Page 8 The Skanner Portland & Seattle May 1, 2019
News
By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire
Correspondent
s
investigators
continue to look
into the string of
fires at historically
black churches in Loui-
siana, it has become in-
creasingly obvious that
these offenses are only
the latest in a litany of
hate crimes and terror
attacks that have target-
ed African American
places of worship for
generations. Each attack
in turn, signaling a his-
tory of virulent animus
towards all in the Black
community.
Arsonists struck three
churches in St. Landry
Paris, La., where officials
say a “clear pattern” links
the fires. “We’re very
cognizant that there’s a
problem, and there’s no
coincidence that there
are three fires,” Louisi-
ana Fire Marshall Butch
Browning said.
Leonard Sipes Jr., of
Crime in America.net,
said he believes what’s
needed is a vigorous ef-
fort in the U.S. Depart-
ment of Justice to hunt
down and prosecute hate
crime violators. “Part-
ner with social media
to report potential hate
criminals and create a
common database for re-
porting and an algorithm
to separate fact from fic-
tion and to give investi-
gators good leads,” Sipes
said.
A
“Let this be a societal ef-
fort,” he said.
The fact African Amer-
icans continue to be a
primary target of hate
crimes can be seen in a
number of recent news
headlines.
“In every tally of hate
crimes, Blacks are the
most frequent victims,”
according to a Nov. 21,
2018 NBC News head-
line. The story noted
that violence, property
crimes, threats and oth-
er offenses inspired by
racial animus amounted
to the most frequent type
of hate crime reported in
the FBI’s most recent tal-
ly of bias crimes.
In fact, Black Ameri-
cans have been the most
“
ported 7,175 hate crimes
in 2017, compared with
6,121 the year prior.
The rise in hate crimes
is attributed to an in-
crease of about 1,000 po-
lice departments that are
now choosing to report
these incidents, the FBI
said.
The report also found
the surge especially af-
fected Black and Jewish
Americans: Of the re-
ported attacks recorded
in 2017 by authorities,
2,013 were aimed at Af-
rican Americans and
938 were against Jewish
Americans.
Sean XLG Mitchell,
a hip-hop activist and
author of “How Do We
Build a Real Wakanda?”
We must understand that
the bully targets the kids in
the class who are incapable
of defending themselves
so why are we the target of
the bully? What makes us
vulnerable, and what is in-
adequate about our develop-
ment as a people?
frequent victims of hate
crime in every tally of
bias incidents generated
since the FBI began col-
lecting such data in the
early 1990s, the report
said.
A Nov. 13, 2018 BBC
News report said U.S. law
enforcement agencies re-
said the Black communi-
ty must begin to look at
hate crimes from a dif-
ferent perspective than
in the past. 
“We can no longer re-
spond with marches,
speeches and rallies be-
cause the continuation of
being subjected to ongo-
PHOTO: ISTOCKPHOTO / NNPA
Hate Crimes and Solutions
Offered by Activists
Black Americans have been the most frequent victims of hate crime in every tally of bias incidents
generated since the FBI began collecting such data in the early 1990s.
ing abuse suggests that
we’ve done little more
than take aspirin to treat
the effects of a brain tu-
mor,” Mitchell said. 
“We must understand
that the bully targets
the kids in the class who
are incapable of defend-
ing themselves so why
are we the target of the
bully?  What makes us
vulnerable, and what is
inadequate about our de-
velopment as a people?”
he asked.
If those questions are
posed, then an obvious
answer should be that
the community has dis-
played a fundamental
lack of unity and power,
Mitchell said. “History
teaches us that there is
only one way for a peo-
ple to empower and uni-
fy themselves and that’s
through the orientation
of culture,” he said. 
“Culture is what cre-
ates the bond of connec-
tion among a people, and
it’s what we find among
“
Hate
crimes
with mass
media ex-
posure are
nothing
shy of a
recruiting
tool. This
is why
we have
seen an
increase
over the
last few
years
all other races in the
form of language, educa-
tion, religion, names and
customs.
“Once we begin to ori-
ent ourselves culturally,
with Africa at the center
of our experience, we’ll
see the positive changes
in every aspect of our
lives,” Mitchell said.
Phyllis G. Williams, the
co-host of the podcast
“Living the Principles,”
said one reason hate
crimes are increasing is
that criminals of those
actions typically gain
notoriety. “Hate crimes
with mass media expo-
sure are nothing shy of
a recruiting tool. This is
why we have seen an in-
crease over the last few
years,” Williams said.
“It is disheartening but
I can give two contribu-
tions in decreasing hate
crimes at African-Amer-
ican places of worship,”
she said.
The first thing is to in-
crease security during
services and overnight,
Williams said.
What if a team was des-
ignated to stay overnight
every day of the week at
a place of worship? What
if a team served as the
church or mosque mar-
shal in a sense? Williams
said.
“People would less
likely commit arson or a
violent act if a place had
armed security. Hate
crimes are generally
done in a cowardly man-
ner and not a fair fight,”
she said.
Also, the root of these
crimes are ignorance
and hatred.
School systems can
adopt an anti-bias stand
by making a conscious
effort in evaluating cur-
riculum materials that
contributes to prejudice,
Williams said.
“Many
curriculum
materials reaffirm the
notion of superiority of
whites and inferiority
of minorities,” she said.
“Stop giving criminals
the spotlight. Stand our
ground at places of wor-
ship. Combat ignorance
in schools. If we do, our
places of worship will
less likely be a place of
worry,” Williams said.
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