California's hate reporting hotline sees 180 reports first month
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A man holds up a sign that reads "Disarm Hate" at a press conference at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center on June 29, 2016 in San Francisco. Photo: Andrew Burton via Getty Images
California's first statewide reporting hotline for victims of hate incidents and crimes received 180 reports of hate acts in its first month of operations, according to preliminary data released by the state's civil rights department.
Why it matters: The California vs Hate Resource Line and Network (CA vs Hate) launched last month in response to the rise in recent years of reported hate crimes in California, which state data shows reached their highest levels since 2001.
- The multilingual hotline and online portal provide anonymous reporting options for any hate incident, not just hate crimes.
Details: Of the 180 hate acts reported in May, race and ethnicity were the most reported motivations, followed by religion and sexual orientation.
- Most were made by people who said they were targeted for an act of hate, while a witness or advocate made approximately one in six reports.
- Nearly half of all people who made a report accepted help accessing support services such as legal aid or counseling.
San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu, who proposed legislation to establish the hotline when he was in the state Assembly, told Axios the new data from the hotline is "painful to see" but necessary for compelling action.
- "It's one thing to wonder anecdotally if hateful acts are occurring, and another thing to see the data show hundreds of acts of hate being reported in a single month."
How it works: If you call the hotline — 833-866-4283 — Monday through Friday between 9am and 6pm, you'll get immediate assistance. If you call outside of those hours, you can leave a message so the department can call you back, or report online.
- The California Civil Rights Department (CRD) provides interpreters for about 200 different languages over the phone; the portal offers 15 language options for reporting.
- A care coordinator who is trained to provide trauma-informed services then follows up and works to help people access resources, said Kevin Kish, the department's director.
What they're saying: "What we wanted to do is create a real service-oriented line where it's not just you call, give us information and never hear from us again [but] you call and get access to help," Kish said.
- He said that when people call into hotlines and report incidents of bias, it helps address gaps in data collection and gives authorities a clearer view of how to respond.
What to watch: The agency is gearing up to kick off a multilingual outreach campaign so there's more awareness about the hotline and its resources.
- Kish said they're also working on a new community conflict resolution unit that would be dispatched to local communities experiencing hate-related conflict to de-escalate the situation and mediate.