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CSUSB professor explains the numbers behind the rise in reported hate crimesPolitiFactApril 3, 2019 For an article taking a look behind the numerical increase in reported hate crimes, crime researcher Brian Levin, the director of Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, surveyed official local police data from 30 large American cities in 2018 and found that 'this is the first time in this decade that collection of cities has hit 2,000... and has its steepest increase since 2015.' Looking at cities individually, 70 percent of the cities reported an increase from 2017 to 2018, and slightly less than half hit a decade high, Levin said. The cities that recorded decade-high hate crimes include Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, Dallas, Austin, San Francisco, Fort Worth, Seattle, Washington, D.C., Louisville, Sacramento, Miami, New Orleans, and Cleveland. However, Levin said that some of the increase, especially in cities with very low numbers before, was the result of the more rigorous reporting.Levin said that hate crimes fluctuate more than usual around 'catalytic, emotionally-charged events, terrorist attacks, and conflictual elections.''We’ve seen that hate crimes have increased not only around all elections, but Brexit as well in the UK. That’s a lesson for all of us to maybe tone down the rhetoric,' Levin said. Read the complete article at “Explaining the numbers behind the rise in reported hate crimes.”
CSUSB professor discusses arms disagreement between U.S. and TurkeyPress TVApril 4, 2019 David Yaghoubian, CSUSB professor of history, was interviewed for a segment about Turkey’s planned purchase of Russia’s S-400 anti-missile system and the U.S. reaction by halting the transfer to Turkey of F-35 stealth fighter jets. Yaghoubian said the impetus for Turkey to purchase the Russian anti-missile system was the Obama administration’s refusal to sell it the U.S. Patriot missile system. He added, “ … also, we have the issue of the 2016 coup attempt, and, at least in the interpretation of the Turkish government, since the American government and CIA was behind this, it would make sense for Turkey to diversify its source of arms, and especially air defense, to potentially secure itself from a future American attack, or potential American attack.” See the complete video segment at “Pence: Turkey's planned purchase of Russian S-400 poses great danger to NATO.” Press TV is a 24-hour English language news and documentary network affiliated with Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting.
Clarification of CSUSB professor’s comments at a West Hollywood City Council meeting The WEHOville newspaper account of the April 1 West Hollywood City Council meeting (“Israel-Palestine conflict becomes the focus of a West Hollywood City Council debate”) about the discussion of the city’s Human Rights Speakers Series and whether to allow the documentary, “1948: Creation & Catastrophe,” to be shown as part of the series, mischaracterized comments made by Ahlam Muhtaseb, the film’s co-producer and CSUSB professor of communication studies, to the city council. The film was originally scheduled to be shown on Dec. 12, but opposition to it – critics said the film was anti-Semitic – led the council to postpone the event. It will now be screened on April 16. Muhtaseb, who has done fieldwork in Palestinian refugee camps in the Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine, and the film’s other producer, Andy Trimlett, were to have participated in a panel discussion after the Dec. 12 screening. Muhtaseb’s prepared comments to the council, in part, included: “The idea of this film started from my field work on cognitive narratology and collective memory among Palestinian refugees in Diaspora about 13 years ago, but had evolved into a massive historical documentary on the roots of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, because we wanted to translate the existing academic scholarship on this conflict into an accessible media version for the average person, which apologists for Israel are afraid of. We spent over ten years of our lives traveling, interviewing, researching, filming, and editing this documentary. What benefit would the West Hollywood City and Council reap from instituting new forms of censorship that are reminiscent of McCarthyism and similar totalitarian practices? Also, what is the message that the City and Council would send by supporting the typical racist and sexist troupe that a woman of color could not be trusted with scholarship? I want to emphasize that the fact that I was the one signaled out in all these attacks, not my partner who is a White man, just underscores those racist and sexist motivations. I want to also emphasize that an Islamophoic motivation should be added into the mix since I am a Muslim woman of color; such racist Islamophobic discourse has been existent in America for ages, but it has recently been enabled, legitimized, and moved to the mainstream by the Trump administration, whose main strategy has been to silence and delegitimize marginalized communities, just like the Muslim ban, border and immigration issues, and police brutality. “ You can also view Muhtaseb’s address to the West Hollywood City Council in the online video of its April 1 meeting. Discussion of the Human Rights Speaker Series starts at about 2 hours and 24 minutes into the video; Muhtaseb’s address to the council begins at about the 3:05 mark in the video.
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