Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on May 14, 2021

This story is a part of Hearst Television's series "Hate in the Homeland." Our National Investigative Unit is uncovering the battle against hateful acts in America. Stay with this station for more stories on the fight against Hate in the Homeland.The vast majority of law enforcement agencies are not reporting hate crimes to a key federal database, hampering efforts to contain a rise in hate incidents and leaving communities nationwide in the dark about the prevalence of hate in the homeland, a Hearst Television National Investigative Unit series has found. In addition, almost none of the police departments and sheriffs offices that responded to an exclusive Hearst survey said they have dedicated hate crimes units, raising questions about how seriously Americas law enforcement takes the threat. The most recent data available now indicates at least 20 hate incidents per day in the United States. But experts caution that is likely a vast undercount given the dearth of law enforcement resources, the reluctance of some victims to come forward, and the absence of widespread, mandatory data reporting. Meanwhile, the threat from hate groups and extremists spewing hateful ideologies grows, metastasizing in communities big and small. In 2020, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) said it tracked 866 hate groups. "It is a lot. And it's scary. Yeah, it's a frightening number," said Susan Corke, director of SPLCs Intelligence Project."I feel like our country is at a reckoning."'I don't believe the Holocaust happened'The voice of Tristan Webb, 19, is the sound of hate in the homeland. "I think that the Jews, they are just a parasitical race. And I mean, I don't believe the Holocaust happened. I wish it did happen," Webb says in an on-the-record interview for season two of the "Sounds Like Hate" podcast, a lengthy excerpt of which was given exclusively to Hearst Television ahead of the premiere episode's May 12 worldwide release.ABOVE: LISTEN TO EXCLUSIVE EXCERPT OF "SOUNDS LIKE HATE" SEASON TWO The 19-year-old from Michigan, who now lives in a state in the South, is also heard on tape being recruited to join The Base, a white nationalist organization designated as a hate group by the SPLC. "They tried to get therapists to talk to me. They tried to suspend me. They tried to do whatever they could to stop, you know, me, de-radicalize me and everything," Webb recounts on the podcast. "And it just didn't work and just made me more secure in what I was doing. And it worked. I mean, I got a group of people around and got people to wake up."On tape, Webb brags of founding a group called "Aryan Resistance" and resisting his own family when confronted. "Oh, yeah, no, it didn't work at all. I think no one wants to hear, you know, 'oh, you're wrong. You know, you need to stop this. Oh, you know, you're, you know, you're evil, you're radical,' because it just makes you more sure in yourself," Webb said. He declined to do a subsequent on-camera interview.Podcast co-host Jamila Paksima and her team convinced Webb to talk; the sound of his views becoming a canary in very dark coal mine. "My mother is Jewish," Paksima said in an interview for this story, "and I'm sitting here listening to this man talking about the fact that the Holocaust didn't even exist. It was you know, it's infuriating." "I think this is a huge problem in our communities we've avoided talking about and it's time to address it."'This is a national emergency' In interviews across the country, survivors of hate incidents recalled the horror, agony, and viciousness of attacks. "I didn't know if I was going to make it out alive or not," an African American man said."They put their hands on me," an Asian American boy remembered."It's so dehumanizing," another woman said."I was really at risk for my life," a fourth added.There are more victims every day. In the most recent year for which data is available, hate crimes in America rose to the highest level in a decade. Hate-motivated killings are at the highest in nearly 30 years, FBI data show. And hate crimes targeting Asian-Americans have soared 169%, according to a report from the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University.The disparate hate groups nearly 900 by the SPLCs count span the spectrum of prejudice."The classic neo-Nazi Ku Klux Klan, there's the white supremacist, white nationalist groups, and then there's the more mainstream groups, the anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, anti-LGBTQ, anti-Semitic," Corke explained.Because federal hate crimes reporting requirements are voluntary, data experts and anti-hate advocates agree the totals tallied nationally do not capture an accurate portrait of hate incidents each year."Hate crimes are vastly underreported, most of the vulnerable communities do not feel safe reporting it to the police. That is a national emergency," Corke said.Survey finds hate crimes units rareGreatly contributing to the lack of accuracy in hate crimes totals is that only 14% of law enforcement agencies nationwide report them to the FBIs federal database. So the Hearst Television National Investigative Unit sent a 40-question survey to more than 14,000 police chiefs and sheriffs in all 50 states and asked whether they think federal or state hate crimes reporting should be required. Of those who responded to the questionnaire, 81% said hate crimes reporting should be mandatory; 18% said it should not. Yet four in 10 told us hate crime reporting, in their view, is "insufficient" now. And only 2% of those agencies that responded said they have a dedicated hate crimes unit. Shown those survey results, Allison Padilla-Goodman, the Southern Division vice president for the Anti-Defamation League, said "absolutely" lawmakers in statehouses around the nation need to do more to combat hate incidents.Nearly 40% of states dont require hate reportingAccording to information provided by the U.S. Department of Justice, three states still do not have a traditional hate crimes law: Wyoming, Arkansas, and South Carolina. Those states, along with 17 more, the Justice Department said, do not require data collection on hate crimes; those include: Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Delaware, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. "Look, we cannot understand truly the landscape of hate and the landscape of hate crimes when we have faulty data," Padilla-Goodman explained in an interview recently in front of the state Capitol in Georgia, which passed a hate crimes law last year."We need for state lawmakers to really grasp and understand the impact of hate crimes and really commit to getting reporting right," she said.King's 'fierce urgency of now' enduresThe day before Emancipation Day in Washington, D.C., Susan Corke at SPLC sat for an interview at the Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial on the National Mall.Fifty-eight years after the civil rights leader's March on Washington, his "fierce urgency of now" remains as an effort to counteract the voices spewing hate in our homeland. "We need to find the next Martin Luther King," Corke said. "In each and every one of us, that we're willing to stand up and fight together." See exclusive 'Hate in the Homeland' survey results sent to 14,000 police and sheriffs nationwide Hear exclusive portion of "Sounds Like Hate" podcast Read hate crimes laws in your stateWATCH THE HEARST TELEVISION NATIONAL INVESTIGATIVE UNIT SERIES, HATE IN THE HOMELAND: Part 1: Prevalence of Hate (May 11, 2021) Part 2: Monetization of Hate (May 12, 2021) Part 3: Prevention of Hate (May 13, 2021)Mark Albert is the chief national investigative correspondent for the Hearst Television National Investigative Unit, based in Washington D.C. April Chunko, Amanda Rooker, Dija Riyal, & Kevin Rothstein contributed to this report. Know of hate in the homeland? Have a confidential tip or inside information? Send information and documents to the National Investigative Unit at investigate@hearst.com.

