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Update: 1,094 Bias-Related Incidents in the Month Following the Election

December 16, 2016
Hatewatch Staff

This is the fourth update in the Southern Poverty Law Center’s effort to collect reports of bias-related harassment and intimidation around the country following the election. This update spans the period from November 9 to December 12.

The SPLC collected reports from news articles, social media, and direct submissions via our #ReportHate intake page. The SPLC made every effort to verify each report, but many included in the count remain anecdotal. Here's the breakdown nationwide: 

While the total number has surpassed the 1,000 mark, reports have slowed down significantly compared to the days immediately following the election. The reports are nonetheless as heartbreaking and infuriating as before. In Massachusetts:

Just now, our 14 year old son walked into our house and informed me that he just experienced his first hate crime. It's dark out so he was riding his bike on the sidewalk down the street from our house. He sees a man walking in the middle of the sidewalk, so our son says, "Excuse me". The man steps to the side and then yells, "Hey n-----, next time get off of the bike". This is a quick walk from our new home and I am enraged and saddened that someone near us would do that.

In Florida:

I witnessed an apparently inebriated older white man in the park make an obscene gesture at two women in hijabs in a public park. The women scurried away and the man turned to me perhaps under the assumption that I shared his enmity. He made remarks about Ohio and, to the effect, that Muslims are subhuman and that “President Trump got his work cut out for him." We exchanged words but I avoided an altercation and left the scene.

Overall, anti-immigrant incidents (315) remain the most reported, followed by anti-black (221), anti-Muslim (112), and anti-LGBT (109). Anti-Trump incidents numbered 26 (6 of which were also anti-white in nature, with 2 non-Trump related anti-white incidents reported).

We’ve also been tracking false reports (13 total), as a handful of high profile incidents have been recently uncovered, including two (I, II) that we had previously counted and have removed for this update.

While it is almost certain that more false reports will be uncovered, and the SPLC will be quick to update our database, the right-wing narrative that this wave of incidents are all hoaxes simply doesn’t stand up to the numbers. Counting all 13 false reports (listed at the bottom of this post), of which only two were counted in our previous reporting, amounts to just over 1 percent of the total number of incidents collected in this update.

Let’s get to the numbers.

As we’ve previously reported, many incidents cross multiple “types.” This voicemail, left at a church known for its immigrant community outreach in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Nov. 21, we categorized as one incident. Its main type was anti-immigrant while its subtypes were anti-LGBT, anti-Latino, and Trump.

Here’s the transcription:

“I think this is the gay church, that help gays that get kicked out of the country along with all the fricken Mexicans that are illegal that you guys are hiding illegally. I hope Trump gets ya. Trump Trump Trump. Trump Trump Trump. Trump’s gonna get your asses out of here and throw you over the wall. You dirty rotten scumbags. Hillary is a scumbag b----. too bad waaa waaa. Hillary lost. Hillary lost. Trump’s gonna getcha and throw you over the wall.”

Like the incident above, around 37 percent of all incidents directly referenced either President-elect Donald Trump, his campaign slogans, or his infamous remarks about sexual assault.

Within these Trump-related incidents, we can see which incident types most frequently included a reference to Trump (excluding anti- and pro-Trump only incidents which would both be 100 percent).

By far, anti-woman incidents saw the greatest share:

Trump-related incidents (including anti-Trump (26) incidents) appear to follow the same trend over time, dropping off since their peak during the period immediately following Election Day:

The most frequently reported incident type, anti-immigrant (315) incidents, were around 29 percent of all of those reported to us. We saw a number of different targets, as well as a more generalized sentiment against perceived foreigners that was vague in terms of targeting race or country of origin.

Those subtypes break down as follows, with anti-Muslim incidents included (anti-Muslim incidents, separate from our anti-immigrant count but related in quality, also encapsulate incidents that could also be defined as anti-Arab):

Of particular note in this updated time period is a string of hateful anti-Muslim letters sent to mosques and Islamic centers around the country. Between Nov. 23 and Dec. 2, the following centers all received an identical letter that described Muslims as "Children of Satan” and a "vile and filthy people."

California:

  • Islamic Center of Claremont
  • Islamic Center of Northridge
  • Evergreen Islamic Center
  • Islamic Center of Southern California, Los Angeles (Koreatown)
  • Islamic Center of Davis
  • Islamic Cultural Center of Fresno
  • Long Beach Islamic Center

Elsewhere:

  • Masjid Miami Gardens
  • Islamic Center of Savannah
  • Masjid Al-Fajr Islamic Center of Greater Indianapolis
  • Islamic Center of Boston
  • Islamic Center of Ann Arbor
  • Islamic Center of East Lansing
  • Islamic Center of Cleveland
  • reports of an Islamic center in Denver, Colo.

We’ve also been tracking the reported distribution of white nationalist (47), KKK (7), and anti-Semitic (3) posters and flyers. In total, we captured 57 separate incidents with a spike coming on the first Monday following the election:

With white nationalist “alt-right” figureheads like Richard Spencer and Milo Yiannopolous touring college campuses, the increased confidence that these groups are feeling following Trump’s victory, and the unprecedented press attention they are receiving, it isn’t surprising to see that nearly 74 percent of these incidents occurred on campuses, where the ‘movement’ hopes to build its numbers.

The white nationalist alt-right youth groups behind these incidents were American Vanguard, Identity Evropa, TheRightStuff. We collected reports from the following colleges and universities:

  • University of Arkansas, Fort Smith
  • Arizona State University
  • University California San Diego
  • University California, Davis
  • UCLA
  • University of California, Santa Cruz
  • University of California, Santa Barbara
  • University of Colorado, Colorado Springs
  • University of Augusta
  • Iowa State University
  • Michigan State University
  • Grand Valley State University
  • William Jewell College
  • Rutgers
  • University of Cincinnati
  • Miami University
  • Ohio State University
  • University of Oklahoma
  • Southern Methodist University
  • University of Texas, Dallas
  • Virginia Commonwealth University
  • University of Washington
  • Beloit College
  • Diablo Valley College
  • University of Florida
  • Florida Gulf Coast University
  • University of Central Florida
  • The University of Chicago
  • Indiana University-Purdue University
  • Purdue University
  • Amherst College
  • University of Maryland
  • Lebanon Valley College
  • Emerson College

The breakdown of location types has stayed steady throughout our reporting, with the majority of incidents occurring at K-12 schools (226), businesses like Starbucks, Walmart, and restaurants (203), and colleges and universities (172).

In the days to come, if you or someone you know has experienced or witnessed a hate incident, please consider submitting the incident to the SPLC after first reporting to the proper authorities.

Likely False Reports: 

Comments or suggestions? Send them to HWeditor@splcenter.org. Have tips about the far right? Please email: source@splcenter.org. Have documents you want to share? Please visit: https://www.splcenter.org/submit-tip-intelligence-project. Follow us on Twitter @Hatewatch.