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Political rhetoric and hate incidents against immigrants related, CSUSB professor explainsSan Francisco ChronicleJan. 20, 2019 Kevin Grisham, assistant director of research at the nonpartisan Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, was interviewed for an article about Bay Area Latino residents’ sentiment about the Trump administration’s immigrant policies and rhetoric. The newspaper noted that hate crimes against Latinos rose by nearly 52 percent in 2017 — more than any other minority group in the state, according to a report by the California Attorney General’s Office. The number of those crimes reported against Latinos, 126 in 2017, has doubled since 2014. Experts say it’s impossible to pin this surge solely on Trump, but some say there’s a correlation. “We try not to take a position on these issues, but it’s pretty clear that something is happening, whether it’s Trump or people associated with his policies,” said Grisham. “These are significant increases. It’s not specific to a particular (political) party. It’s about rhetoric, and rhetoric matters.” Read the complete article at “Amid push for border wall, many Latinos distressed by Trump’s tone.”
CSUSB professor interviewed about the surge of swastikas appearing in New York/New JerseyGothamist (WYNC)Jan. 22, 2019 Since the November 2016 election, and particularly in the months since the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, swastikas have popped up with alarming regularity, according to law enforcement officers. In New York City, with the largest Jewish population of any city in the world, swastika incidents skyrocketed 76 percent from 2016 to 2018, according to the NYPD. The ancient symbol co-opted by a genocidal Nazi regime 75 years ago is resurgent in New Jersey, too, appearing wherever the public roams: Across a pedestrian bridge in South Orange, near a community center in Highlands and on the home team’s bench at the hockey rink in Howell. Further complicating things, a swastika next to President Donald Trump’s name might be intended to convey the political message that Trump himself is a Nazi, according to Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino. “In an increasingly tribal and divided society, hate symbols sometimes will be in the eye of the beholder — when some of our most polarized and entrenched conflicts are not only the traditional racial and religious ones, but also ones now relating to politics and nationalism,” he said. Read the complete article at “'A Hate Contagion': From school bathrooms to parked cars, swastikas surge in NY & NJ since 2016 election.”
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