By Melissa Garlick*<\/p>\n
Three militia members from southwest Kansas were recently convicted on federal civil rights charges and conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction for targeting Somali Muslim immigrants for a plan of mass murder in 2016.\u00a0 On a recording made available to the jury, one of the defendants said: \u201cThe only good Muslim is a dead Muslim<\/a>.\u201d The convictions sent an important message of reassurance to a small community left rattled and fearful.\u00a0 The unique impact of this crime \u2013 like all bias-motivated crimes demanded that our criminal justice system treat these crimes very seriously, with serious consequences.<\/p>\n But while the jury in Kansas got it right, we are living at a time when reported anti-Semitic incidents are increasing, extremists and hate groups are emboldened, and reported hate crimes, especially against Jews and Muslim, are on the rise.\u00a0 In this environment, in the aftermath of the violence in Charlottesville<\/a> last year, the question is: while U. S. Department of Justice hate crime investigations and prosecutions are critical \u2013 are they enough to prevent and respond to the broad and devastating societal impact hate crimes have?<\/p>\n Maybe not.<\/p>\n Consider this: The Anti-Defamation League saw 57 percent increase<\/a> in reported anti-Semitic incidents around the country\u2013 the largest single-year increase on record and the second highest number reported since ADL started tracking such data in 1979.\u00a0 And according to the most recent FBI hate crime data available<\/a>, from 2016, one hate crime is committed in this country every 90 minutes<\/em>.\u00a0 Consider also that that data documented a nearly 5 percent increase in hate crimes from 2015 to 2016.\u00a0 Yet more than 90 cities with 100,000 or more residents either did not provide hate crime data to the FBI or affirmatively reported that there were zero hate crimes in their jurisdiction.<\/p>\n That is simply not credible \u2013 and clearly an obstacle to addressing hate crimes effectively.<\/p>\n At the same time, ADL has seen a resurgence of white supremacist activity<\/a> in the United States. Extremists and anti-Semites are using technology in new ways to spread their hatred, both online and off.\u00a0 The threat they pose is serious and widespread.<\/p>\n While the Justice Department\u2019s successful prosecution in Kansas was welcome, the law is a blunt instrument in confronting hate violence.\u00a0 And our government absolutely cannot adequately and genuinely address the problem while also continuing to implement and defend policies that target communities of color, further marginalize minorities, and undermine trust between communities and law enforcement.<\/p>\n Addressing this disturbing climate and identifying, reporting, and responding to all forms of hate violence demands that we not cast aspersions on vulnerable and marginalized communities.\u00a0 Instead, our federal government must take a leading role in speaking out against hate, implementing policies that protect the civil and human rights of everyone in the United States, and fostering trust between law enforcement and communities to encourage reporting, documentation, and investigation of hate crime.\u00a0 After the violence in Charlottesville over the summer, more than 80 civil rights organizations, including ADL, outlined concrete recommendations<\/a> to the Department of Justice in order to effectively prevent and respond to hate crimes. These included a federal inter-agency Task Force on fighting hate, improving federal hate crime data collection by creating incentives for hate crime reporting, and improving training and outreach for law enforcement officials on hate crimes.\u00a0 But above all, in order to prevent and respond to hate crimes, the federal government must restore funding cuts to key civil rights office budget and it must rescind policies that undermine trust and relationships with communities of color.\u00a0 And, as the League pointed out in our May, 2018 testimony before the United States Commission on Civil Rights<\/a>, the federal government must use its bully pulpit and the full force of federal resources to make clear that bias-motivated violence, all forms of bigotry, and discrimination is unacceptable in our society.<\/p>\n