Hate crimes and incidents have doubled in the last five years and tripled looking back 10 years, and still, officials say those numbers are likely under reported. A possible solution to the growing hate could be greater awareness, education and more reporting, they emphasized.

On Thursday, Sept. 15, the 2021 OC Hate Crimes report was released by the Orange County Human Relations Commission and includes a 6% increase in total hate crimes and incidents from 2020 in Orange County. Of the 398 hate crimes and incidents tallied, some 60% were motivated by a person’s race, ethnicity and/or national origin.

Reports of hate-related events increased by 167% since 2017.

And it’s not just in Orange County: A recent California Department of Justice hate crimes report said there had been 1,763 hate crimes reported in 2021 statewide – 66% of these were motivated by race, ethnicity, and national origins, officials said.

“As a community, it is important we continue to stand up to prejudice so that everyone can feel safe and secure,” Fourth District Supervisor Doug Chaffee said while introducing Thursday’s virtual discussion on the OC report’s results. “The continued rise in hate activity across the nation shows we can do more to create an all-inclusive environment, which is why my fellow board members and I strongly support expanding the county’s anti-hate efforts.”

There were 97 hate crimes reports in 2021, a majority targeted LGBTQ and Asian communities. A hate crime is a criminal act motivated by bias against a victim’s identity, protected group, disability, gender, nationality, race, religion or sexual orientation. Examples include painting racist, homophobic and religious graffiti on private property; burning a cross on an individual’s lawn; assaulting people and criminal threats of violence.

Compared to data back to 2017, there was a 2,100% increase in hate crimes and incidents in the LGBTQ community and a 5,000% increase reported in anti-Asian crimes and incidents. Officials said there was a 525% increase against Blacks, and the data indicated the hate events experienced by Latinos also doubled in that period.

There were 301 reported hate incidents – identified as behavior motivated by biased hate that isn’t a crime. Examples of these could include distributing anti-Semitic flyers, yelling racial slurs, placing anti-LGBTQ placards at an event or even hateful letters to the editor in a publication.

In December, the OC Board of Supervisors committed $1 million to expanding anti-hate efforts. Using the funding, the Orange County Human Relations Commission focused on creating ways to report bias-motivated hate in multiple languages and developing a comprehensive service provider network to improve and expand support services for victims of hate. The commission also launched a multicultural, multilingual, and diverse education campaign in the county.

Though the numbers are already alarming, officials on Thursday cautioned the data is likely still under reported. Many people are reticent in speaking up or even reporting hate they’ve experienced to law enforcement officials, the panelists said. Many are too traumatized; fear even more harm or retaliation; or have distrust in the process. In some cases, the bias and hate has become normalized, so people believe what they are experiencing is standard and don’t share it with others, officials said.

“We need to empower our community to come forward and feel comfortable in their own skin,” Irvine Police Chief Michael Kent said. “Not worry about going to a grocery store, school or park and worry about how they dress, look or who they’re holding hands with.”

“We have 3 million residents in the county, and we need to accurately depict what is happening in our community.”

Kent, who is one of 11 members of the Human Relations Commission, said he has trained his police officers to identify what a hate crime is and how to document it. It’s critical to make the reports – which go to the District Attorney’s Office – as comprehensive as possible; evidence and details are essential, he said.

To make a reportBy phone: Dial 2-1-1

Online form: hatecrime.211oc.org

Via text: OCHateactivity to 89821

Email: [email protected] and add a description of what happened.

In May 2021,  District Attorney Todd Spitzer created a Hate Crimes Unit specifically to address the increase in hate crimes and incidents. Since then, Spitzer said Thursday in a statement, “we have prosecuted more than twice the number of hate crimes during the first three years of my administration compared to the prior 25 years of prior administrations.”

The beauty of Orange County is found in its diversity, he said. “The world is not a better place when we shrink into the shadows because speaking up is too hard. We must all speak up – and stand up for what is right and just. We must speak for the silenced so they, too, can be brave enough to raise their voices and be heard. We must speak so loudly that the voices of love drown out the voices of hate.”

Deputy District Attorney Billy Ha said his unit does all it can to inform victims of their rights, assist them and works hard to make them feel whole again.

“To combat the problem,” he said, “we’ve allocated more resources and more training of officers, law enforcement and help in the community.”

“It takes a village to prosecute a case,” he added. “Reporting these crimes is important, and we can’t prosecute them unless we know of them.”

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