(Photo: The Honorable Shalanda D. Young, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, who will be in charge of distributing money to fight hate on many fronts.)
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has urged the U.S. government to spend more money fighting hate. Even before the SPLC published a criticism of the 2021 FBI Hate Crime Statistics, on December 12, 2022, the organization had already written to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on December 5, 2022, urging increased financing of several new anti-hate measures.
To the SPLC’s credit, when it reported that the FBI’s 2021 Hate Crime report was inadequate because local and state jurisdictions reported crime statistics inconsistently, or not at all.
The FBI is not receiving any data for New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Phoenix and the entire states of California and Florida, writes the SPLC.
The SPLC had already sent a detailed letter to the Honorable Shalanda D. Young, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, expressing support for the White House’s United We Stand Summit (against hate) that was held on September 15, 2022.
In the letter the SPLC urges funding anti-hate programs across various government departments. For example, the Department of Education should receive money to combat attacks on HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges). Department of Homeland Security should receive money to combat attacks on non-profits, houses of worship and HBCUs; National Telecommunications Administration to help Tribal Areas encourage digital literacy and fight violence-fomenting misinformation; and many more.
The SPLC letter, along with its co-signers, summarizes the threat best in the introduction:
“On September 15, 2022, President Biden hosted the United We Stand Summit to counter the corrosive effects of hate-fueled violence on our democracy and public safety… and to recover from hate-fueled violence and foster national unity.”
Sources:
“SPLC:2020 FBI Hate Crime Report Cannot Be Trusted,” Southern Poverty Law Center, December 12, 2022, splcenter.org
“SPLC-led Coalition Letter Urging Funding of United We Stand Commitments in the FY24 Budget,” December 5, 2022, splcenter.org
