Tag: documenting hate

Chico cops report zero hate crimes in 2018 Anecdotal reports tell another story

photo by Karen Laslo
2017 Desmond Phillips vigil at Chico Police Department.

by Leslie Layton

Zero. That’s the number of hate crimes that took place in Chico in 2018, according to reports to the FBI from the Chico Police Department and Chico State’s University Police Department.

That zero doesn’t reflect what happened to an African American man, who has said he was pelted with beer cans last year by several white people in a pickup truck who were using the N-word. He never reported the incident to police, but his girlfriend saw the bruises.

The zero also doesn’t reflect other unreported incidents, and it doesn’t reflect incidents that may have been driven by hate that didn’t surface in a police report or court hearing. And it certainly doesn’t reflect overt and subtle offenses that left people who were subjected to them feeling hurt and scared. read more

To people of color, Chico seems less friendly, more hostile Chico State promises "Safety Summit"

photo courtesy of Vickie Nailing

by Leslie Layton and Denise Minor

When Vickie Nailing first came to Chico to pursue a master’s degree in 2015, she was taken aback by how friendly people were. She loved the community’s “hippy vibe” that reminded her of the 1970s.

“When I would pass strangers they would look me in the eyes and smile,” said Nailing, a graduate student in the Teaching International Languages program. “I’m from L.A. I wasn’t used to that.”

Nailing left Chico one year later to train English teachers in Ukraine on a Peace Corps program. When she returned in January, she sensed that something in the city had changed. Nailing, an African-American re-entry student, says she sometimes found herself facing upfront hostility and defensiveness. read more

Five reports to ‘Documenting Hate’ sidebar to "Chico cop defends 'Black Friday Matters' sign

by Leslie Layton

The complaint about the Down Range “Black Friday Matters” billboard was one of five that has so far been submitted to the Documenting Hate database from Butte County. Four other reports were made on use of racist epithets and stereotyping.

Here’s a summary:

  • A flier at Chico State was defaced shortly after the 2016 presidential election with white supremacist symbols;
  • A Latina in Chico says she was called a “wetback;”
  • A Chico teacher reported that her son was riding his bike to school when a car pulled up next to him and someone shouted, “Fuck you, Jew boy.”
  • An Oroville man reported that someone was overheard saying of him, “That’s a Muslim right there.” On the report submitted to the database, the man wrote, “… I have never felt like I don’t belong here as I do now. Since the beginning of 2016, people look at me differently… I wish things were different.” In a telephone interview, the man said he has Arab ancestry, is a U.S. military veteran and was raised as a Christian. He asked not to be identified. He said the shift in how he’s perceived by strangers is hard to “quantify” but palpable.
    • read more

    Como se puede curar el odio How hate is sometimes healed

    Tim Zaal (izquierda) y Matthew Boger se reunieron como voluntarios en el Museo de Tolerancia de Los Ángeles. Zaal, un neonazi de una sola vez, atacó a Boger como un adolescente. Los dos son ahora amigos cercanos. (Crédito de la imagen: BuzzFeed News).

    por Katherine Kam, New America Media
    Translation by New America Media

    Editor’s note: To read this story in English, visit New America Media here.

    Los Angeles — Se puede curar el odio? La pregunta ha sido central en la vida de Tim Zaal durante las últimas dos décadas.

    Cuando Zaal tenía 17 años, él y sus amigos fueron una noche en busca de pelea en West Hollywood. Cerca de un local muy frecuentado, divisaron a un grupo de jóvenes y persiguieron a un indigente gay, de 14 años, hacia un callejón. Mientras el muchacho estaba tumbado en el suelo, Zaal le dió una patada en la frente con una bota con clavos afilados, dejándolo inconsciente. read more

    Bigotry, stress, more evident at Chico State Reporting to national database is "bearing witness"

    defaced flier

    defaced flier

    by Leslie Layton

    This is the second  story in our “Tracking Hate” series. Our first story,  “CSUC student newspaper sparks hate speech debate,” was posted June 8.

    When a Chico State staff member posted her “You Matter” flier on a wall in the Meriam Library stairwell after the Nov. 8, 2016, presidential election, she believed it would convey an uplifting message.

    Instead, it was defaced, and the defaced flier circulated on Facebook, to be shared and commented on dozens of times by alarmed staff and other members of the campus community. read more