Colin Flaherty: Hate Crimes Rise In U.S. Who is Doing All the Hating and Violence?

Hate Crimes Rise In U.S. Who is Doing All the Hating and Violence? Colin Flaherty reviews and gives commentary on news with headlines "Is 2018 the Summer of Hate in America, all caught on tape?" and "Hundreds of teens descend on Broad St. damaging property, fighting" and "7 Teens, 2 Adults Arrested After Incident At White Marsh Mall" and "7 people shot outside Cleveland bar following music video shoot" and "Police: Armed bystander takes down gunman at Titusville back-to-school event" and "8 people were shot in KC MO over the weekend, 2 women died" and "8 arrested in Lorain melee"Show more

Emmi Vélez Yahoo News Video August 1, 2018
This summer, social media seems to be flooded with viral videos depicting overt acts of racism in the U.S. — from immigrants being openly disparaged to an alarming number of posts showing Americans calling fellow citizens the N word. Viewers can’t help but wonder if this is because Americans have cameras in their pocket at nearly all times, or an actual rising tide of hate unleashed by these divisive political times.

But is it a rising trend? The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), one of America’s largest civil rights organizations, released a statement regarding a new study showing a rise in hate crimes last year, conducted by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino. According to new data, “hate crime totals for the 10 largest cities rose for four straight years to the highest level in a decade.”

Lecia Brooks, outreach director of the Southern Poverty Law Center — a nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation that monitors hate incidents and hate crimes — says this is a trend that grew after the 2016 presidential election.

“It really started with the presidential campaign and [Trump’s] vilification and dehumanization of Mexicans, and making fun of people with disabilities, and vilifying Muslims as terrorists. And then he won. … It’s encouraging this type of behavior,” she said.