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While black nationalist groups increased in past year, they are nowhere near as violent or powerful as white nationalist groups, CSUSB professor saysThe Orange County Register/Southern California News Group/Bay Area News GroupFeb. 20, 2019 Brian Levin, the director of the  Ctrl+Click or tap to follow the link'>Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University,  San Bernardino, was interviewed for an article about the Southern Poverty Law Center’s latest report on hate groups in the U.S. The number of hate groups in the United States, particularly white nationalist groups, rose in 2018 for the fourth consecutive year, according to its report released Wednesday. The Southern Poverty Law Center is an Alabama-based civil rights watchdog group. White nationalist groups, including the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazi and racist skinhead groups, saw the biggest increase at 50 percent. Also notable was a 13 percent increase in black nationalist groups. Anti-white hate crimes are also on the rise in the nation’s largest cities, said Levin.  “The rise of black nationalism can be attributed to resistance-oriented groups and a fragmented socio-political landscape,” he said.The African-American community’s frustration with police and criminal justice reforms and the ascendance of white nationalism have also fueled the rise of black nationalism in the United States, Levin said. However, he agreed with Heidi Beirich, director of the SPLC’s Intelligence project that oversees the report, that these groups are nowhere near as violent or powerful as white nationalist groups. Read the complete article at “Number of hate groups has shot up 30 percent over the last 4 years, says Southern Poverty Law Center.”
CSUSB study: Hate and extremism spikes across the US in anti-Latino hate crimesThe Yucatan TimesFeb. 21, 2019 According to the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, anti-Latino hate crime increased 176 percent in major U.S. cities in the three weeks after the 2016 presidential election. “In the period around election time, the group that saw the highest percentage increase of attacks were Latinos,” Brian Levin, director of the center explained. This tendency has not diminished. Read the complete article at “Hate and extremism spikes across the US in anti-Latino hate crimes.”
CSUSB professor part of panel discussing case of Jussie SmolletKPCCFeb. 21, 2019 Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, was one of the guest panelist on an Air Talk segment discussing the case of actor Jussie Smollet, who was charged Feb. 20 with felony disorderly conduct, a charge that could bring up to three years in prison. Police say the actor hired two brothers to help him stage an attack against himself, and claiming it was a hate crime. Listen to the online audio when it is posted at “Hate crime or fake attack: the twists and turns of the Jussie Smollett case.”
CSUSB professor comments on Minnesota lawmaker’s proposal to toughen penalty for falsely reporting hate crimesStar Tribune (Minneapolis, Minn.)Feb. 20, 2019 A Minnesota legislator said Wednesday that he would introduce a proposal to toughen the penalty for falsely reporting hate crimes, citing a high-profile reported attack on a gay black actor in Chicago that was recently called into question. A Cal State San Bernardino expert on hate crimes said such a law might be an overreaction. Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, said preliminary figures in a study of FBI hate crime data found fewer than 50 false reports nationwide out of an estimated 21,000 crimes tallied between 2016 and 2018. 'I have no problem with general laws respecting false reporting being enforced,' Levin said. 'But I'm concerned that an overreaction to a minuscule problem will actually exacerbate the problem that there are real victims out there whose stories we don't hear and police reports don't classify.' Read the complete article at “Minnesota lawmaker wants to increase penalties on false hate crime reports.”
Hate crime hoaxes make up 0.2 percent of all reported incidents between 2016 and 2018, CSUSB center research showsQuartzFeb. 20, 2019 Research by Brian Levin, the director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University,  San Bernardino, was cited in an article about the ramifications of an alleged hoax by actor Jussie Smollet, who said he was the victim of a hate crime. Levin, who has been tracking staged and real hate crimes, counted 49 fake reports between 2016 and 2018. In the same time, Levin told Quartz, there were about 21,000 hate crimes. That makes the percentage of falsely reported attacks 0.2 percent of all hate crimes. (The FBI received 13,000 hate crime reports in 2016 and 2017, according to its latest data.) While Levin concedes that his data collection methodology has limitations—he and his team rely on media reports—it is indicative of how rare it is for a hate crime to be made up. Read the complete article at “The Jussie Smollett case shows exactly why we need to take hate crimes more seriously.”
CSUSB professor interviewed for segment on U.S. Coast Guard officer accused of plotting a domestic terror attackKCBS Radio San FranciscoFeb. 20, 2019 Brian Levin, the director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University,  San Bernardino, commented on the case of a U.S. Coast Guard officer who is accused of plotting a domestic terrorist attack. Authorities say that along with details of such an attack that the suspect wrote down, he had also collected a large cache of weapons and had a hit list of Democrats and media personalities. The segment can be heard at http://my.tvey.es/Xq76S.
CSUSB professor comments on case of U.S. Coast Guard officer planning terror attack to establish a ‘white homeland’KNX Radio Los AngelesFeb. 20-21. 2019 In segments that aired Feb. 20 and 21, Brian Levin, the director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University,  San Bernardino, was interviewed about a U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant is accused of plotting a terror attack on the nation to establish a “white homeland” after federal officers found a cache of weapons in his possession at his Maryland home. 
These news clips and others may be found at In the Headlines” at inside.csusb.edu.