NOTE: Faculty, if you are interviewed and quoted by news media, or if your work has been cited, and you have an online link to the article or video, please let us know. Contact us at news@csusb.edu
Thursday, Aug. 15
Impact of political rhetoric on increase in hate crime can’t be ignored, CSUSB professor says
Newsweek
Aug. 13, 2019
Defendants in at least 36 criminal cases involving violence, threats of violence or assault have invoked President Donald Trump in connection with their purported crimes, according to analysis by ABC News, which cited court documents and police statements.
'We see a correlation around the time of statements of political leaders and fluctuations in hate crimes,' Brian Levin, director of Cal State San Bernardino’s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, told the Associated Press. 'Could there be other intervening causes? Yes. But it's certainly a significant correlation that can't be ignored.'
Read the complete article at “Assailants invoking Donald Trump in criminal defenses, study shows.”
Article on surge of violence directed at LGBTQ community cites CSUSB hate crime study
Out
Aug. 14, 2019
In an article about violence directed at the LGBTQ community, the publication cited research by CSUSB’s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism.
At least 14 LGBTQ people were killed between May 15 and July 15, according to a new report by the Anti-Violence Project (AVP), “more than three times the hate violence homicides recorded between January 1 and May 14, 2019.
“According to a study from the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism (CSHE), hate crimes shot up nine percent last year, the largest such spike since 2015. The California State University San Bernardino think tank found it was the fifth consecutive year in which reports of violent bias attacks increased,” the publication reported.
Read the complete article at “There was a surge in anti-LGBTQ+ violence during Stonewall’s 50th.”
CSUSB center’s latest hate crime study cited by columnists
Psychology Today
Aug. 13, 2019
A column by Rosemary K.M. Sword and Philip Zimbardo that asked the question, “Similarities between our past and present are clear. Have we learned anything?” included mention research on hate crimes by a CSUSB center.
A report issued earlier this year by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino noted that Los Angeles recorded its highest number of reported hate crimes in nearly a decade.
Brian Levin, executive director of the center, stated “the increase in reported hate crimes against Jewish people and Latinos isn’t unexpected, as heated political rhetoric and long-perpetuated stereotypes focused on select groups often can translate to a rise in crimes committed against them. However, antisemitic rhetoric has been much more sustained and precipitous nationwide — and specifically in California, where there is a large population of Jewish people.”
Read the complete article at “The border, the squad and The Donald.”
Wednesday, Aug. 14
Domestic terrorism is likely to grow, experts, including those at CSUSB, warn
Fortune
Aug. 14, 2019
The mass shootings in Gilroy, El Paso and Dayton have cast new attention on the rise of extremist behavior in the United States. Researchers, including the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino, and law enforcement officials say the issue has been neglected, allowed to fester and proliferate.
As violent crime rates nudged slightly downward from 2010 to 2017, FBI-reported hate crimes climbed more than 8%, according to an analysis by the CSUSB Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism led by director Brian Levin.
Hate crimes spiked around Trump’s November 2016 victory, according to a study by Levin and his colleagues, with 27 reported incidents the day after the election alone. There were 735 reports that month, the worst month since 2007. Between 2016 and 2017, hate crime reports jumped 17%.
“While white supremacists and ultra-nationalists will maintain their position at the top of the threat matrix,” Levin wrote in a July 2019 report on U.S. hate crimes and extremism, “the risk is also diversifying” to include people with “antagonistic ideologies, those inspired by zealots and conflicts abroad, and those with more personal grievances.”
Read the complete article at “Domestic terrorism is likely to grow, experts warn.”
Tuesday, Aug. 13
CSUSB professor joins ‘The Source’ to discuss what makes young white men turn to extremism
KSTX (San Antonio, Texas)
Aug. 13, 2019
The Texas Public Radio program “The Source” focused on what makes young white men turn to extremism and featured Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, and Tony McAleer, former skinhead recruiter, co-found of and board chair for Life After Hate, author of the forthcoming book 'The Cure For Hate: A Former White Supremacist's Journey From Violent Extremism to Radical Compassion.'
Listen to a podcast of the program at “What makes young, white men succumb to extremist ideologies?”
In aftermath of El Paso, copycat offenders ‘consider themselves as part of an allied chain of so-called ‘lone warriors,’ CSUSB professor says
Vice News
Aug. 12, 2019
In the past week, police across the country have investigated or arrested at least six men, most of whom are young and white, for making terroristic threats, stockpiling weapons, or plotting attacks. The string of arrests came as America reeled in the aftermath of three mass shootings that left a combined total of 34 dead.
While copycat threats often follow mass shootings in the U.S., experts have noted that some of the last week’s arrestees have demonstrated a high level of preparedness and ideological motivation. Several allegedly subscribed to far-right beliefs, and two allegedly made threats against Walmart. Eight Walmart locations in total have received threats in the last week.
Brian Levin, who leads the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, said it’s not unusual for crimes to “manifest in clusters around publicity.” However, Levin said, there’s another element to what we’re currently seeing in response to the shootings.
“What makes these different is that many of these offenders consider themselves as part of an allied chain of so-called ‘lone’ warriors who combine their violence with a memorialization on social media, with references to past terrorists and bigoted folkloric texts.”
Read the complete article at “Police keep arresting young white men for trying to copycat El Paso.”
CSUSB center’s hate crime study cited in report about online message board 8chan
City Watch
Aug. 12, 2019
Research by Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino was cited in an article about 8chan, “the notorious online message board where bigotry is encouraged and celebrated enmasse,” the news site reported.
8chan users are already hailing the suspected El Paso shooter as a “saint.” Other mass murderers, including those who went on hate-fueled killing sprees many years ago, are extolled as heroes on the forum to this day. Several of them also left behind hateful online messages or manifestos before slaughtering their victims.
In fact, many recent domestic terrorists frequently visited sites including 8chan prior to their attacks, according to a new report from Cal State San Bernardino’s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism.
Read the complete article at ‘’What you need to know about 8chan and how it became a breeding ground for violence.”
CSUSB professor comments on lack of hate crime reporting by Florida’s largest cities
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Aug. 10, 2019
Hate crimes are on the rise in Florida, but the state’s law enforcement agencies aren’t doing a good job of documenting them, experts say.
Florida is one of the worst offenders when it comes to a nationwide problem of inadequate reporting of hate crime, said Brian Levin, director of Cal State San Bernardino’s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism.
“Large Florida cities have been notorious for having among the worst hate crime reporting in the nation,' Levin said. 'I don’t know what is going on there, but somebody should shake something up.”
Read the complete article at 'As white supremacy festers in America, Florida police agencies report few, sometimes even zero, hate crimes.'
These news clips and others may be viewed at “In the Headlines” at inside.csusb.edu.