{"id":6661,"date":"2025-02-22T21:11:36","date_gmt":"2025-02-22T21:11:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=6661"},"modified":"2025-02-22T21:11:36","modified_gmt":"2025-02-22T21:11:36","slug":"ethnic-minorities-face-rising-hate-crimes-in-rural-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=6661","title":{"rendered":"Ethnic Minorities Face Rising Hate Crimes in Rural California"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By<\/span>Selen Ozturk<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Hate crimes are mounting in rural California, where many ethnic minorities are too distrustful of the government to report them.<\/p>\n

In response to this rise, California launched CA vs Hate, a reporting and resource hotline for those facing hate to find support in the form they want.<\/p>\n

Since the initiative\u2019s May 2023 launch, \u201cFor the first time in California history, we\u2019ve had a statewide hotline to help people targeted for hate report it and identify options for next steps,\u201d said Kevin Kish, director of the state Civil Rights Department, at a Friday, January 17 Ethnic Media Services briefing on the hotline and hate in rural California.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not just a hotline where people tell the government what happened to them. It\u2019s a tool to connect people who experience hate with culturally competent resources they need, in the communities where they live.\u201d<\/p>\n

This includes legal services; law enforcement referrals; counseling and mental health resources; financial aid; and connections to community organizations like health clinics or social service agencies.<\/p>\n

Responding to hate<\/h2>\n

State data<\/a>\u00a0shows that race-, ethnicity- and national origin-motivated hate crimes in California rose from 875 in 2020 to 1,017 in 2023 \u2014 a 16.23% increase.<\/p>\n

A 51.6% majority of all reported hate crimes overall were motivated by race, ethnicity and national origin; other motivations include sexual orientation (20.6%), religion (20%), gender (4.2%) and disability (0.9%).<\/p>\n

A federal Department of Justice\u00a0study<\/a>\u00a0conducted between 2011 and 2015 shows that 54% of hate crimes nationwide are not reported to police.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe communities who most face hate are often most underrepresented because they\u2019re afraid of reporting to law enforcement,\u201d said Kish. \u201cSome have reported and nothing happens, so they don\u2019t see the point. Many don\u2019t know if what happened to them is legally a crime that they should report. For immigrant communities in particular, there may be language barriers and fear related to contacting the government. People in indigenous communities may be grappling with jurisdictional issues between tribal and local, state and federal authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis hotline was designed to overcome these barriers,\u201d he added. \u201cPeople aren\u2019t necessarily looking for this information until it happens to them, and when it does, they need to access it wherever they are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Californians can report online at\u00a0cavshate.org<\/a>, or talk to a civil rights agent by phone at (833) 866-4281 or 833-8-NO-HATE, Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.<\/p>\n

Free support is available in 200 languages and anonymous reporting is available.<\/p>\n

In the hotline\u2019s first year, it received over 1,000 hate reports from nearly 80% of the state\u2019s counties, and roughly two-thirds of people who reported hate agreed to follow up for resources and support referral.<\/p>\n

However, all counties which reported no or very few hate crimes were rural counties like Del Norte, Sutter and Mariposa.<\/p>\n

Hate in rural California<\/h2>\n

In rural El Dorado county northeast of Sacramento, where 74% of the population is non-Hispanic White and 2% is Native American, \u201cThere\u2019s an epidemic of hate. It\u2019s very conservative here,\u201d said Kim Stoll, communications director for the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor instance, we were having tags made for our cars in the parking lot, but many tribal members said \u2018No, we\u2019re not going to do that. If we identify ourselves as tribal members, there\u2019ll be a problem,\u2019\u201d said Stoll. \u201cIt was interesting to see that, knowing how long they\u2019ve been here on the reservation \u2026 yet how isolated they remain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gaonou Vang, communications and narrative manager at Hmong Innovating Politics in Sacramento, attested to similar isolation in the Hmong community, of which are an estimated 95,000 to 107,458 in California and 368,609 in the U.S.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not enough trust that has been built with our communities \u2026 ever since the first generation of Hmong refugees from the Vietnam War and the Secret War in Laos in the \u201960s,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany Hmong are naturalized citizens due to former refugee statuses, or being born in America, but we have a rising demographic of green card holders in the last decade, and a rough estimate of 4,500 of these folks have orders against them to be deported as a result of being convicted in a crime, whether it be small or large \u2026 even after they serve their time and have been released,\u201d Vang continued.<\/p>\n

With\u00a0rising<\/a>\u00a0ICE raids of Southeast Asian communities; repatriation agreements with Cambodia and Vietnam; and the incoming Trump administration having issued final orders for removal of Hmong to Laos its last time around in 2020, \u201cconcern is rising while trust in the government falls, so there\u2019s a lot of underreporting overall,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

In response, \u201cIt\u2019s been very important for us to empower our youth as community leaders, because we see this domino effect: When we educate them, they educate their families, and it trickles into the community,\u201d Vang added. \u201cWith CA vs Hate, a lot of the work we\u2019ve been doing is showing youth how to overcome that distrust and report this hate that\u2019s happening in our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHate is everywhere. What makes it stand out here is that the population has made a major shift,\u201d said Marlene Thomas, executive director of the Imperial Valley Social Justice Committee, a nonprofit in Imperial County, one of the two California counties bordering Mexico.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was growing up, this was primarily a white community, and now it\u2019s 90% Hispanic,\u201d she explained. \u201cBut the difference is, there\u2019s been an assimilation of the older Hispanic community, while newer immigrants just trying to survive are being discriminated against, really by their own people.\u201d<\/p>\n

In November 2023, six months after the launch of CA vs Hate, \u201cWe had a\u00a0Stop the Hate conference<\/a>, and the local chief of police and the sheriff were there and went through the reporting process that you have to do. But they had only two complaints,\u201d Thomas continued. \u201cI know that there had to have been more than that, but there wasn\u2019t \u2026 Why this fear, this lack of awareness of what people can do?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur committee initially came together in 2022, in response to police harassment in our county, particularly with the African American community. Now, we have over 7078 volunteers,\u201d she said. \u201cWe work closely with the ACLU and give workshops about your rights and what to do when stopped by the police or Border Patrol.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thanks to this hotline, \u201cOne of the first things we can do is bring this information about reporting hate to our schools and community institutions,\u201d Thomas added. \u201cBut it\u2019s not enough \u2026 When you\u2019re facing hate, at heart, it\u2019s about keeping hope alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source: Published without changes from Ethnic Media Services<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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