The problem of community tensions that arises when individuals protected under the Fair Housing Act seek to expand their housing choices is symptomatic of the basic challenge of the United States -- that we can make one nation out of many different people. At the nation's core is the struggle to celebrate our differences in all their variety and vitality and at that same time come together as one people, rather then viewing ourselves as "us and them." Given the nature of the problem, the solution must be community-based, public and private, and national and local. It must utilize the major institutions of the community to create a climate in which such tensions are less likely to occur and put in place a rapid response/crisis response team for immediate action when such tensions arise.
In this section you will find more information about the problem of, and remedies for tensions in our communities, including information on demographic trends taken from the 2000 Census data as well as federal and state hate crime laws.
Demographic Trends and Studies
It is true that much has changed for the better with respect to the problems faced by African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans in the housing market. But the great concentrations of poverty and hopelessness that still exist in cities and some rural areas disserve the interests of all Americans.
The persistence of racial isolation is an old story that has plagued our nation for many years. The recent analysis of Census 2000 data compiled in the following reports show that racial isolation continues to be a problem not only for African Americans but also an increasing problem for Latinos.
This isolation is strongly related to lack of access to good schools and good teaching, to the acquisition of job skills and higher education, to employment opportunities and to other critical resources.
CommUNITY 2000 Announces New Multidisciplinary Study
CommUNITY 2000, a joint project of the Leadership Conference Education Fund, the National Fair Housing Alliance, and local leaders, has collaborated with the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University to produce new housing reports on three CommUNITY 2000 sites, Boston, Chicago, and San Diego. These reports, which analyze Census 2000 data, indicate new patterns of segregation in these communities. Additionally, they provide recommendations for addressing the new risks posed by rapidly changing demographics. Karen McGill Lawson, executive director of the Leadership Conference Education Fund, said: "CommUNITY 2000 is designed to help communities address some of the consequences of these demographic changes, so that the mistakes of the past will not be repeated. We are identifying what communities can do to prevent tensions when newcomers come into the neighborhood, to proactively welcome newcomers, and to respond to problems that may occur."
Census 2000 Confirms Persistent Segregation, Need for Civil Rights Priorities in the New Century
The following reports released at an April 2001 press conference describe the continuing problem of racial and ethnic isolation and the implications of this country's failure to ensure fair housing opportunities for all. Additionally, they provide recommendations at the federal, state and local level to create more healthy, integrated and welcoming communities across the country.
Lewis Mumford Center for Comparative Urban and Regional Research, State University of Albany
Federal and State Remedies for Hate Violence
The Problem
From killings and beatings to acts of arson and vandalism to physical and verbal assaults, hate crimes injure or even kill thousands of people, terrify countless others, divide Americans against each other, and distort our entire society. Unfortunately, hate violence is a more serious problem than is generally recognized.
National Picture
FBI data collected under the Hate Crime Statistics Act of 1990 now provide the best-although incomplete-national picture of the magnitude of the hate violence problem in America. The FBI Uniform Crime Report defines a hate crime or bias crime as a criminal offense committed against a person, property, or society which is motivated, in whole or in part, by the offender's bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity/national origin. According to the 2000 FBI Hate Crime Statistics Report, there were a total of 8152 bias-motivated criminal incidents reported across the country for 2000. Of the incidents, 4368 (53.6%) were racial bias motivated; 1483 (18.2%) were religious bias motivated; sexual orientation bias accounted for 1330 (16.3%); ethnicity/national origin bias was the cause of 927 (11.4%); disability bias was connected with 36 (0.4%); and the remaining 8 incidents (0.1%) were the result of multiple biases.
For 2000, the FBI reported 8152 hate crimes from 11690 state law enforcement agencies.
Legislative Responses
Hate crime statutes provide a critical way to deter and counteract hate-motivated criminal activity, as well as to prevent an isolated incident from exploding into widespread community tension.
