There is a sense of distrust and fear in rural California, as hate crimes are on the rise and many ethnic minorities distrust the government and are afraid to report or file complaints.
Ethnic minorities experience racism as a fact and, intensified since Donald Trump's rise to the presidency and his hate speech, people experience everything from bullying in the schoolyard to discrimination in the workplace, housing and elsewhere, experts said at a briefing by Ethnic Media Services.
With hate speech on the rise, a statewide anti-hate hotline and resource network was launched in May 2023. “For the first time in California history, we have had a statewide hotline to help people who are the target of hate report it and identify options for next steps,” said Kevin Kish, director of the state’s Department of Civil Rights.
“This is not just a hotline where people tell the government what happened to them. It is a tool to connect people experiencing hate with the culturally competent resources they need, in the communities where they live,” Kish said.
She said, “Some people have reported it and nothing happens, so they don’t see the point. Many don’t know if what happened to them is legally a crime that they should report. In the particular case of immigrant communities, there may be language barriers and fear of contacting the government. People in indigenous communities may be dealing with jurisdictional issues between tribal and local, state and federal authorities.”
The support line includes legal services, mental health counseling and resources, financial assistance, and social service agencies, providing support and outreach to the needs of the affected population.
State data show that hate crimes motivated by race, ethnicity and national origin in California rose from 875 in 2020 to 1,017 in 2023, an increase of 16.23 percent.
Kim Stoll, director of marketing and communications for The Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, said that in rural El Dorado County, northeast of Sacramento, 74 percent of the population is non-Hispanic white and 2 percent is Native American: “There is an epidemic of hate. There is a very conservative climate here.”
Stoll is close to people in El Dorado County and is looking into the adoption of educational programs to benefit the indigenous communities that have originally lived in the region.
Gaonou Vang, communications and narrative manager for Hmong Innovating Politics in Sacramento, said she has witnessed an isolation of the Hmong community, an ethnic group from China, which she estimates numbers between 95,000 and 107,458 members in California and 368,609 in the United States.
“Many Hmong are naturalized citizens due to their previous refugee status or because they were born in the United States, but we have a demographic increase in green card holders over the last decade, and an estimated 4,500 of these individuals have deportation orders against them as a result of being convicted of a crime, whether minor or major… even after they have served their sentence and been released,” Vang continued.
“Hate is everywhere. What is striking here is that the population has undergone a major shift,” said Marlene Thomas, executive director of the Imperial Valley Social Justice Committee, a nonprofit in Imperial County, which borders Mexico.
Thomas explained the importance of the hotline, saying, “One of the first things we can do is bring this information about how to report hate to our schools and community institutions.”
“But it is not enough… When one faces hatred, the most important thing is to keep hope alive,” concluded the director of the Social Justice Committee.
To make a complaint you can enter cavshate.org , or speak to a civil rights officer by phone at (833) 866-4281 or 833-8-NO-HATE, Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., they have 200 languages available and anonymous reports can be made.
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