How Hate Crimes Impact Communities
After seeing the impact of the hate crimes that lead up to the murder of Marcelo Lucero, I was interested to see how other communities reacted in the aftermath of a hate crime. The way that the people of Patchogue reacted was the best possible way they could have- they came together, supported his family, and worked together to overcome the existing factors that allowed the tragedy to happen.
The Hate Crime Project at the University of Sussex has been looking at the longterm effects of hate crimes on people and communities. The results of their studies are unnerving- firstly, hate crimes around the world are on the rise, the most common ones are based on race, but people can also act out based on sexual orientation, being transgender, religion, or disability. The Hate Crime Project ran surveys to see how hate crimes affected people in various communities throughout England. Most people of minorities felt fear, anger, and vulnerability. Many people changed their behavior, like avoiding places they felt an attack was more likely and adjusting their behavior to draw less attention. Among, specifically Muslim people, knowing someone who had been a victim of hate crime linked them to greater distrust of the police. Many people believe the police will not take hate crimes seriously- similar to the lack of trust in the Patchogue Police Department that they could actually solve the issue. People should not have to live in fear in their own communities or act differently than other people in order to feel safe.
Are there people who are made to feel like this in our own communities? Most likely, even though in Santa Clara County, there has only been about 1 hate crime a year reported. Most hate crimes go unreported, according to Seth Brysk, the San Francisco regional director of the Anti-Defamation League.
I found another example similar to Patchogue in which a community came together after a hate crime to show love and support to each other. It was in Flagstaff after a Jewish community center was vandalized with swastikas. The Jewish community center was just being built, and cans of paint were poured on the floor, and power tools were smashed and broken. In the weeks following, the fence outside the site was covered in tinfoil hearts with messages of hope, including "Flagstaff cares", and "There is more love in the world than hate." These stories are the positives that can come from hate crimes- a community who is woken up to the hate that exists and instead of being bystanders, they act as upstanders to better their community.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-42622767
The Hate Crime Project at the University of Sussex has been looking at the longterm effects of hate crimes on people and communities. The results of their studies are unnerving- firstly, hate crimes around the world are on the rise, the most common ones are based on race, but people can also act out based on sexual orientation, being transgender, religion, or disability. The Hate Crime Project ran surveys to see how hate crimes affected people in various communities throughout England. Most people of minorities felt fear, anger, and vulnerability. Many people changed their behavior, like avoiding places they felt an attack was more likely and adjusting their behavior to draw less attention. Among, specifically Muslim people, knowing someone who had been a victim of hate crime linked them to greater distrust of the police. Many people believe the police will not take hate crimes seriously- similar to the lack of trust in the Patchogue Police Department that they could actually solve the issue. People should not have to live in fear in their own communities or act differently than other people in order to feel safe.
Are there people who are made to feel like this in our own communities? Most likely, even though in Santa Clara County, there has only been about 1 hate crime a year reported. Most hate crimes go unreported, according to Seth Brysk, the San Francisco regional director of the Anti-Defamation League.
I found another example similar to Patchogue in which a community came together after a hate crime to show love and support to each other. It was in Flagstaff after a Jewish community center was vandalized with swastikas. The Jewish community center was just being built, and cans of paint were poured on the floor, and power tools were smashed and broken. In the weeks following, the fence outside the site was covered in tinfoil hearts with messages of hope, including "Flagstaff cares", and "There is more love in the world than hate." These stories are the positives that can come from hate crimes- a community who is woken up to the hate that exists and instead of being bystanders, they act as upstanders to better their community.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-42622767
Great post Aoibhin! i thought it was kind of interesting that as a reuslt of hate crimes it led people to distrust the police more, I would've thought that obviosuly it would lead to a greater distrust in the gorup of whatever race or gender the attacker was a part of (basically just whatever the "reasoning" for the attack was, hating people who seem to look similar). It also seems logical enough that the majority of hate crimes sadly go unreported. I wish that it could be the case that these get reported however there would be drastically high numbers comapred to what it is at now and i bleieve that many people that are the victims of these crimes likely choose to just dismiss it as something not major even though in reality it may have been.
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