{"id":69556,"date":"2025-01-02T12:54:15","date_gmt":"2025-01-02T20:54:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=69556"},"modified":"2025-01-02T12:54:15","modified_gmt":"2025-01-02T20:54:15","slug":"with-heightened-hate-crimes-funding-cut-for-ethnic-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=69556","title":{"rendered":"With Heightened Hate Crimes, Funding Cut for Ethnic Media"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By<\/span>Agustin Duran<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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As hate crimes reach their highest curve in recent years, California ethnic media face an end to critical state funding.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A Stop the Hate (STH) media and information booth at the Taste of Soul Festival in Crenshaw, California in October 2024. Now, ethnic media statewide face an end to STH funding, while hate crimes in California have dramatically risen. (Courtesy: California Office of Civil Rights and California Black Media)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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As hate crimes reach their highest curve in recent years, California ethnic media face an end to critical state funding.<\/p>\n

Media representatives learned that the Stop The Hate (STH) program, administered by the state Department of Social Services, would not be renewed for the 2025 fiscal year, even as a new incoming federal administration promotes a heightened rhetoric of hatred against American minorities.<\/p>\n

Between 2019 and 2022 alone, reported hate-motivated crimes more than doubled in California from 1,015 to 2,120.<\/p>\n

Julian Do, co-director of the newswire Ethnic Media Services, confirmed that STH funds will end in December this year; in the last two years, the program delivered\u00a0<\/a>over\u00a0$14 million<\/a>\u00a0to at least 62 ethnic media outlets statewide to cover and combat this hate in their communities.<\/p>\n

\u2018<\/strong>The fear will be great\u2019<\/h2>\n
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Mireya Olivera, director and founder of the weekly newspaper\u00a0Impulso<\/a>. (Courtesy: Impulso)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cWe are in a situation with more urgency than ever,\u201d said Mireya Olivera, director and founder of the weekly newspaper\u00a0Impulso<\/a>, mainly serving the Oaxacan community in downtown and west Los Angeles, and other indigenous-speaking Zapotec and Mixtec communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Trump\u2019s arrival in the White House, things are going to get worse for all ethnic communities. Funds are of the utmost importance so that we can keep the community informed if they are victims of this type of crime,\u201d she continued. \u201cTo make sure the community is informed and not afraid to report a hate crime, more human resources are needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thanks to this year\u2019s STH grant, her newspaper was able to report hate crimes every time they heard of one; held multiple on-site hate crime prevention workshops where she invited her community to talk with experts on the subject; and participated in other education events with local nonprofit community organizations.<\/p>\n

Olivera said that what worries her the most is that if people don\u2019t see the media covering hate crimes, the new presidential administration rhetoric of mass deportation will encourage people to remain silent: \u201cThe fear will be great and we will not find out about many cases if people no longer report the crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018<\/strong>Our situation is urgent\u2019<\/h2>\n

Fatmeh Bhakit, editor of\u00a0Al Enteshar Newspaper<\/a>\u00a0serving the Arab and Muslim community in Southern California, said \u201cIt makes no sense to get support for one year to get people involved to know what to do in case of a hate crime, and suddenly not to continue. People will be surprised to see that we cover this issue much less than before. They will be more afraid, while the hate continues.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Fatmeh Bahkit, editor of\u00a0Al Enteshar Newspaper<\/a>. (Courtesy: Al Enteshar)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission\u00a0data<\/a>\u00a0shows that from 2022 to 2023 there was a 45% increase in reported hate crimes \u2014 the highest since the county began recording them in 1980.<\/p>\n

Crimes against Arabs and Muslims totaled 64 \u2014 the highest number ever recorded for this group.<\/p>\n

With state support, she wrote articles covering local hate crimes for Al Enteshar; created 18 newsletters on the topic; and held community events in San Diego, Orange and Los Angeles Counties encouraging local community members to report this rising hate.<\/p>\n

Bhakit said many Arab and Muslim Americans are not inclined to report hate crimes at all, because they do not trust the authorities or the police. Since large and local mainstream media don\u2019t consistently cover the Middle Eastern community, without her media reporting on this issue, their fears would only increase.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur situation is urgent,\u201d she explained. \u201cOur community has been persecuted since the September 11 attacks, then Trump came along, then the war in Gaza, and now the president who already imposed a ban on the entry of the Muslim community in 2016 is back again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis community \u2014 especially women who wear a hijab \u2014 suffers harassment in schools, in the workplace, and on the street,\u201d Bakhit added. \u201cEthnic media is already suffering from low advertising funds, and if we add state funding, the situation does not look good next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018<\/strong>We have to keep fighting\u2019<\/h2>\n
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Brian Townsend, director of the\u00a0Precinct Reporter<\/a>. (Courtesy: Precinct Reporter)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

