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| California Attorney General Rob Bonta has made fighting hate crimes one of his top priorities. |
Hate crimes against AANHPI went down in California for 2022, but the total of hate crimes went up. 2023 is expected to see an overall increase due to the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
“There is no place for hate in California’s communities and cities,” said Rob Bonta, the state's first Filipino American Attorney General at a discussion in Irving, California on Monday, Oct. 23. “As our communities feel the ripple effects of the heart-wrenching violence in Israel and Palestine, we must recommit to standing united against hate, wherever it occurs in our state."
As part of a statewide effort to address hate, Bonta joined a roundtable discussion Monday in Orange County where he was was joined by Irvine's mayor, Pakistan-born Farrah N. Khan, and other local elected and community leaders.
The roundtable in Irvine is the 13th in a series of meetings led by Bonta across the state to bring together local elected officials, law enforcement officers, and community leaders to discuss best practices in addressing hate crimes. The roundtables are broadly aimed at developing strategies to address bias and hate, increasing awareness around available resources for members of the public, and strengthening responses to hate crimes and incidents in California.
Although hate crime targeting Asians decreased by 43.3% from 247 in 2021 to 140 in 2022, there was a 20.2% increase in total reported hate crime events in California, according to a report on hate crimes released in the summer by the Attorney General. Although not captured in statewide hate crime statistics, it’s also important to remember that hate incidents — acts that do not meet the legal requirements of a crime — are also incredibly harmful and can leave lasting, negative impacts on targeted communities.
Even before the Mideast War began, the state report found that hate crimes against Jews increased 24.3% from 152 in 2021 to 189 and at the same time, anti-Muslim crimes rose from 18 in 2021 to 25 in 2022.
Blacks continue to be the community most targeted by hate in the state. Anti-Black incidents ncreased 27.1% from 513 in 2021 to 652 in 2022.
FYI: The full 2022 Hate Crime in California report is available here.
Yulan Chung, CEO of the South Coast Chinese Cultural Association, said when one person is affected by hate, the entire community feels it. She and other community members on the Orange County panel said they’d like to see more collaboration, accountability and funding go toward addressing anti-hate work.
Over the last five years, hate activity has been on the rise locally, according to the latest OC Hate Crimes Report. In Orange County, home to a large number of Asian Americans, the number of hate incidents against Asian Americans jumped 1,800% in 2020, according to the annual Orange County Hate Crime Report.
For 2022, hate crimes have increased by only 75%, and hate incidents – incidents motivated by hateful bias that is not a crime – rose by 142%.
There were 450 reported hate crimes and incidents in Orange County in 2022, and more than half of those were motivated by race, ethnicity or national origin bias.
To counter the rise in anti-Asian incidents and attacks, the Anaheim Union High School District has launched this school year a first-of-its-kind high school ethnic studies course focused on the experiences of Korean Americans.
Although there are no hate crimes committed since the Middel East war began Oct. 7, the Jewish community was the most targeted religion in the county, and accounted for 20% of the total number of hate crimes and incidents.
Antisemitic incidents in the United States rose by about 400% in slightly over two weeks since war broke out in the Middle East, according to the advocacy group Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said Wednesday.
In anticipation of a spike, case workers at the state's Civil Rights Department have been reaching out to mosques, synagogues, and cultural groups that serve Muslim or Arab-American Californians and are concerned about hate crimes, said Becky Monroe, a senior official at the California Civil Rights Department.
“Irvine is an incredibly diverse city,” Khan said. “However, we’ve not been immune to hate incidents or hate crimes in our city. We know this isn’t going away, and we have to do our part to make sure that our communities and our cities feel safe.”
Over the last five years, hate activity has been on the rise locally, according to the latest OC Hate Crimes Report. In Orange County, home to a large number of Asian Americans, the number of hate incidents against Asian Americans jumped 1,800% in 2020, according to the annual Orange County Hate Crime Report.
For 2022, hate crimes have increased by only 75%, and hate incidents – incidents motivated by hateful bias that is not a crime – rose by 142%.
There were 450 reported hate crimes and incidents in Orange County in 2022, and more than half of those were motivated by race, ethnicity or national origin bias.
To counter the rise in anti-Asian incidents and attacks, the Anaheim Union High School District has launched this school year a first-of-its-kind high school ethnic studies course focused on the experiences of Korean Americans.
Although there are no hate crimes committed since the Middel East war began Oct. 7, the Jewish community was the most targeted religion in the county, and accounted for 20% of the total number of hate crimes and incidents.
Antisemitic incidents in the United States rose by about 400% in slightly over two weeks since war broke out in the Middle East, according to the advocacy group Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said Wednesday.
In anticipation of a spike, case workers at the state's Civil Rights Department have been reaching out to mosques, synagogues, and cultural groups that serve Muslim or Arab-American Californians and are concerned about hate crimes, said Becky Monroe, a senior official at the California Civil Rights Department.
“Irvine is an incredibly diverse city,” Khan said. “However, we’ve not been immune to hate incidents or hate crimes in our city. We know this isn’t going away, and we have to do our part to make sure that our communities and our cities feel safe.”
EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow me at Threads.net/eduardodiok, @DioknoEd on Twitter or at the blog Views From the Edge.
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