Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday its appointments to the Commission on the Status of Hate, which will evaluate data on hate crimes in California, provide resources for victims and make policy recommendations to better protect civil rights.
Created by legislation the governor signed last year and established in the 2022 Budget Act, the Commission addresses the growing epidemic of hate crimes and incidents.
The bill, AB 1126, authored by Assemblymember Richard Bloom of the Santa Monica District, established the first state commission to monitor and track hate crimes and recommend policies to the governor, state legislature and state agencies.
And that's because, according to CSU San Bernardino's Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism's Report to the Nation 2020, hate crime totals for 2019 reached their highest level in more than a decade with more than seven thousand reported hate "incidents."
In 2020, hate crimes against the Asian community increased 149 percent and hate crimes against gay men increased nearly 30 percent.
Already in 2021, the Los Angeles Police Department reported a 66 percent increase in hate crimes overall and a 26 percent increase in hate crimes based on sexual orientation.
The community of African descent continues to be the number one target of hate crimes in the United States, at twice the level they represent in the population.
The Commission comes after the challenges of monitoring and collecting data on hate crimes and other targeted violence have led to severe underreporting.
"The FBI relies on voluntary reports from more than 15,000 participating law enforcement agencies across the country," Brian Levin, professor of criminal justice and director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, told 2021.
"Last year - 2020 - 86 percent of them did not report a single hate crime, including at least 71 cities with populations over 100,000. We must do better," Professor Levin continued.
"The Commission is a necessary step in understanding who is perpetrating these crimes, who is being targeted, and how we can develop policy solutions. In addition, AB 1126 will elevate the voices and testimony of hate crime survivors and provide us with important information that statistics can't always provide," added Assemblyman Bloom that same 2021.
Thus, the Commission on the State of Hate will monitor and evaluate current trends regarding hate crimes, produce annual reports on these trends, and make policy recommendations to help the State better address and hopefully reduce instances of these crimes.
The appointments include Cynthia Choi, 56, of San Francisco, who has been co-director of Chinese for Affirmative Action since 2016 and co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate since 2020.
Brian Levin, 58, of Orange County, who has been founding director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism and a professor at California State University's San Bernardino School of Criminology and Criminal Justice since 1999.
Bamby Salcedo, 53, of Los Angeles, who has been president and CEO of TransLatin@ Coalition since 2015; Shirin Sinnar, 45, of Palo Alto, herself a professor at Stanford Law School since 2012, where she has been a John A. Wilson Faculty Fellow since 2015.
And finally, Erroll G. Southers, 65, of Los Angeles, who has been senior associate vice president of security and risk assurance at the University of Southern California since 2022, adjunct staff at RAND Corporation since 2017, a consultant at Avata Intelligence since 2013 and managing director at TAL Global Corporation since 2010.
This publication was supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library.
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