National
Violence perpetrated against members of an "out group" has been an unfortunate reality in our society since this nation was first colonized. While hate crime violence is not a recent phenomenon, federal legislation to combat these unique crimes only dates back to 1990. Moreover, current federal law contains significant gaps and limitations, reaching bias-motivated violence that is intended to interfere with the victim's federal rights or participation in a federally protected activity.
The following federal criminal statutes address bias-motivated violence by private individuals:
718 U.S.C. ' 241 broadly prohibits a conspiracy to injure or threaten "any person in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States."
718 U.S.C. ' 245 prohibits the use of force or threats of force against individuals because of their race, color, religion, or national origin, and because these individuals were engaged in certain specified activities.
742 U.S.C. ' 3631 prohibits housing-related violence on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin.
718 U.S.C. ' 247 criminalized attacks on religious property and obstruction of persons who are enjoying the free exercise of their religious beliefs.
In addition, the federal sentencing guidelines now include a three-level penalty increase for hate crimes.
Victims of bias-motivated crimes can initiate a federal criminal investigation and possible prosecution by contacting their local office of the FBI, the local U.S. Attorney's office, or the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
State
Nearly every state has some form of legislation that can be invoked to redress bias-motivated crimes. Examples of the types of criminal remedies for bias motivated violence include the following: (1) laws that specifically prohibit intimidation or harassment based on certain actual or perceived personal characteristics; (2) laws that increase the penalties for crimes in which the victim was selected based on certain personal characteristics, such as actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, or ethnicity; (3) laws that proscribe interference with another person's civil rights; and (4) laws that prohibit vandalism or damage aimed at houses of worship, cemeteries, schools, and community centers.
Other examples of hate crimes laws include: (1) laws that create a civil action for victims and provide for other forms of civil relief (e.g., recovery of punitive damages and attorneys' fees); (2) bias crime reporting and data collection laws; and (3) laws that provide for law enforcement training.
For more on federal and state responses to hate crimes, visit About Hate Crimes
Programs and Initiatives
Bigotry cannot be legislated out of existence; a forceful, moral response to hate violence is required of us all. Thus, there is a need to complement tough laws and vigorous enforcement-which can deter and redress violence motivated by bigotry-with education and training initiatives designed to reduce prejudice.
FBI Hate Crimes Data Released
The FBI has released its annual publication, "Crime in the United States 2001." Since 1996, the Bureau has included a separate section summarizing the HCSA data for the year as part of this report. Highlights from the 2001 hate crime data include the following:
While the overall number of crimes reported to the FBI in 2001 increased slightly (2.1%), reported hate crimes increased dramatically from 8,063 in 2000 to 9,726 in 2001 (a 20.6% increase).
In 2001, 1,663 more hate crime incidents were reported than in 2000. Racial bias again represented the largest percentage of bias-motivated incidents (44.9%), followed by Ethnic/National Origin Bias (21.6%), Religious Bias (18.8%), Sexual Orientation Bias (14.3%), and Disability Bias (0.3%).
1,043 anti-Semitic crimes were reported, a slight decrease from 1,119 in 2000. Overall, crimes against Jews and Jewish institutions comprised 10.7% of all the bias-motivated crimes - and 57% of the religious-based crime incidents.
The number of reported "anti-Islamic" crimes increased from 28 in 2000 to 481 in 2001. Since the FBI does not collect statistics on anti-Arab or anti-Sikh hate crimes, we can only assume that this dramatic increase of over 1600% reflects the backlash in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
The number of national law enforcement agencies reporting to the FBI in 2001 increased slightly from 11,690 to 11,987.
The five states with the highest numbers of hate crime were: California (2,246 incidents, 23.1% of total reported incidents), New Jersey (767, 7.9%), New York (712, 7.3%), Massachusetts (584, 6.0%), and Michigan (442, 4.5%). These five states comprise 48.8% of all incidents reported in the United States.
Hawaii was the only state that did not participate in reporting hate crime to the FBI; Alabama participated but reported zero hate crime for the entire year.
The FBI's annual jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction breakdown of state, local, and college reporting will be released later this year.
