Ritu Jha-
The civil rights organization representing the Hindu community of North America called the California Civil Rights Department’s California vs Hate report released May 20 as ‘Concerning’.
The religiously-motivated incidents of hate reported via the program hotline set up last year have recorded anti-Hindu hate incidents as second-highest among religious communities in California. Anti-Jewish incidents were the highest.
The report has been analyzed by UC Berkeley’s Possibility Lab at the Goldman School of Public Policy which states – reviewing their first-year data on hate incidents in California approximately 1,020 incidents of hate have come to light, out of which 23% were directed at Hindus, 37% were anti-Jewish hate. and 15% were anti-Muslim.
Pushpita Prasad, board member at CoHNA (Coalition of Hindus of North America), a grassroots advocacy, told indica.” “It’s very disturbing data, but also vindication for the work we have been doing,” Prasad added.
“We have been gaslit numerous times for saying there is a perceptible rise in Hinduphobia and hate against Hindus in the West,” Prasad told indica. When asked has police made any arrests after a series of hate-crime incidents when Hindu temples were targeted, she said, “Have not seen much action yet. But as we have said, recognizing and tracking the problem is the first step to tackling it. When major academics and organizations deny Hinduphobia, how can one expect action against it.”
Hindu American Foundation (HAF) Managing Director Samir Kalra said: “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 later half of 2023 and the beginning of 2024.”
For instance, there were 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.
The goals of California vs Hate, set up by California Governor Gavin Newsom last year are to help individuals and communities targeted for hate; identify options for next steps after a hate incident; connect people targeted for hate with culturally competent resources; and to improve hate incident and crime reporting data to enhance hate crimes prevention and response.
According to the report, the most common reasons cited for the reports were discriminatory treatment (18.4%), verbal harassment (16.7%), and derogatory names or slurs (16.7%).
The most common location types for where an incident occurred were residential (29.9%), workplace (9.7%), and public facilities (9.1%). The report said that 1,020 incidents of hate based crimes were recorded on the information provided by individuals. Of those: Roughly four out of six people agreed to follow up for care coordination services, including direct and ongoing support accessing legal aid or counselling.
Nearly 80% of California’s counties were represented, including all 10 of the state’s most populated counties. Further validated bias motivation information for 560 reports through additional CA vs Hate staff review. Of those reports: Race and ethnicity (35.1%), gender identity (15.1%), and sexual orientation (10.8%) were the most cited bias motivations.
Anti-Black (26.8%), anti-Latino (15.4%), and anti-Asian (14.3%) bias were the most cited reasons for reports related to race and ethnicity. HAF said that they will continue to engage with law enforcement to ensure that the community is better protected.
Prasad says Hinduphobia and anti-Hindu hate have a long history in the United States. Below we highlight just a few of the more significant acts against Hindus in the US.
Temple attacks in California (vandalization or burglaries) Pancha Mukha Hanuman Temple in Dublin (Jan. 11). Shree Ashta Lakshmi Temple in Fremont (Jan. 5), Shiv Durga Temple in Santa Clara (Dec. 30), Vijay’s Sherawali Temple in Hayward (Dec. 24), The Shri Swaminarayan Temple in Newark (Dec. 22), Hari Om Radha Krishna Mandir in Sacramento (Oct 30).
It’s not just California. Hindu temples are vulnerable coast to coast, be it the Rio Grande Valley, TX in June 2020 or the multiple attacks on the Tulsi Mandir in Queens NY in August 2022. The latter was one of the rare times it was treated as a hate crime and the perpetrators were arrested.
Attacks on Hindu individuals – be it women in a Texas parking lot or a Hindu man just visiting his local Taco Bell to eat. In August 2022, Krishnan Iyer’s innocuous order for a bean burrito, led to a 10 minute verbal assault. 21 months later, the attacker has yet to face any consequences for this action – further evidence of Hinduphobia because crime against Hindus is often not prosecuted.
There has been a repeated and frequent desecration of Mahatma Gandhi statues, one of the most famous Hindus in the West. His statues have faced violence all over the country, such as the slew of attacks in 2022 spanning Washington DC, Union Square in New York City, and Chicago. In 2021 a statue in Davis, CA was similarly targeted.
Washington, DC saw two separate attacks on June 4, 2020, and on December 12, 2020. In September of 2021, Hindus in Atlanta woke up to signs featuring anti-Hindu dot busting signs protesting the building of a local temple.
“CA vs Hate is about recognizing and protecting the incredible diversity of our state and sending a clear message that hate will never be tolerated,” said Governor Gavin Newsom said through a press note.
“When California was confronted by an alarming increase in hate, we didn’t just sit back and hope it got better,” said CRD Director Kevin Kish. “We came together and launched an array of nation-leading programs to ensure all our communities feel welcome and protected.”
