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CSUSB professor discusses threat of right-wing extremist violence on March 4
Insider
March 2, 2021

Kevin Grisham, associate director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, was interviewed for an article about the threat of action by right wing extremists on March 4, a date that many on the far right deem significant and some see as the day former President Donald Trump somehow is returned to office.

State capitals across the country are braced for the possibility of violence where passions have run hot since the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol. The potential risk at state capitols has prompted authorities to intensify high-visibility security, stringing up razor wire, erecting barbed wire fencing and reinforcing a uniformed presence, along with undisclosed measures.

Grisham said rhetoric calling for violence has toned down, possibly because groups like QAnon have been taken off mainstream social media platforms and moved to less public venues. He said he sees less of a threat from a potential mob of protesters who might climb over a fence and more of a threat by small groups of hard-core believers who could pick out targets for violence like bombings and mass shootings.

"I don't think it's going to be the massive groups like we saw on Jan. 6, but I think it's a handful of people who potentially could be very dangerous," Grisham said.

"Like the ones who tried to kidnap the governor of Michigan, all you need is a small group. Those are the ones I worry about most because you just don't know."

Read the complete article at “State capitals are back on alert over conspiracy chatter about March 4 and they've already invested more in security.”

Anti-Asian hate crimes rose 150% in major U.S. cities, CSUSB center study finds
Huffington Post
March 2, 2021

Hate crimes targeting Asian Americans rose 150% in America’s largest cities last year, even as overall hate crimes decreased, according to alarming new data released Tuesday.

There were 122 hate crimes targeting Asian Americans in 16 of the country’s most populous cities in 2020, according to a study of police records by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, compared to 49 such crimes in those cities in 2019.

Brian Levin, executive director at the hate and extremism center, told HuffPost he predicts the FBI data for 2020, once it’s released this fall, will show a “century-high” number of hate crimes targeting Asian Americans.

“For our Asian American friends and neighbors, this is similar to a post 9/11 time, similar to what we saw with Muslims and Arab Americans,” Levin said, referring to the increase in hate crimes targeting those groups after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

Read the complete article at “Anti-Asian hate crimes rose 150% in major U.S. cities, study finds.”

Los Angeles’ rise in hate incidents against Asian Americans mirrors statewide trend, CSUSB professor says
Los Angeles Times
March 2, 2021

Hate crimes against Asian Americans and other members of the Asian and Pacific Islander communities in Los Angeles rose sharply in 2020, mirroring a national trend and causing concern among police and local advocacy organizations.

Brian Levin, executive director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino, said increases in such incidents occurred across the state.

Read the complete article at “Hate crimes against Asian Americans rose in L.A. in 2020, mirroring national trend.”

Levin’s comment was also included in a roundup article in the Times: “Coronavirus Today: Fighting anti-Asian racism.”

These news clips and others may be viewed at “In the Headlines.”