This story is a part of Hearst Television's series "Hate in the Homeland." Our National Investigative Unit is uncovering the battle against hateful acts in America. Stay with this station for more stories on the fight against Hate in the Homeland.

The vast majority of law enforcement agencies are not reporting hate crimes to a key federal database, hampering efforts to contain a rise in hate incidents and leaving communities nationwide in the dark about the prevalence of hate in the homeland, a Hearst Television National Investigative Unit series has found. In addition, almost none of the police departments and sheriffs offices that responded to an exclusive Hearst survey said they have dedicated hate crimes units, raising questions about how seriously Americas law enforcement takes the threat.

The most recent data available now indicates at least 20 hate incidents per day in the United States. But experts caution that is likely a vast undercount given the dearth of law enforcement resources, the reluctance of some victims to come forward, and the absence of widespread, mandatory data reporting.

Meanwhile, the threat from hate groups and extremists spewing hateful ideologies grows, metastasizing in communities big and small.

In 2020, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) said it tracked 866 hate groups.

"It is a lot. And it's scary. Yeah, it's a frightening number," said Susan Corke, director of SPLCs Intelligence Project.

"I feel like our country is at a reckoning."

Eric Young, Huron Daily Tribune

The voice of Tristan Webb, 19, is the sound of hate in the homeland.

"I think that the Jews, they are just a parasitical race. And I mean, I don't believe the Holocaust happened. I wish it did happen," Webb says in an on-the-record interview for season two of the "Sounds Like Hate" podcast, a lengthy excerpt of which was given exclusively to Hearst Television ahead of the premiere episode's May 12 worldwide release.

ABOVE: LISTEN TO EXCLUSIVE EXCERPT OF "SOUNDS LIKE HATE" SEASON TWO

The 19-year-old from Michigan, who now lives in a state in the South, is also heard on tape being recruited to join The Base, a white nationalist organization designated as a hate group by the SPLC.

"They tried to get therapists to talk to me. They tried to suspend me. They tried to do whatever they could to stop, you know, me, de-radicalize me and everything," Webb recounts on the podcast. "And it just didn't work and just made me more secure in what I was doing. And it worked. I mean, I got a group of people around and got people to wake up."

