‘Turmoil and anxieties’

Experts: Societal stresses among reasons hate crimes doubled in CT last year

From the presidential election to the COVID pandemic, experts say there were many reasons why hate crimes nearly doubled — following a national trend — in Connecticut last year.

The Anti-Defamation League tracks a variety of hate crimes, including extremist murders, terrorist plots and attacks, extremist/police shootouts, white supremacist events, white supremacist propaganda and anti-Semitic incidents.

The ADL Center of Extremism compiles the data based on media, police and victim reports, as well as extremist-related sources, investigations and more.

The ADL data shows a nationwide snapshot only of reported hate crimes tracked by the organization and does not show the full scope of the issue, experts said.

“Hate crimes are grossly under-reported,” said Elizabeth Fles, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Bridgeport with expertise in social stigmatization, hate crimes and white supremacist groups.

Last year, the ADL indicated there were 128 reported hate crimes in Connecticut, including 106 instances of white supremacist propaganda, 21 antiSemitic incidents, one extremist murder and one white supremacist event.

In 2019, the ADL tracked 65 reported hate crime incidents in Connecticut, including 37 antiSemitic incidents, 27 instances of white supremacist propaganda, one extremist/police shootout and one white supremacist event.

Among the Connecticut incidents classified as a hate crime on the ADL’s nationwide map was described as an “extremist murder” in Hartford on July 26, 2020. A landlord was attacked and killed by a tenant wielding a samurai sword after a dispute over rent, police said. The tenant, Jerry David Thompson, was charged murder and remains held on $2 million bond as his case remains pending.

The ADL said white supremacist propaganda reached a new high in 2020, with a national average of 14 incidents a day.

Fles said it’s “no comfort” that Connecticut is following a nationwide trend.

“We want to understand why it’s happening and try to find ways we can reduce and mitigate these problems,” she said.

The data indicated that 5,121 of the 6,478 reported hate crime incidents tracked nationwide last year by the ADL were instances of white supremacist propaganda. The ADL said that was nearly double the 2,724 cases reported in 2019.

In Newtown on Nov. 1, 2020, propaganda stickers were distributed that read “better dead than red,” “our tradition is revolution” and “America First,” the ADL data showed.

“White supremacists appear to be more emboldened than ever, and the election year, the pandemic and other factors may have provided these extremists with additional encouragement,” ADL CEO Jonathan A. Greenblatt said in a statement.

At least 30 white supremacist groups allegedly distributed propaganda, according to the data.

“The literature helps to bolster recruitment efforts and spreads fear by targeting specific groups, including the Jewish, Black, Muslim and LGBTQ+ communities, as well as non-white immigrants,” said Oren Segal, vice president of the ADL’s Center on Extremism.

Fles said there are various reasons for the rise in hate crimes last year.

“Between the election and the turmoil caused by the coronavirus, I think a lot of people are experiencing uncertainty,” Fles said. “They’re looking for some kind of answer, or something to look to, to guide them.”

She said in the case of white supremacy groups and ideologies, “their voices are really loud and they are providing answers, even if they are problematic answers.”

Fles said the rise in hate crimes toward people of Asian descent also climbed last year because of COVID, as well as the rhetoric used by former President Donald Trump regarding the disease.

“Even though hate crimes are on the rise, this is just the tip of the iceberg,” Fles said. “There’s a lot of turmoil and anxieties, and people are having a harder time hiding implicit biases . ... When you are under stress, you don’t have the (cognitive) resources to suppress those urges that you normally do.”

There were 21 reported incidents of anti-Semitism in 2020 statewide, including one instance last January when about 30 headstones in two small Jewish cemeteries in Hartford were vandalized and toppled over, the ADL reported.

In New Milford, a synagogue holding Shabbat services on Zoom last March was interrupted by an unknown participant, saying “Heil Hitler” and “Jews should die,” the ADL reported.

Also in March 2020, a rabbi was standing in the driveway outside the Chabad House at Yale in New Haven when two teens walked up to him and demanded he hand over all his items, while cursing and referencing his religion. The ADL said when the rabbi resisted, the teens assaulted him and stole his vehicle.

In December, structures at Holy Land USA in Waterbury were vandalized with graffiti, including swastikas. Three people were arrested in connection with this incident.

While the pandemic was likely a contributing factor to the 2020 rise in reported hate crimes, Fles said it’s hard to say if a return to normalcy postpandemic could lead to a decline in these incidents.

“In my opinion, I don’t expect that it will go down significantly until the actual issues that prompted them to begin with are addressed,” Fles said.