California Civil Rights Department: The Civil Rights Department in the US state of California has released a report. In this report, anti-Hindu hate crimes have become the second most reported case in California. According to this report, hate crimes have increased rapidly within California. At the same time, the biggest form of religious hatred reported in the US state was anti-Semitism, while cases of Islamophobia were in third place.
According to a report by India Today, this data has come at a time when Indian-American politicians are talking about the increase in Hinduphobia in America. In fact, last year in 2023, California launched the California vs Hate program to deal with hate crimes. More than 1,000 reports were received in its first year. This initiative provides an online portal for safe and anonymous reporting.
Anti-Muslim hate crimes ranked third – report
According to the California Department of Civil Rights report, among religiously motivated incidents, anti-Hindu hate ranked second, at 23.3%. Anti-Semitism was the highest at 37%, and anti-Muslim hate came in third, at 14.6%. The most common reasons cited in the report were discriminatory behavior (18.4%), harassment (16.7%), and abuse (16.7%).
Hate will not be tolerated in California – Governor
California Governor Gavin Newsom has claimed that CA vs. Hate is about protecting our state and sending a message that hate will never be tolerated. Meanwhile, the CA vs. Hate initiative comes as reported hate crimes have risen to their highest level since 2001, with an increase of nearly 33% from 2020 to 2021. While these incidents have occurred most frequently in residential areas (29.9%), workplaces (9.7%), and public places (9.1%).
Two-thirds of people agreed to take legal help
About two-thirds of people have agreed to seek legal help. The report represented about 80% of California’s counties, including all 10 most populous counties in the state. At the same time, the 560 pages of reports showed that the highest number of incidents were found in race and ethnicity (35.1%), gender identity (15.1%), and sexual orientation (10.8%). Apart from this, the highest number of reports were registered in anti-Black sentiment (26.8%), anti-Latino sentiment (15.4%), and anti-Asian (14.3%).
Community expressed concern over rising crime
The sudden rise in hate crimes against Indian Americans, especially Hindus, has caused a lot of fear and anxiety within the community. Many community members have expressed anger at the inaction of law enforcement agencies, especially in the wake of incidents such as the attempt to burn down the Indian consulate in San Francisco and threats against Indian diplomats.
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