On tape, Webb brags of founding a group called "Aryan Resistance" and resisting his own family when confronted.

"Oh, yeah, no, it didn't work at all. I think no one wants to hear, you know, 'oh, you're wrong. You know, you need to stop this. Oh, you know, you're, you know, you're evil, you're radical,' because it just makes you more sure in yourself," Webb said. He declined to do a subsequent on-camera interview.

Podcast co-host Jamila Paksima and her team convinced Webb to talk; the sound of his views becoming a canary in very dark coal mine.

"My mother is Jewish," Paksima said in an interview for this story, "and I'm sitting here listening to this man talking about the fact that the Holocaust didn't even exist. It was you know, it's infuriating."

"I think this is a huge problem in our communities we've avoided talking about and it's time to address it."

Hearst Television

In interviews across the country, survivors of hate incidents recalled the horror, agony, and viciousness of attacks.

"I didn't know if I was going to make it out alive or not," an African American man said.

"They put their hands on me," an Asian American boy remembered.

"It's so dehumanizing," another woman said.

"I was really at risk for my life," a fourth added.

There are more victims every day.

In the most recent year for which data is available, hate crimes in America rose to the highest level in a decade. Hate-motivated killings are at the highest in nearly 30 years, FBI data show. And hate crimes targeting Asian-Americans have soared 169%, according to a report from the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University.

The disparate hate groups nearly 900 by the SPLCs count span the spectrum of prejudice.

"The classic neo-Nazi Ku Klux Klan, there's the white supremacist, white nationalist groups, and then there's the more mainstream groups, the anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, anti-LGBTQ, anti-Semitic," Corke explained.

Hearst Television

Because federal hate crimes reporting requirements are voluntary, data experts and anti-hate advocates agree the totals tallied nationally do not capture an accurate portrait of hate incidents each year.

"Hate crimes are vastly underreported, most of the vulnerable communities do not feel safe reporting it to the police. That is a national emergency," Corke said.

Greatly contributing to the lack of accuracy in hate crimes totals is that only 14% of law enforcement agencies nationwide report them to the FBIs federal database.

So the Hearst Television National Investigative Unit sent a 40-question survey to more than 14,000 police chiefs and sheriffs in all 50 states and asked whether they think federal or state hate crimes reporting should be required.

Of those who responded to the questionnaire, 81% said hate crimes reporting should be mandatory; 18% said it should not.

Yet four in 10 told us hate crime reporting, in their view, is "insufficient" now.

And only 2% of those agencies that responded said they have a dedicated hate crimes unit.

Shown those survey results, Allison Padilla-Goodman, the Southern Division vice president for the Anti-Defamation League, said "absolutely" lawmakers in statehouses around the nation need to do more to combat hate incidents.

According to information provided by the U.S. Department of Justice, three states still do not have a traditional hate crimes law: Wyoming, Arkansas, and South Carolina.

Hearst Television

Those states, along with 17 more, the Justice Department said, do not require data collection on hate crimes; those include: Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Delaware, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Hearst Television

"Look, we cannot understand truly the landscape of hate and the landscape of hate crimes when we have faulty data," Padilla-Goodman explained in an interview recently in front of the state Capitol in Georgia, which passed a hate crimes law last year.

"We need for state lawmakers to really grasp and understand the impact of hate crimes and really commit to getting reporting right," she said.

The day before Emancipation Day in Washington, D.C., Susan Corke at SPLC sat for an interview at the Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial on the National Mall.

Hearst Television

Fifty-eight years after the civil rights leader's March on Washington, his "fierce urgency of now" remains as an effort to counteract the voices spewing hate in our homeland.

"We need to find the next Martin Luther King," Corke said. "In each and every one of us, that we're willing to stand up and fight together."

WATCH THE HEARST TELEVISION NATIONAL INVESTIGATIVE UNIT SERIES, HATE IN THE HOMELAND:

Mark Albert is the chief national investigative correspondent for the Hearst Television National Investigative Unit, based in Washington D.C. April Chunko, Amanda Rooker, Dija Riyal, & Kevin Rothstein contributed to this report.

Know of hate in the homeland? Have a confidential tip or inside information? Send information and documents to the National Investigative Unit at investigate@hearst.com.

Read more:
EXCLUSIVE: Part 1: 'Hate in the Homeland' growing, crimes not reported to FBI - KMBC Kansas City

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