Report: More hate crimes found

A new report found 22 "hate incidents" in Bloomington last year, an increase from 19 last year.\nThe City of Bloomington Human Rights Commission released their annual Hate Incidents Report, which covered the time period from July 2004 to June 2005, last Friday. \nThe report found the hate incidents were brought to the attention of the BHRC by the police, the victims and news reports. This number is one less than the 23 reported in the 2002-2003 time period.\nThe increase in reported incidents this year is not terribly significant, said to Barbara McKinney, the director of the BHRC.\n"I would like for there never to be an increase, but I don't think the slight increase is a cause for concern," she said. "The numbers vary a bit each year."\nOf the 22 incidents, most were motivated by racial bias and bias against homosexuals. A few were motivated by anti-Semitism. \nEleven of the incidents were acts of vandalism, seven included physical confrontation and four were mainly verbal.\nSince the BHRC can only compile reported incidents, the list does not necessarily include every incident that occurred.\n"Our report is the best gauge of hate incidents we have, but it's not complete," McKinney said. "There may be incidents which go unreported, and I obviously have no way of knowing how many go unreported."\nPam Freeman, the associate dean of students and director of the Office of Student Ethics and Anti-Harassment Programs, is certain that "there are more incidents than reports." \n"We do not believe that most people feel comfortable reporting," she said. "This is typical for many persons who have been victimized. It takes a lot of strength to report, and often people hope they can just forget about what happened."\nFreeman is involved with the campus groups that put together IU's annual hate incidence report, which will be released around Aug. 18 this year, and said that last year's report alone contained approximately 150 incidents. She emphasized the importance of reporting incidents, not only because victims need to receive help, but also because the community needs to be aware of the tensions that still exist so that these issues can be addressed.\n"What is needed (to prevent hate incidents), in my view, is more personal responsibility on the part of each of us as individuals to confront incidents when they occur," she said. "Silence can be viewed as condoning hateful attitudes and behaviors."\nClaire Rivron, a Bloomington resident for 19 years and a student at Earlham College, found the number of hate incidents "shocking" and also thought that people should take more "personal responsibility" to prevent hate crimes. She thinks, however, that this responsibility is to be tolerant of others.\n"People need to take these issues more personally instead of just accepting people of different nationalities and realize that the diversity is part of themselves, part of their neighborhoods and part of their school classes," she said. "They should be more accepting and not let their own comfort zones and the types of people they're used to being around influence the way they treat others. They need to try to think of people as individuals, not as (part of) a group of individuals."\nRivron also thought that recent hate incidents, such as the July 9 firebombing of a local mosque, show that world issues affect us here and that we need to deal with these issues "on a local level" in order to establish a more tolerant society in Bloomington and across the country.\n"I think it just points to a certain amount of ignorance and intolerance and I think it shows a way for us to improve," she said. "I hope that in the wake of these tragedies good can be accomplished by citizens"