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Experts including CSUSB’s Brian Levin warn that election uncertainty could fuel political violence
NPR
Nov. 4, 2020
Brian Levin, director of Cal State San Bernardino’s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, was interviewed for a segment about the potential for political violence as the nation waits for the results of the 2020 presidential election, and whether statements by President Donald Trump would fuel it.
Levin says his research shows a link between some of Trump's most inflammatory statements and spikes in violence. “Whether it was after the Muslim ban proposal or after Charlottesville, we've seen violence and hate crimes also correlate and resurge not just around a catalytic event but around the president's rhetoric and how long it is sustained.”
Levin says, yes, this is a precarious moment for the country. And so far, the rhetoric from the White House is inflaming tensions not calming them.
“Extremism is a carnival mirror reflection of conflicts and divisions in the mainstream,” he says.
Read the article and listen to the audio clip at “Experts warn that election uncertainty could fuel political violence.”
CSUSB professor discusses outcome of state’s social justice ballot initiatives
The Orange County Register/Southern California News Group/Bay Area News Group
Nov. 4, 2020
California voters wrestled with ballots chock full of complicated social justice issues on Nov. 3, amid unprecedented racial reckoning and heightened awareness of historical wrongs.
“Voters were particularly concerned with redirecting the focus of the criminal justice system towards a less punitive approach, as increasing concern about institutional racial disparities are an overlay to any such any debate,” said Brian Levin, professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at Cal State San Bernardino.
“Overall, the results of the state ballot initiatives and L.A. district attorney race demonstrate that those who so effectively organized protests had the perseverance to follow through at the polls – showing once and for all the historic transformational political reverberations of the Black Lives Matter movement,” said Levin.
Read the complete article at “Social justice on ballot scores some victories, suffers some defeats.”
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