In the year since California launched a hotline for reporting hate crimes, most of the calls were related to race or ethnicity, with 26.8% of calls citing anti-Black bias. The second- and third-most cited incidents involved anti-Latino and anti-Asian bias, state officials announced Monday.
The statewide hotline was created to address the uptick in hate crimes across California during the COVID-19 pandemic, by compiling a comprehensive database to track incidents and offer an alternative to police intervention. In the year since it debuted, the state has received 1,020 reports of hate crimes — including discrimination and harassment claims. Most claims were reported from residences, like at homes or apartment complexes, and at the workplace.
“This program is new. And so this data should not be treated as represented of all acts of hate in our state. We have more work to do,” Kevin Kish, director of the California Civil Rights Department, said during a Monday news conference.
When someone calls they can ask to be connected to mental health services, to get help filing a civil rights complaint, or to get redirected to legal services.
This one-year mark comes on the heels of reported upticks in crimes against Jewish and Palestinian communities and as the state Legislature deliberates a reparations package that aims to remedy the legacy of slavery.
“There is no question that the work on reparations is directly linked to the work on combating hate,” said Becky Monroe, the deputy director for strategic initiatives and external affairs at the California Civil Rights Department. She called the work on hate crime reporting “central” to the state’s reparations plans.
Race and ethnicity bias were the most cited reasons for calls, accounting for more than one-third of the total calls received, the state’s data show. The second most reported category was related to gender identity, accounting for 15.1% of calls, while sexual orientation-related calls accounted…
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