The California Civil Rights Department (CRD) of California has reported that anti-Hindu hate has been the second most religious targeting, and anti-Jewish incidents were reported the most.

A year ago, the state of California launched ‘CA vs Hate Programme’, a statewide hotline and online platform, offering a safe and anonymous reporting avenue for victims and witnesses of hate incidents across various languages.

In 2023, approximately 1,020 hate acts were reported through this initiative, as revealed by initial data submitted to CRD.

Anti Semitism reported most

According to CA vs Hate data, the most commonly cited reasons for reports related to religious targeting were anti-Jewish (36.9%), anti-Hindu (23.3%), and anti-Muslim (14.6%) biases.

Among a subset of 560 validated reports handled by CA vs Hate staff, prevalent bias motivations included race and ethnicity (35.1%), gender identity (15.1%), and sexual orientation (10.8%).

Reports concerning racial hatred primarily targeted Anti-Black (26.8%), anti-Latino (15.4%), and anti-Asian (14.3%) biases, as indicated by the most frequently cited reasons within the category of race and ethnicity.

Additionally, reports about gender identity targeting highlighted anti-transgender (28.6%) and anti-female (24.0%) biases as the most frequently cited reasons.

“While we’re still delving into the data from the California Civil Rights Department, the report confirms what we already knew, Hinduphobia and anti-Hindu incidents are more prevalent than previously reported. At HAF, we have seen an uptick in reports of hate crimes and bias incidents from community members, particularly towards the latter half of 2023 and the beginning of 2024,” said Hindu American Foundation managing director Samir Kalra.

He gave instances of “multiple temple vandalisms and desecrations, in addition to reports of harassment, intimidation, and threats against Hindu individuals by Khalistani extremists in the San Francisco Bay Area.”

CA vs Hate provides legal aid, financial assistance, mental health support, and mediation services, aiming to assist individuals impacted by hate.

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