One of the groups that suffered the highest percentage of 2023 hate crimes, according to the Los Angeles County report, was the African-American community, which ended with 320 attacks \u2014 a 49% increase compared to the previous year, and the highest in the group\u2019s recorded history.<\/p>\n

Brian Townsend, director of the\u00a0Precinct Reporter<\/a>, a newspaper that has served the local African-American community since 1965, said he was not surprised by these high numbers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat has always been the case,\u201d said Townsend. \u201cThere are so many groups under attack now, but of all of them, African-Americans have always had the worst numbers. And on top of that, now they want to eliminate the funds that keep us fighting hate.\u201d<\/p>\n

An October 2024\u00a0Gallup survey<\/a>\u00a0revealed that only 3 out of 10 Americans support mass media.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe publish the stories that interest our community. They know us and trust us. They see us as their defenders. We have been publishing for almost 60 years with integrity, contrary to corporate media, which come and go. They are not part of the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Townsend added that difficult times are coming, \u201cbut we have to keep fighting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018You can hate me, but do not hurt me\u2019<\/h2>\n

Rose Davis, executive director of\u00a0indigeneusnetwork.org<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0indianvoices.net<\/a>, said her own project to counteract hate began very organically: She began researching her heritage, used the information in a newsletter she created, and \u201ceventually it became a community. We have nurtured it and made it grow ever since.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Rose Davis, executive director of\u00a0indigeneusnetwork.org<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0indianvoices.net<\/a>. (Courtesy: Rose Davis)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Thanks to STH funds, Davis\u2019 work and community grew.<\/p>\n

Currently, in addition to distributing 4,000 newsletters monthly, she has two websites \u2014 one more academic,\u00a0indianvoices.net<\/a>; and the other more news-oriented,\u00a0indigeneusnetwork.org<\/a>, by which she keeps her community up to date.<\/p>\n

\u201cWishing to eliminate hatred completely is wishful thinking,\u201d she explained. \u201cSome people are going to hate each other no matter what happens. The important thing is to raise awareness in people so that they do not use violence. You can hate me, but do not hurt me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cStop the Hate is critical to this work because it lets us focus our attention on educating the people,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\u2018<\/strong>Harder than ever to get people to listen\u2019<\/h2>\n

Randall Yip, publisher and editor of Bay Area-based statewide outlet\u00a0AsAmNews<\/a>, said \u201cWhen you ask members of the Asian community why they come to our website, one of the top reasons is to find out what is happening with hate crimes,\u201d explained Randall. \u201cIt\u2019s something that they find very determining in their lives \u2014 especially since 2020, and now again with Trump\u2019s rhetoric against China.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Randall Yip, publisher and editor of\u00a0AsAmNews<\/a>. (Courtesy: AsAmNews)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

If funding is withdrawn for ethnic media, the community\u2019s ability to protect itself \u201cwill suffer,\u201d he continued. \u201cWithout trusted publications reminding people of the importance of reporting hate crimes and showing them where to report them, people will not do it. They are very afraid, either because they don\u2019t have documents, or because they don\u2019t trust the authorities \u2026 That makes it very difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the Los Angeles County report, hate crimes against the Asian community increased by 31% from 2022 to 2023 \u2014 the second-highest number in the group\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

Yip said the perception that immigrants are stealing from this country was a major contributor to anti-Asian hate. State funding allowed AsAmNews to fight this view through coverage engaging audiences that held it, and changing their misperceptions about the Asian community.<\/p>\n

\u201cCrime is not the result of migration, it is poverty, social problems, and sometimes mental problems, but it has nothing to do with immigration,\u201d he added. \u201cStudy after study publishes that immigrants are good contributors to society; they pay more money to the federal government than they receive, but it seems that no one listens. Now with these funding cuts, it\u2019ll be harder than ever to get people to listen.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ByAgustin Duran Dec 31, 2024 As...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion","category-u-s-a"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=69556"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69556\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69557,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69556\/revisions\/69557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=69556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=69556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=69556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}