Hate incident count up by 4 in Bloomington

The City of Bloomington Human Rights Commission recently released its annual report, which stated 29 hate incidents occurred between July 2007 and June 2008.
In the previous report, 25 incidents were cited.

The hate incidents listed in the report vary from situations where people have used racial slurs toward others, physical violence or vandalism. All of the events were motivated by race, sexual orientation or religion.

The BHRC defines a hate crime as “verbal or physical abuse directed at individuals or groups because of race, sex, color, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, ancestry, religion or national origin.”

The annual report includes incidents reported by police departments, individuals or groups, the media or by anonymous tips, according to the report.

Barbara McKinney, director of the BHRC, said in an e-mail the commission has been around since the mid-1970s but the hate crime incidents reports were not published until 1990.

“It’s important to publish these reports to make it clear to the community that these things happen even in our welcoming, safe and civil city of Bloomington, Ind.,” McKinney said in an e-mail. “Overlooking these incidents, sweeping them under the rug, does not make the problem go away.”

Although this year’s report includes more incidents, previous years’ reports recorded bodily harm, McKinney said in the e-mail.

“It’s always hard to know if there are actually more hate incidents occurring in the community or if people are doing a better job of reporting the incidents to either the police or our office,” McKinney said in an e-mail.

The City of Bloomington isn’t the only city facing hate crimes.

Nationally, the Federal Bureau of Investigation reported in its 2006 Hate Crime Statistics that 12.2 percent of hate crimes occur on college campuses and at schools.
The FBI publishes hate crime statistics annually, but the statistics for 2007 have not been published yet, FBI special agent Wendy Osborne said.

At Purdue University, religion and sexual orientation were the reasoning behind four hate crimes that were reported, according to the FBI’s 2006 Hate Crime Statistics report.

Bloomington reported 13 hate crime incidents for 2006, according to the FBI’s statistics. In 2006, race accounted for nine of the 13 hate crime incidents. Sexual orientation accounted for two of the incidents reported.

This year’s Bloomington Hate Incidents Report cites more than half of the incidents reported involved race and ethnicity. Sexual orientation and religion played a role in the same amount of incidents reported.

Although the BHRC is not a law enforcement agency, McKinney said people can call the commission for help and advice if they are involved in a hate crime incident.