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
CSUSB faculty publish research on weight discrimination among students from a diverse urban university
The Sport Journal
CSUSB Department of Kinesiology faculty Guillermo Escalante, Rafael Alamilla, Christopher Gentry and Jason Ng, and CSUSB professor of sociology Eric Vogelsang published their research that examined “the association between university students’ weight discrimination and their academic discipline, gender, ethnicity, body mass index (BMI), body fat percentage, explicit overweight bias, personal body perceptions, and their personal experiences with weight loss,” according to the abstract.
Read the complete article “Weight Discrimination among Students from a Diverse Urban University.”
Sikh’s Rose Parade float promotes peace even as they face increasing hate crimes
Los Angeles Times
Jan. 1, 2020
Though a message of peace and goodwill was shared by Los Angeles-area Sikhs from their annual float in the Rose Parade on Jan. 1, recently, reports of hate crimes against the group have increased.
In 2015, the FBI recorded six reports of hate crimes against Sikhs. In 2018 there were 60, a 200% increase from the 20 reported in 2017, according to figures provided by Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino.
“Sikhs are attacked not only because they are confused with Muslims, but also because their adherents are doubly stereotyped” as part of a “foreign” faith, Levin said in an interview. He noted that changes in law enforcement data collection and the “excellent outreach made by the Sikh community” contributed in part to the dramatic increase in reports.
An estimated 500,000 Sikhs live in the United States. The religion has roots in the 15th century Punjab region of India.
Read the complete article at “Rose Parade 2020: Sikhs roll out a float to sow seeds of hope, generosity and harmony.”
Determining when hate crime becomes terrorism is complicated, CSUSB professor says
USA Today
Dec. 30, 2019
Brian Levin, director of CSUSB’s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, explained the complexities in determining when a hate crime becomes domestic terrorism. The article was published after a stabbing attack at a Hanukkah celebration in New York and a deadly shooting in a Christian church in Texas.
Terrorism, along with hate, is changing. Instead of being organized by groups, such as 9/11's al-Qaida, many terror suspects are loners.
'Today's terrorist is oftentimes the lone person who feels a connection to others who have committed violence in the past,' often from readings culled on the internet, Levin.
That could make it harder for prosecutors.
'A lot of times, we don't know when an act of mass violence is ideologically driven even though it may have a terroristic effect,' Levin said.
Read the complete article at “Attacks on faith communities raise a familiar question: When does hate become domestic terrorism?”
CSUSB professor examines rise of anti-Semitism
Christian Science Monitor
Dec. 31, 2019
Brian Levin, director of CSUSB’s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, was interviewed for an article about the rising incidents of anti-Semitism.
The publication reported, “One common denominator of the glorification of us-versus-them mentalities has been a rise in anti-Semitism on both right and left. When hate spills across the ideological spectrum, it can be even more difficult to combat.”
The violence cannot be bifurcated into easy right- and left-wing political categories, observers say.
“While we have seen an increase in extremist movements, we’re also seeing new groupings of possible extremists that either aren’t clearly identifiable, or who are a mixture,” says Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino. “We saw that with the El Paso terrorist, who borrowed from ecofascism and [fears of] automation.”
“Today’s world is not this boxed lunch, but everything is spilled over with each other,” says Levin. “There is anti-Semitism on the left, misogyny being shared by fundamentalists and nationalists of all stripes, ecofascism, and appropriations of cultural symbols.”
Read the complete article at “Why anti-Semitism is surging across the political spectrum.”
CSUSB professor calls on president to make forceful denunciation of hate crime, anti-Semitism
CNN (transcript)
Dec. 29, 2019
As part of its coverage of the Dec. 28 attack at a New York rabbi’s home during a Hanukkah celebration, the news network included an interview by host Martin Savidge of Brian Levin, director of CSUSB’s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism.
“We're now over 220 anti-Semitic hate crimes in New York and we're over 400 overall for the first time in many years and we'll probably break it in L.A., too,” Levin said. “We're seeing (hate crimes targeting) Jews tied for the number one slot in New York, Chicago, L.A., other cities a bit different.”
