My Year-Long Trial Against Hate
Hate Is on The Rise
In the United States, hate and hate crimes keep going in one direction — up.
If we maintain the status quo, hate crimes and hate-related violence will not only continue to rise, but they will continue to go under-reported. Based on the numbers we have, we can say with near certainty that the number of hate crimes for 2021 exceeded 2020 and 2019 — meaning hate crimes will reach their highest point in 13 years. Faced with this reality, we must come out of our partisan political bunkers and rally around the overwhelming values that unite us.
This is why I chose “Combatting Hate” as the topic of my 2021 Presidential Initiative during my one-year term as President of the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG). We called it The People v. Hate: Standing Up for Humanity.
My decision to lean into this topic was both personal and professional. The continued increase of hate crimes nationwide was a signal to me that our country is in a moment of crisis. I want to live in a country that treats everyone with kindness, decency, respect, and fairness under law, no matter their race, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or religion.
So, I set out to put hate, not America, on trial. And over the last year, my team and I have brought people together — attorneys general, former extremists, survivors, their families, community advocates, law enforcement leaders, and historians — to examine the origins of hate, and how to combat it.
Here’s what we’ve learned:
Survivors of Hate Must Have a Seat at the Table
Last year, I hosted a virtual listening session to learn from survivors and relatives of deadly acts of hate. We heard from Jeff Binkley, Susan Bro, Pardeep Kaleka, and Rabbi Meyers who survived or lost loved ones to hate. They explained that when the TV cameras move on from incidents of hate, survivors are left to deal with the trauma and pain caused by hate for years and even generations.
The following month, Connecticut Attorney General William Tong and I co-hosted a national landmark convening on countering anti-Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) hate. We unpacked the skyrocketing violence against the AAPI community since the start of the pandemic and how these crimes often remain invisible.
Then, during my NAAG Presidential Summit in September, we heard from Sarah Collins-Rudolph, the “fifth little girl” who survived the 16th Baptist Church Bombing in Birmingham, Alabama. She spoke movingly about how she continues to live with the trauma of surviving the bombing. It took decades before any of the perpetrators of these acts were held accountable.
We also heard from Taylor Dumpson who was the first Black woman to serves as student government president at American University. In the wake of her ground-breaking election, she was the target of a hate crime on her first day in office — enduring cyber-harassment by members of white supremacist groups. However, Ms. Dumpson did not allow these acts to deter her from her goal of becoming a civil rights attorney, nor did she let it break her. Instead, Ms. Dumpson fought back by suing the Neo-Nazis who cyber-harassed her. And she won.
Their stories taught me a couple of things:
· Survivors must have sustained support as they live with the lifelong trauma of hate-motivated violence.
· We must commit to educating ourselves on how we can take action to support survivors and prevent hate incidents and crimes.
· Data matters. If we don’t understand the gravity of the problem, we cannot take the necessary steps to solve it. We know that most hate crimes are not reported because survivors are often hesitant to seek assistance and police agencies fail to report those crimes to the FBI’s tracking program. These data gaps impede our ability to understand the threat and appropriately allocate resources.
Prevention Requires Education and Training
We cannot prevent what we do not understand or have the tools to address. That is why we convened multiple trainings and learning opportunities over the past year on hate-related violence.
For example, in October, in conjunction with the Lawyers’ Committee James Byrd Jr. Center to Stop Hate, we organized a hate crimes training for attorneys general and their staff on civil litigation strategies to fight hate, and investigative tactics in the wake of an incident. We’ve hosted separate trainings on combatting the rise in anti-Semitism and how state laws can be used to counter private violent militia groups.
We centralized resources and best practices to help state attorneys general combat bias-motivated crimes. They include federal and state resources as well as toolkits from many of the nation’s leading advocacy groups that are working to combat hate.
Similarly, we created a centralized resource on the OAG webpage where District residents can learn about hate incidents and crimes in the District, survivor resources, and our approach to address hate. We also livestreamed 30 minute educational segments where we talked with attorneys general, experts, advocates, and local residents about the state of hate in the District, nationally, and the importance of coming together as a community in the aftermath of hate.
Law enforcement experts joined our Presidential Summit to share solutions for working together to stop hate led by Ohio Attorney General David Yost, a Republican. The panel convened two police chiefs (Louis Dekmar and Will Johnson) and Dr. Heidi Beirich co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism to discuss what they are doing to combat hate in the communities they serve. For example Chief Dekmar highlighted polices police forces are using to investigate hate crimes, such as the one developed by the International Association of Chiefs of Police, Georgia’s Trust Commission.
A Better Future Requires Empowering Young People
Children do not hate, rather they learn bias and hate from observing it in others. That’s why our initiative prioritized outreach to children.
For instance, my office partnered with the D.C.-based non-profit Project Create to launch Artists v. Hate. This local contest empowered District youth to stand up against hate, promote social justice, and inspire change through art. Over 50 students submitted artwork in this pilot program. Here are the winning pieces:
Our kickoff event showcased a local youth rapper, spoken word artist, youth photographer, and storytelling expert. The program included a curriculum framework for teachers and concluded with a roundtable that shared best practices for empowering youth and youth educators to counter hate and injustice.
Our High School Advisory Council (HSAC) is an intensive six-week paid program in which District students work closely with OAG professionals to make important policy recommendations to the Attorney General. Last year, HSAC recommended policies directed at embracing LGBTQ students.
