they target, divide, and destabilize entire communities, sending a message that some of us are not welcome. Overall, the poll found that 84 percent of individuals felt hate incidents were very prevalent or somewhat prevalent today in our country. This shocking finding is felt most by communities of color. Eighty-one percent of African Americans, 83 percent of Hispanic individuals, and 89 percent of Arab/Middle Eastern individuals surveyed felt that hate incidents are either very or somewhat prevalent today in our country. Additionally, most respondents surveyed (66 percent) felt that incidents or expressions of hate are getting worse across our country.

People do not just think hate is increasing overall, they are experiencing hate personally and witnessing hate in their communities. Of total respondents, 43 percent stated they experienced or witnessed a hate expression or hate incident in the past two years. People of color surveyed experienced or witnessed hate expressions at higher rates than the overall population with 47 percent of Black, 59 percent of Hispanic, and 73 percent of Arab/Middle Eastern respondents1 reporting that they had experienced or witnessed hate over that same time. One of the more troubling findings in our database is the number of hate incidents that invoked Donald Trump. Overall, a total of 1,444 hate incidents (39.50 percent) invoked the name of an alt-right hate group or Trump and Trump-related rhetoric. This includes 91 incidents where both alt-right hate groups and Trump were invoked. Alt-right hate groups were invoked in 848 of the total incidents (23.19 percent), and Trump was invoked in 596 incidents (16.30 percent).

The pervasiveness of hate in America takes its toll on communities across the country. Individuals reported in the poll that they experienced depression and anxiety, sought therapy, and even moved after hate incidents occurred. The findings show that after people experience hate incidents, they largely feel unsafe and unwelcome in their communities, which further divides the nation.

While we have made tremendous progress as a nation toward celebrating our diverse communities, the collected data is alarming and underscores there is more to do. America must be a country where national leaders inspire us to reach our nation’s highest ideals. Throughout the initiative the goal was to connect survivors of hate to resources, but also use the data to help make informed decisions on needed policy changes. This report provides concrete recommendations that leaders, organizations, and the public should consider in their efforts to make all communities free of hate.

1. Forty-four (44) percent of the Arab/Middle Eastern sample identified as Muslim and 2 percent of the Black sample identified as Muslim. We oversampled Arab/Middle Eastern people and offered respondents an opportunity to identify their religion to better capture the way anti-Muslim hate affects people who may not necessarily be Muslim.

Recommendations:

1

Local and federal agencies must strengthen data collection of hate incidents/hate crimes.

2

Local and federal agencies must conduct thorough investigations of hate based incidents and crimes in the future.

3

Congress must pass legislation mandating that U.S. Department of Justice funds be made available only to those agencies that are demonstrating credible participation in the Hate Crime Statistics Act program.

4

Elected leaders, public officials, and those in positions of power must publicly condemn scapegoating, bias crimes, racism, and other hate speech.

5

Federal elected leaders, public officials, and those in positions of power must use their fiscal authority to fund, for the first time, grants authorized under Sec. 4704 of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

6

The Department of Justice and the Department of Education must work with Congress to pass comprehensive legislation focusing on inclusive anti-bias education, hate crimes prevention, bullying, and cyberbullying, as well as harassment education, policies, and training initiatives.

7

Americans must vote their values.

8

People in America can share their stories through Communities Against Hate.

Download the Report

Methodology

The information in this report compiles data from our Communities Against Hate database collected from March 2017 through May 2018 and a nationally representative Hate Incidence Poll conducted by Brilliant Corners Research & Strategies on behalf of The Leadership Conference Education Fund.

Following the November 2016 election, Communities Against Hate formed to collect data by way of a convenience sample of individuals who desire to share their story with the Communities Against Hate team. These individuals may report to us directly through our site or through one of our partner sites who have the same or similar forms for reporting of incidents. They may also call us on the hotline and speak with individuals at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law who document the incident and then provide legal, mental, or social services. Additionally, Communities Against Hate supplements reports to the hotline and online database with news clips concerning hate incidents from around the country.

The nationwide Hate Incidence Poll consists of 800 adults, with oversamples of 200 African Americans, 200 Hispanic Americans, and 200 Arab American/Middle Eastern Americans. The survey was conducted by phone and online, starting on September 30, 2018, and ending on October 16, 2018, and requested information regarding individuals’ experiences with hate incidents or expressions of hate over the last two years.

For a more detailed explanation of the methodology, see the appendix.

Acknowledgements

The Leadership Conference Education Fund would like to thank our Communities Against Hate national partners and supporting organizations at the national, state, and local levels that have supported this initiative and contributed to the database. We would especially like to thank the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Anti-Violence Project, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Community Change, GSA Network, Hollaback!, Muslim Advocates, National Action Network, National Center for Transgender Equality, National Council of Jewish Women, National Disability Rights Network, National Fair Housing Alliance, National Network for Arab American Communities, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, South Asian Americans Leading Together, The Sikh Coalition, Transgender Law Center, UnidosUS, and the Southern Poverty Law Center, which serves as a strategic adviser to Communities Against Hate.

We would also like to thank Jesse Yeh and Maja Vlajnic who served as data analysts on this project, and the Open Society Foundations for their financial support of this initiative.

Finally, The Education Fund would like to thank the many staff members who dedicated their time and expertise to this report: Ashley Allison, Mariah Brothe, Sarah Edwards, Tyler Lewis, Patrick McNeil, and Anjali Thakur-Mittal.

Objectively created the report design and layout.

The authors and publisher are solely responsible for the accuracy of statements and interpretations in this publication; any views expressed are attributable to them.

About Communities Against Hate

A wave of hate broke over the United States following the 2016 elections, affecting people from all walks of life across the country.

Communities Against Hate is our response–a national initiative to document stories and respond to incidents of violence, threats, and property damage motivated by hate in the United States. As a historic coalition of diverse national organizations and neighborhood groups, we provide a safe place for survivors and witnesses to share stories of hate incidents through our online database and telephone hotline.

Hate incidents are bias-motivated incidents committed, in whole or in part, because of actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, and/or ethnicity. This could also include expressions of hate. Hate incidents may or may not constitute a crime. Through this initiative we connect survivors and witnesses to legal resources and social services. And we come together to advocate for a better America.

The Leadership Conference Education Fund leads Communities Against Hate in partnership with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and a diverse array of organizations.

Our national partners include:


The Southern Poverty Law Center serves as a strategic adviser to the initiative, and Communities Against Hate is made possible through support from the Foundation to Promote Open Society, a part of Open Society Foundations.

Communities Against Hate Statement of Principles

Communities Against Hate documents hate incidents and provides a powerful tool to combat the commission of hate crimes and hate violence in America.

Together, we aim to:

  • Protect the rights of communities that are most vulnerable;
  • Connect victims of hate incidents to services while also protecting their privacy;
  • Use data collection of hate incidents as a tool to drive services and policy change, raise awareness, and educate the public on the many manifestations of hate as well as the importance of the interwoven fabric of American society;
  • Lift the stories of survivors (as appropriate and with their approval) in order to change the current narrative that is normalizing hate; and
  • Support and promote a restorative justice approach to addressing incidents of hate.
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