NOTE: Faculty, if you are interviewed and quoted by news media, or if your work has been cited, and you have an online link to the article or video, please let us know. Contact us at news@csusb.edu.
India’s economy center of debate as nation prepares for its 2019 general elections, CSUSB professor writesObserver Research FoundationApril 26, 2019 “The Indian economy’s past, present and future is at the centre of debate as India goes to the General Elections 2019,” Rishabh Kumar, CSUSB assistant professor of economics, wrote in an op-ed. “Historically, the economy has played only a limited role in aggregate voter calculations in India. But rural distress and lack of urban employment are creating new pressures. Analysts, public intellectuals and economic experts have put jobs, inequality and growth slowdowns at the centre of media coverage of these elections.” Read the complete article at “Can the 2019 elections resolve India’s growth headwinds?”
CSUSB history professor interviewed about U.S. plan to prolong military presence in Iraq Press TVApril 30, 2019 David Yaghoubian, CSUSB professor of history, was interviewed for a segment about the U.S. plan to deploy “necessary resources” to counter what it considers dangerous actions by Iran. The U.S. wants to prolong its military presence in Iraq as part of that effort, an idea political groups in Iraq reject, according to news reports. “For a domestic American audience, this might sound sensible or logical,” Yaghoubian said. “But it really necessitates historical amnesia to not understand the implications of such a statement from (U.S. Central Command chief General Kenneth McKenzie) to Iraqis … Most Americans are completely ignorant of the last 30 years of Iraqi-U.S. relations and history. And so when the United State says that its military presence and interests in Iraq are for either humanitarian concerns or security concerns, based on the Iraqi historical experience, this is just pure malarkey, if you will.” Yaghoubian appears about 2 minutes and 30 seconds into the video segment. See the online video interview at “Iraq's political groups reject U.S. plan to prolong its military presence.” Press TV is a 24-hour English language news and documentary network affiliated with Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting.
CSUSB professor supports effort to extent state hate crime law to include attacks on the homelessThe Press Enterprise/Southern California News GroupApril 29, 2019 An article about legislation to include homeless in hate crime law included a comment from Brian Levin, professor of criminal justice and director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at CSUSB. The bill, AB 1422, by Carson-area Assemblyman Mike Gipson, stalled in the lower house’s Public Safety Committee last week. Levin is in Gipson’s corner, and spoke in favor of his proposed legislation during last Tuesday’s hearing. “Every group that is targeted in a hate crime has some vulnerability, but the homeless have a heightened vulnerability,” Levin said. In a letter to Gipson dated April 18, Levin said the homeless face a rate of victimization that far exceeds that of other groups. In the past two decades, a “clear and disturbing pattern has emerged that show the homeless population face an additional risk of violence.” Levin also said in his letter that there has been a “disturbing prevalence of severe overkill” involving homeless victims who have suffered fatal beatings, shootings, drownings and stabbings. One homeless man was burned alive. The homeless, Levin said, also have been exploited and plied with alcohol to engage in staged fights called “Bum Fights” that sold on DVD and aired on YouTube. Terms such as “Bum Hunting” have been coined by hate groups targeting the homeless, he said. Read the complete article at “Homeless in California will have to wait another year for possible hate crime protections.”
Deepening divisions and tribalism possible factors as hate incidents increase, CSUSB professor saysSacramento Bee/Modesto Bee/Fresno BeeApril 29, 2019 The FBI is investigating last week’s suspected anti-Muslim road attack in Sunnyvale that left a teenage girl in a coma as a hate crime, while hundreds of miles to the south, federal agents are just beginning their grim task in the wake of the deadly Passover synagogue shootings in Poway near San Diego. As investigators in two California communities continue their probe into horrific acts apparently motivated by hate, a social scientist sees a growing tribalism nationwide and deepening divisions in a changing Golden State as possible factors: “We are very polarized, but we are also entrenched in that polarization. We’re not only divided, but entrenched in that division in ways we haven’t seen in decades,” said Brian Levin, professor of criminal justice and director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino. “Our connections to communities are more attenuated. There’s a distrust in the institutions that bind us together.” Political fissures and changes in ethnic and religious makeup also are powerful factors, he said. “We’re seeing dramatic shifts demographically, culturally, socially, politically. It’s a place where the fissures are quite evident. California is a place of shifts and divisions,” Levin continued. “We’re a touchstone for everything: We’re a border state, we’re Silicon Valley; we’re a place for both internal and external migration. Social media has played a role, too. It’s no accident that newer hate groups have emerged here.” Read the complete article at “2 days, 2 hateful acts: FBI probes Southern California synagogue shooting, Bay Area car attack.”