We also hosted a series of educational sessions for adults and youth, including one that focused on the importance of standing up to bullying, harassment, and hate, and offered practical resources to assist people in safely intervening to assist victims of hate and bullying.
Demanding Greater Responsibility from Social Media Platforms
Hate and real-world violence is perpetuated online through misinformation, hateful echo chambers, and algorithmic radicalization.
Defeating hate requires action to prevent its proliferation online. We led numerous presentations that raised awareness of the dangers of online hate and called on social media companies to stop fanning the flames of hate on their platforms by choosing profit over public safety.
Indeed, I led a 20-state coalition urging Facebook to aggressively combat the amplification of hate and disinformation online in the lead-up to the presidential election. Similarly, in the wake of the January 6th attack, I led a group of attorneys general calling on Facebook to halt weapons advertisements to known extremists amid heightened inauguration threats.
We’ve hosted multiple listening and educational sessions with advocates, technology, and legal experts on a range of topics related to online hate including how online hate leads to real world violence, how hate actors manipulate online spaces to spread disinformation and gain recruits, the legal nuances of Section 230, how social media algorithms can radicalize users to hate and violence, and specific challenges law enforcement face in preventing and solving crimes when there is an online component.
We also created the NAAG Subcommittee: Online Hate, Extremism, and Misinformation to allow attorneys general and their staff an opportunity to learn from these experts and discuss how we can work together to develop solutions.
Hate is an American Issue — Not a Democratic or Republican One
Within a month of taking office as the President of NAAG, the January 6 violent insurrection stunned our country and the world. Known hate groups led the insurrection and sought to undermine our country’s freedom and cherished democracy. This moment required definitive leadership from both parties and independents. That is why within 72 hours of the attack, 50 of my Democratic and Republican colleagues came together to condemn the January 6 riots.
We maintained the bipartisanship spirit throughout the year when we brought together a group of 35 Republican and Democratic state attorneys general to call on Congress to pass the Jabara-Heyer NO HATE ACT. Then, in May 2021, Congress passed, and President Biden signed, this historic legislation into law with overwhelming bipartisan support. This legislation will provide state and local law enforcement with much needed resources to better document and maintain data around hate crimes and hate incidents. Without data, the magnitude of our country’s hate problem has been downplayed and, evidence demonstrates that because of a lack of accurate reporting, survivors and witnesses are too often deterred from reporting incidents to law enforcement.
Our History Matters Because It Informs Our Present
Through my year-long inquiry into hate we’ve examined the many faces of hate and the opportunities to address it, which includes talking about the importance of history, truth, and reconciliation. Policy and legal changes are important — but we cannot undo the legacy of hate and systemic racism without acknowledging our history and committing to right historic wrongs.
In today’s environment, talking about history and truth has become too political. Some say it is an effort by the left to make others feel responsible for the sins of the past or to paint America as an irredeemably racist nation. My intention is for our country to unite behind its shared humanity. I believe that learning from our past wrongs and growing together is essential for us to achieve greatness together today and tomorrow.
Acknowledging that hate has been part of America since its founding including the genocide of Native Americans, slavery, reconstruction, Jim Crow, the Chinese Exclusion Act, our treatment Irish immigrants, internment of Japanese citizens, discrimination against Muslims, Jews and people of other faith traditions, and the LGBTQ community is an important undertaking. We must also remember horrific hate-motivated events like the Tulsa Race Massacre, the attack on the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Alabama, the slaughter of Mexican Americans at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, the attack against Asian-American women at Atlanta area spas and killing of women just because they are women.
Telling the truth, however ugly it is, honors the victims, survivors, and reminds us all of what we are capable of. That’s why we hosted a visit to the National Museum of African American History and Culture during my presidential summit in October, and why we commemorate anniversaries of notorious dates in history when humanity lost out to hate.
CASTE — Isabel Wilkerson
We concluded the Presidential Initiative with an extraordinary conversation with award winning author and humanist, Isabel Wilkerson, the author of CASTE — The Origins of Our Discontents.
Ms. Wilkerson spoke passionately of her research into the arbitrary ways our society divides and ranks human beings. For example, she spoke of the iconic Tuskegee Airman, Black pilots and flight professionals who supported our country’s fight for freedom in World War II but when they came home after bringing an end to Hitler, Mussolini, and Tojo, they were treated as second class citizens and struggled to find work — simply because they were Black. While their extraordinary talent and grit are, of course, enviable and praiseworthy, but survivors of hate should not be required to exhibit herculean talent, skill, and confidence just to provide for their families or be treated as equal.
The Way Forward
My presidential term may be over — but my work against hate will continue until my last breath.
Over the next 13 months, I plan to continue to challenge tech companies that choose profits over people, advocate for the resources to improve hate crime data, and bring cases against organizations and individuals who organize, plan, and participate in hateful acts. My office’s recent lawsuit to hold the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and over 30 individuals accountable for their role in the January 6 insurrection demonstrates our commitment to bankrupt those who engage in, and profit from, hate.
Beyond using the law to right wrongs, my team and I will spend every day uplifting survivors, supporting their families, and educating every person we can on our common humanity. It has been an extraordinary privilege and honor to represent the District of Columbia on this national platform as NAAG President. I hope that my colleagues — both Democratic and Republican — will continue to take meaningful steps to elevate love over hate.
