New tool helps track, document rise in hate incidents

NAM

Since the 2016 election there has been an alarming increase in reports of hate incidents around the United States. Reports range from vandalism and hate-fueled graffiti to physical attacks and shootings.

The reports come amid heightened fear and anxiety within immigrant and minority communities, fueled by the rhetoric of the last presidential campaign, and by statements and policies from the current administration.

Experts note such fear helps to tamp down reporting of hate crimes, which are already vastly underreported.

Ethnic media have long been attuned to such incidents, particularly when members of their own communities are the victims. NAM has been working with our ethnic media partners to help expand visibility of their reporting on hate crimes and hate-related incidents. You can see that coverage by visiting NAM’s Tracking Hate page.

NAM has also worked to help inform ethnic media on how to report and cover hate-related incidents.

But when it comes to accurately documenting hate, there is in fact no national system in place. The FBI maintains its Uniform Crime Reporting Program, which is slow to update and relies on reports from law enforcement agencies that may or – as is often the case – may not report such crimes.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, meanwhile, has operated its own database, though verification of claims by victims, witnesses and the media has been an issue, with some claims having been proven false.

Which is why NAM has joined a national collaborative of media, civil rights groups and tech companies that is working to accurately track and verify reports of hate crimes and incidents of bias or harassment.

The Documenting Hate Project is spearheaded by the not-for-profit news outlet ProPublica, which has created the form below to allow witnesses or victims to come forward and report their experience. Reports will be verified before entering a national database that will be made available, with privacy restrictions, to newsrooms and civil rights organizations across the country. The form is not a report to law enforcement or any government agency.

If you are a member of the ethnic media, we encourage you to upload this form to your own website to allow your audiences the opportunity to come forward should they or someone they know be the victim of a hate crime. Contact New America Media for details on how to use this tool.