The white supremacist march in Charlottesville, and its explosive aftermath, have focused the nation’s attention on the far right and its ideology of intolerance. Across the country, hate crimes are on the rise — and California is no exception.
A report published by the state’s Department of Justice found that the number of hate crime events increased 11.2% in 2016, compared to the previous year. The report shows that more than half of the hate crimes in California were based on race, ethnicity or national origin.
Although California is known for its progressive and diverse communities, it is also the state with the highest number of hate groups, according to a new report from the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Capital & Main will be posting media reports of hate crimes in California, from January 2017 on, in this section. Many other hate crimes are reported only to law enforcement agencies; those do not appear here.
For more Capital & Main coverage of hate and extremism in California, see our special series, “The Golden State of Hate.”
We encourage you to send us information on any hate crimes in your community by contacting us at hatecrime@capitalandmain.
Published by KTLA
The La Raza Student Association, a multicultural group that works on issues in the Latino community, received violent threats on Facebook a day after pro-Nazi propaganda was posted at a student center at Cal State Long Beach.
Published by The Patch
A Lake Forest man is accused of threatening to kill patrons of a local hookah lounge.
Published by NBC News
The attack on September 9 took place at the Whole Foods market on University Avenue.
Published by the LA Times
Los Angeles police have identified a suspect who wrote a pair of hateful screeds on the outside of a Sikh temple in Los Feliz
Published by Essence
Police are investigating a hate crime against a black hair salon in the town of Elk Grove.
Published by the LA Times
A 41-year-old man with a swastika tattoo was charged with a hate crime on Thursday
Published by NBC News
A noose was found outside an East Bay school, prompting a hate crime investigation, police said.
Published by International Business Times
The incident took place at Los Angeles’ Vermont Gurdwara, which is also known as the Hollywood Sikh Temple.
Published by East Bay TImes
Police have released video footage of the vandalism at Temple Israel of Alameda that is being investigated as a hate crime.
Published by The Patch
A witness said someone said to a mother of three to shut her Mexican baby up, according to the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office.
Published by The L.A. Times
Hate crimes in 2017 are up in every major California city, while in Los Angeles in particular, the most violent type of hate crimes are up 50%, continuing a trend from the prior year.
Published by NBC Los Angeles
A message of hate posted on flyers throughout the city of Alameda had police on high alert and residents of the East Bay community pushing back Monday.
Published by Salon
The La Crescenta and Glendale areas are now more diverse than in earlier years, but the scars of racism, anti-Semitism, white supremacy, and other forms of bigotry never completely heal…
Published by Napa Valley Register
Novato police arrested a Novato man Sunday on suspicion of committing a hate crime battery of a Hispanic man.
Published by the L.A. Times
The city of Long Beach has agreed to pay $85,000 to settle a federal lawsuit filed by a Muslim woman whose hijab was pulled off by a male officer while she was in police custody.
Published by NBC News
Police are investigating the death of a 68-year-old Sikh man found in a canal Monday morning in Fresno, California.
Published by the L.A. Times
A 35-year-old man is facing hate crime charges after he allegedly yelled a religious slur and threw coins at two Muslim women — one wearing a hijab — leaving a Target store in Irvine, authorities said.
Published by the East Bay Times
A murder suspect with a long history of using racial slurs against blacks — and who admitted in a jailhouse interview to referring to his purported victim by the N-word — is not facing a hate crime charge from prosecutors
Published by Newsweek
Police in California are investigating a hate-related incident after a Sacramento Muslim group was sent a defiled copy of the Quran, immersed in a container of pork fat.
Published by the L.A. Times
A man described as a white nationalist is fighting extradition to California on assault charges in connection with a brawl between extreme-right groups and counter-protesters…
Published by India West
A young NASA Ames researcher at UC Merced was the target of an apparent hate crime as she traveled to work early July 18 morning in central California.
Published by CAIR
In a recent incident, a man allegedly yelled anti-Muslim epithets while defacing a Buddha statue in L.A.’s Palms neighborhood.
Published by The OC Register
On the day the Department of Justice released its latest hate crime numbers, the Los Angeles chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), on Friday, July 7, received a threatening, obscenity-laden email with the subject line “Muslim sewer rats,” executive director Hussam Ayloush said
Published by Fox 8
Two Islamic centers in Northern California were victims of possible hate crimes during the last days of Ramadan, law enforcement officials said.
Published by The Tribune
San Luis Obispo Mayor Heidi Harmon said the Pride flag reported burned Thursday morning belonged to her and had been hanging in front of her Mill Street home prior to its destruction.
Published by CBS News
Police were investigating a possible hate crime at the Brentwood home of LeBron James after a racial slur was spray-painted on a gate outside of his house,
Published by AP News
CLEARLAKE, Calif. (AP) — A white man in California was charged Tuesday with a hate crime for stabbing a black man with a machete after yelling racial slurs, the district attorney’s office said.
Published by FOX 5 San Diego
SAN DIEGO — A 24-year-old man was behind bars Monday on suspicion of carrying out an unprovoked, racially-motivated attack in a Logan Heights alley in which the victim was beaten, kicked and repeatedly struck with a bamboo stalk.
Published by the New York Times
Two men were sentenced on Thursday to three years in prison for attacking a Sikh man in California last year, repeatedly punching him through his car window and cutting off his hair.
Published by The Fresno Bee
Police have not ruled out a hate crime in the early-morning slaying of a transgender woman who was shot multiple times in Fresno, Police Chief Jerry Dyer said Wednesday, adding that he has directed detectives to solve the case “very quickly.”
Published by the Peninsula Press
“The problem is many victims don’t report. And sometimes when they do, the crimes are not adequately analyzed to be properly recorded by law enforcement,” Levin said. “A lot of police aren’t as well-trained as we would like.”
Published by the L.A. Times
A northern California man was arrested Friday after authorities say he launched firebomb attacks on police and two black neighbors
Published by NBC 4 Los Angeles
Robert McDougal, 21, was arrested in March after carving a swastika onto the hood of a campus safety vehicle, said Doug Bennett, OCC’s executive director of college advancement.
This story was originally published by The Sacramento Bee
Lauren Kirk-Coehlo pleaded guilty Wednesday to felony vandalism and hate crime enhancements for vandalizing the Davis Islamic Center in January.
Published by The Press Enterprise
A Riverside man accused of trying to torch his neighbor’s pickup truck was charged Tuesday, March 28, with attempted arson and a hate-crime allegation.
Published by the L.A. Times
The 22-year-old South Korean man in a black T-shirt asked one question of the young woman before bludgeoning her repeatedly with a hammer.
Published by the Press Telegram
Swastika graffiti, bomb threats at a local Jewish center and a possibly racially motivated assault contributed to a spike in suspected hate crimes reported in Long Beach to begin the year.
Published by Patch.com
DAVIS, CA — Windows were shattered, bicycles were damaged and strips of pork were left at a local mosque over the weekend, leading police to investigate what may be a hate crime.