Hate crimes in 30 major U.S. cities are up for the fifth consecutive year, CSUSB professor saysCNN via @CNN on TwitterApril 29, 2019 Hate crimes are on the rise in the United States, the news network reported inn a video report posted on its Tweet feed, and Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study for Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino was asked for his insight into the trend, just a few days after the Poway synagogue shooting that left one dead and three injured. In the center’s latest study, Levin said that in 30 major American cities, hate crimes, are up for a fifth consecutive year. Also, anti-Semitic incidents are on the rise. As to possible causes to fuel the increase in anti-Semitism, Levin said, are demographic changes that are feared by some who blame Jews. And it’s not a phenomenon exclusive to the U.S. Watch the video segment at CNN’s Twitter timeline,
String of extremist attacks and a thwarted plot show that perpetrators have striking similarities, CSUSB professor saysKCBS Radio (San Francisco)April 29, 2019 A thwarted terror plot in Los Angeles on April 29 is merely the latest case of extremism in the U.S. in the last week.Officials say the suspect wanted revenge for the recent mosque attacks in New Zealand and planned to target white nationalists, Jews and Christians.It comes after one person died in a shooting at synagogue in San Diego County this weekend, and a man in Sunnyvale ran down a group of pedestrians last week because he thought they were Muslim.Brian Levin is the Director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at CSU San Bernardino. He tells KCBS Radio anchors Jeff Bell and Patti Reising that despite differing ideologies, extremists have striking similarities when it comes to the use of social media. Listen to the online audio at “Extremism and radicalism finds new life online.”
Extremists not only want to commit violence, but also publicize it themselves, CSUSB professor saysFortuneApril 29, 2019 The online news site, in an article about the spread of hate and extremism, reported one metric from the Cal State San Bernardino Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism that was initially published in the Los Angeles Times: “Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino, tells the Los Angeles Times that since 1992 there have only been four years in which hate crimes against a religion exceeded 20 percent of all hate crimes. Three of those four years were recent: 2015, 2016 and 2017. “‘Now we are seeing a ‘propaganda of the deed 2.0’, where violent assailants want to commit acts, but also publicize it themselves,” he said. ‘It’s a chain, almost like a fan club of like-minded violent people.’ “Without serious intervention, these events will continue.” Read the complete article at “An epidemic of hate.”
Radicalized online on smaller online platforms, lone extremists are inspired to act on their own, CSUSB professor saysKPIX San Francisco (CBS)April 29, 2019 The newscast anchors turned to Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at CSUSB, for his insight into what may have motivated a U.S. Army veteran to plot a terror attack at a rally in Long Beach this past weekend. Levin said he was not shocked by the suspect’s foiled plan. “We’re seeing a fragmentation and a migration of extremist content on to smaller platforms that are less regulated. So what we are seeing now is, unfortunately, a do-it-yourself type of terrorism.” Watch the segment at 01:42 KPIX-SF (CBS) - KPIX 5 News at 11PM.
Two incidents involving extremists have common threat, CSUSB professor saysKABC Radio (Los Angeles)April 29, 2019 Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at CSUSB, was interviewed about two incidents involving extremists in recent days: a Los Angeles-area man accused of plotting to bomb a white nationalists rally in Long Beach and the Poway synagogue shooting. Levin said the incidents have a common link: they were both motivated by the New Zealand mosque attacks on March 15. “These types of developments might take place with one ideology, but they often bleed over into other ideologies as extremists play a game of catch-up.” Listen to the segment at 20:31 KABC-AM (Radio).
Hiding behind the First Amendment to justify bigoted statements to ‘paint a whole community as terrorists is absurd,’ CSUSB professor saysThe San Diego Union-TribuneApril 29, 2019 Congressional candidate Larry Wilske, one of three Republican challengers vying for San Diego County U.S. Rep. Duncan D. Hunter’s seat, has expressed hostility toward Muslims in at least 10 Facebook entries from 2015 through January 2019. Monday he said that, upon reflection, he would change his language, to make it clear that some of his posts have to do with “Islamic terrorists” and not all Muslims. Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, said posts like Wilske’s ascribing negative characteristics to members of a faith represent religious bigotry and can lead to danger. “Nobody is quarreling with the fact there are evil terrorists out there, but to wrap oneself in the First Amendment as a shield against calling out indisputable bigotry that paints a whole community as terrorists is absurd,” said Levin, who four years ago testified before Congress about the dangers of Jihadist extremists. Read the complete article at “Congressional candidate Larry Wilske called Islam a ‘vile faith,’ among at least 10 anti-Muslim social media posts.”
These news clips and others may be viewed at “In the Headlines” at inside.csusb.edu.