City of Bloomington Human Rights Commission Issues Annual Hate Incidents Report

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 9, 2007   For more information, contact: Barbara McKinney, Human Rights Commission Director, City of Bloomington, 349-3429 Maria K. Heslin, Communications Director, City of Bloomington, 349-3569     City of Bloomington Human Rights Commission Issues Annual Hate Incidents Report   Bloomington, IN-- The City of Bloomington Human Rights Commission (BHRC) has issued its Annual Hate Incidents Report and announced that copies are available for the public. The report tracked 25 local hate incidents from July 2006 through June 2007, a decrease from the 31 incidents in the previous year.   Barbara McKinney, director of the BHRC, said it was encouraging to see a drop in the number of reported incidents. The annual report includes only those incidents that have come to the attention of the commission.   "We are never quite sure why the numbers rise and fall," McKinney said. "It is possible that we are experiencing fewer incidents, and that's certainly our hope. This is our best gauge of hate incidents in our community, but it's never a complete or perfect picture."   The report indicates that hate comes in a variety of forms. Of the 25 reported incidents, 19 were acts of verbal abuse, nine included physical confrontation and five were acts of vandalism or graffiti. Some incidents consisted of more than one form. The BHRC counted the repeated distribution of KKK newsletters as one incident.   As has been true in previous reports, the incidents were motivated by a variety of biases. Eight of the incidents were apparently motivated by a bias against African-Americans, while six were motivated by sexual orientation. Four incidents seemed to be motivated by a religious bias. Some incidents were more difficult to classify, such as the two incidents in which an African-American person called a white person by the "n" word, and the incident in which a passerby yelled a slur typically reserved for gay men at a woman.   "Despite not fitting the standard definition of a hate incident, the language used still made the targets feel uncomfortable and threatened," said Valeri Haughton, chair of the BHRC. "Frankly, it's a bit hard to know how to specify the type of bias when an African-American calls a white person the n word."   The current report also includes three incidents in which police officers were the object of offensive language while conducting arrests.   "These incidents are not in the same category as the others, as armed and trained officers are not quite as vulnerable as the general population," said McKinney. "But no one should be subjected to such language. And if someone is willing to use these terms while they are getting arrested, it's easy to imagine that they are likely to use these terms at work, on the street and elsewhere."   The BHRC receives its reports from sources including City of Bloomington Police Department, area news reports and individuals. Victims of hate incidents are urged to report the incident to the police by calling 911, or to the BHRC by calling 349-3429 or e-mailing human.rights@bloomington.in.gov. The BHRC accepts anonymous reports.   For more information or for copies of the report, please contact the BHRC at 349-3429.   # # #