Michigan Sees Spike In Post-Election Hate Incidents: Report

Hate incidents spiked across the country in the 10 days following the Nov. 8 presidential election, the Justice Department previously said, and a new report from the Southern Poverty Law Center says Michigan is among states reporting the most bias crimes.

The report said there were at least 40 hate incidents reported in Michigan during the period.

They ranged from an incident in Brighton, where a woman reported that she was approached by two white men who told her, “Just so you know, we hate (expletive slur) and so does our president,” to a report from 18-year-old service employee in Kalamazoo, who said a man spat on her shoes and called her a “black (expletive) after she asked him if he needed help. To her question, he reportedly replied, “I don’t need to ask you for (expletive). Donald Trump is president.”

According to the “Ten Days After: Harassment and Intimidation in the Aftermath of the Election” report from the SPLC, which monitors extremism and bigotry, the Michigan incidents targeted African Americans (12), Latinos (4), immigrants (7), Muslims (4), Jews and LGBT individuals. Across the country, there were 867 hate crimes reported during the 10-day period.

California ranked first with 99 reports, followed by New York with 69, Texas with 57, Washington State with 48 and Massachusetts with 42. Michigan ranked sixth.

The incidents come from two sources — submissions to the #ReportHate on the center's website and media reports.

“People have experienced harassment at school, at work, at home, on the street, in public transportation, in their cars, in grocery stores and other places of business, and in their houses of worship,” said the report.“The incidents documented here almost certainly represent a small fraction of the actual number of election-related hate incidents that have occurred since November 8.”

The center recognizes that the numbers in the report are without a certain context — that they can't compare it to the 10 days before the election or the ten days after the last election.

The point of the report, they say, is to demonstrate the connection between the election and the incidents.

The SPLC said reports of “hate crimes and lower-level incidents of racial or ethnically charged harassment have long been common in the United States,” but those targeted in post-election incidents “are experiencing something quite new.”

“Many harassers invoked Trump’s name during assaults, making it clear that the outbreak of hate stemmed in large part from his electoral success,” the report said. “People have experienced harassment at school, at work, at home, on the street, in public transportation, in their cars, in grocery stores and other places of business, and in their houses of worship. They most often have received messages of hate and intolerance through graffiti and verbal harassment, although a small number also have reported violent physical altercations.”

The SPLC report, which covers only the incidents it was made aware of, follows a warning by U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch that hate incidents spiked nationally after Trump’s election.

In a subsequent statement, David P. Gelios, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit Division, and U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade, who serves Michigan’s Eastern District, said hate crimes and incidents will be aggressively investigated and prosecuted.

“Hate crimes laws are designed to protect members of all groups, whether they are members of minority groups or majority groups,” McQuade said. “We take these crimes very seriously because of the harm they cause to the victim and the fear they create in other members of the same group.”

“The FBI is committed to defending the civil rights of everyone. To that end and in coordination with our local and state partners, we will investigate acts that involve the use of or threat of force against an individual because of his/her race, color, religion, national origin, disability, or gender,” Gelios added. “In addition to harm to a victim or damage done to a victim’s property, hate crimes are meant to threaten and intimidate an entire community. The FBI won’t stand by idly when hate crimes are committed.”

The Michigan Department of Civil Rights said it saw a sharp increase in hate incident reports in the days after the election, the Detroit Free Press reported. By Nov. 14, the Monday after the election, the department had fielded 40 calls and its community outreach program, a separate branch, said there were 30 hate incidents in the 10 days after the election.

The number of calls to the civil rights office normally averages 23 a day, according to the report. The outreach program receives about six to eight in an entire year.

The incidents were reported in Dearborn, where about 40 percent of residents are Arab Americans, and Royal Oak, among other places. In Royal Oak, a group of middle school students chanted “build the wall” the day after the election. A few days later, a student was suspended after bringing a noose to school.

Agustin V. Arbulu, director of the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, said in a statement that he was “gravely concerned about recent reports of harassment in Michigan schools and colleges targeting students of color or of a different race or ethnicity.”

“We urge schools and parents throughout the state to be vigilant and to intervene immediately when incidents such as the one in Royal Oak take place,” Arbulu said, noting Civil Rights Department investigators are prepared to investigate and act on bias claims.

In Dearborn, Arab-American community activist and attorney Majad Moughni told the Detroit Free Press that Trump’s election has been seen as a signal by some of his supporters that “they now have a license to act out their hate.”

“Whether by threatening to set a Muslim on fire for wearing hijab in Ann Arbor or breaking the storefront glass panels at an Arab-owned business in Kansas City, these acts are still hate crimes and punishable by state and federal law,” Moughni said. “Despite the fact that we are a nation of laws, many Arab and Muslim Americans are living in fear and on edge, waiting for the next shoe to drop.”

More from the SPLC Report

• The center found reported incidents — and only so-called “real world” incidents were included as opposed to incidents reported only on social media - in 46 of the 50 states. Only North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Hawaii had no reported incidents.
• Most of the incidents — 206 - occurred in public places, followed by K-12 schools (183), workplace/retail locations (162), university (140), private places (109), other public spaces (51), and places of worship (16).
• Anti-immigrant sentiment was the motivation of most (206) of the incidents followed by anti-black (187), anti-Semitic (100), anti-LGBT (95), anti-Muslim (49), and anti-woman (40).
• There were also 23 reported incidents targeting supporters of Donald Trump.
• The report found most of the incidents — 202 — happened in the 24 hours after the election with the numbers almost consistently dropping each day after that.

The authors of the report point out that the Sunday after the report Trump told 60 Minutes that he had been "surprised to hear" that his supporters had been using racial slurs and making threats against African Americans, Latinos, and gays.
They say that while Trump has disavowed these actions, it's not enough.

“He must speak out forcefully and repeatedly against all forms of bigotry and reach out to the communities his words have injured,” they say. “Until President-elect Trump does these things, the hate that his campaign has unleashed is likely to continue to flourish.”

Colin Miner (Patch Staff) contributed to this report

Map courtesy Southern Poverty Law Center