He also called for a more forceful and definitive response from President Trump.
“He absolutely has to speak to the nation,” Levin said. “We have years and years of data showing that around these kinds of catalytical and pivotal events, that a leadership message that looks authentic has an effect. …
“The president needs to take this leadership message. I am not saying this because we're political. We're nonpartisan. But he must make this message and say the importance of religious liberty just as George Washington said to the Touro synagogue in 1791, ‘To bigotry we give no sanction, to prejudice, no existence.’”
Read the entire transcript at “CNN Newsroom.”
Latest CSUSB center report points to sharp increases in hate crimes; attacks against Jewish community also on the rise
VOA News
Dec. 29, 2019
Hate crime in America's five largest cities rose sharply in 2019, with New York, Los Angeles and Chicago all setting highs not seen since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, according to a new report from California State University, San Bernardino.
The Jewish community was the most frequent target of hate crimes amid a resurgence in anti-Semitism, according to the report by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism.
The overall surge in hate crime comes at a time of demographic change and hyperpolarized politics in America, and follows a slight decline in bias incidents in 2018.
'These data reflect several trends, including an escalating tribalism, where various prejudices like anti-Semitism, xenophobia and homophobia, among others, are widely shared across a diverse grouping of people,' Brian Levin, the report's lead author, said. 'Next, local demographic changes in densely populated cities means more people are coming into contact with each other right at a time when fearful stereotypes are increasingly become the kindling for violent behavior.'
Read the complete article at “Hate crimes soar in major U.S. cities.
CSUSB professor discusses increase in anti-Semitic incidents
KCRW Radio (Los Angeles)
Dec. 30, 2019
The public radio station included an interview with Brian Levin, director of CSUSB’s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, in a report about the Dec. 28 attack at a New York rabbi’s home during a Hanukkah celebration, and what it may mean as reports of anti-Semitic incidents are on the rise, including in Los Angeles. Levin credited the Los Angeles Police Department for becoming a national model in investigating and preventing hate crimes.
Listen to the segment at “06:51 KCRW-FM (Radio).”
KQED Radio in San Francisco also broadcast the segment: “06:51: KQED-FM (Radio).”
Anti-Semitic attacks reaching record levels in major U.S. cities, CSUSB professor says
KNX Radio (Los Angeles)
Dec. 30, 2019
Brian Levin, director of CSUSB’s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, was interviewed for the radio station’s in-depth coverage in the aftermath of the Dec. 28 stabbing attack in the New York home of a rabbi during a Hanukkah celebration.
Anti-Semitic attacks have reached record levels in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City, Levin said. And the attackers appear to be older – the average age was 33 years old – and the attacks are more violent.
Listen to the segment at “11:14 KNX-AM (Radio).”
CSUSB professor comments on attack Hanukkah celebration in New York
KCBS Radio (San Francisco)
Dec. 30, 2019
The news radio station included an interview with Brian Levin, director of CSUSB’s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, in its coverage in the days following the Dec. 28 stabbing attack in a New York rabbi’s home during a Hanukkah celebration.
More anti-Semitic attacks are being recorded, and like the New York incident, are becoming more violent, Levin said.
Listen to the segment at “08:42 KCBS-AM (Radio).”
Anti-Semitic incidents on the rise in Los Angeles, other major U.S. cities, CSUSB center reports
Spectrum 1 News (Los Angeles)
Dec. 30, 2019
Research from CSUSB’s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism that pointed to an increase in hate crimes in the nation’s largest cities, including Los Angeles, was included in the local cable news program’s “Shaping the Future of LA” report that focused on anti-Semitic incidents in the aftermath of the stabbing attack at a New York rabbi’s home on Dec. 28.
The center’s director, Brian Levin, was also interviewed for his perspective. The interview begins about 4 minutes into the video clip.
View the segment at “18:02 Spectrum News (San Fernando Valley) – Shaping the Future of LA.”
These news clips and others may be found at “In the Headlines” at Inside Csusb.