Burst of hate crimes declines

Incidents still more frequent than before election, center says

A burst of hate incidents and crimes reported in the days after Donald Trump’s election in November eased, but hate activity remains above pre-election levels, the Southern Poverty Law Center said.

Heidi Beirich, head of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project, called on President-elect Trump to take a strong stand against hate speech and crime. “He was interviewed on 60

Minutes, and he said stop it but never took a really strong stand,” Beirich told USA TODAY on Thursday. “Going forward, the question is how does Trump conduct himself ?”

Beirich said the 9/11 terror attacks prompted an outbreak of assaults targeting Muslims. “The dynamic was altered when (thenpresident) George Bush went to a mosque,” she said. “The number of incidents ground almost to a halt.”

The FBI defines a hate crime as a “criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender or gender identity.” Some states are fighting back. Days after the election, Massachusetts created a hotline for victims of “bias-motivated threats, harassment or violence.” Emily Snyder, spokeswoman for the state attorney general’s office, said the hotline has drawn hundreds of calls that are being pursued by a team of investigators and attorneys.

In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo also set up a hotline, ordered an investigation team and asked the Education Department to set up school programs to combat intolerance.