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Research by CSUSB economic professor cited in article about India’s wealthyEconomic Times (India)July 19, 2019 Research by Rishabh Kumar, CSUSB assistant professor of economics, was included in an article about India’s wealthy seeing their income increase at a faster rate in the last three decades. The time series data used in the article is from a working paper by Kumar. Read the complete article at “Rich are getting richer at rates seen in pre-independence India.”
LAPD’s use of informant to infiltrate left-wing activist group will ‘create a set of questions going forward,’ CSUSB professor saysLos Angeles TimesJuly 19, 2019 The Los Angeles Police Department ordered a confidential informant to monitor and record meetings held by a political group that staged protests against President Trump in 2017, a move that has drawn concern and consternation from civil rights advocates, the newspaper reported. Brian Levin, director of CSUSB’s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, was interviewed for the article. Levin, a former police officer, said law enforcement agencies often struggle to balance civil liberties against public safety needs when trying to assess potential dangers associated with political protest. But Levin, who routinely monitors street rallies, said Refuse Fascism rarely engages in violence and expressed concern about the decision to infiltrate the group. “I think the LAPD may have been scrambling during a very difficult, violent, political season in California, where people were traveling to different cities and there were folks trying to infiltrate mainstream groups to a certain degree,” he said. “That being said, this ham-fisted execution, against arguably one of the least likely groups to engage in violence, is going to create a set of questions going forward.” Read the complete article at “LAPD informant infiltrated left-wing activists during Trump protests, records show.”
Law enforcement officers have added responsibility to be judicious with social media posts, CSUSB professor saysLos Angeles TimesJuly 19, 2019 Brian Levin, a former police officer who now serves as director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino, was interviewed for an article examining the hiring of Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva’s son, Johannes Jared Villanueva. The son, an Army veteran, was hired in June despite a record that department watchdogs said would generate scrutiny. It comes as the sheriff is facing questions about other hiring decisions. In addition, the younger Villanueva’s Instagram account has included a post making light of the Holocaust, which Levin was asked to comment on. He said the post – a meme of a man sleeping with the caption “Did you sleep well?” followed by the response “Like God during the Holocaust – could be interpreted in different ways. “The first way is that God doesn’t care about Jews and is content with them being exterminated, and that’s an incredibly hurtful post. But the point could also be that God doesn’t exist, which is a legitimate point of debate, but not through something so crude and hurtful as diminishing the suffering and lessons of the Holocaust,” Levin said, adding that officers have an added responsibility to be judicious in their social media posts. Read the complete article at “Sheriff Alex Villanueva’s son was hired to be a deputy seven months after his father took office.”
CSUSB professor discusses political rhetoric as a catalyst for hate crimesDaily KosJuly 20, 2019 CSUSB criminal justice professor Brian Levin was one of the experts interviewed by writer David Neiwert for an article about the recent comments by President Donald Trump critical of four Democratic congresswomen of color and the “Send her home!” chants by Trump supporters at a rally soon after. The article examined how political rhetoric influences actions of extremists on the far right. “They honestly believe that what they're doing has some sort of communal assent,' said Levin, who leads the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino. This is where the role played by Trump becomes crucial, the article said. Rather than acting as a lever to discourage such acts, Trump clearly has encouraged them with both his rhetoric and his actions. This has led to what has been called the “Trump Effect,” in which outbreaks of bigoted crimes and incidents are directly linked to the president’s outbursts in speeches and on Twitter. This effect was first marked in the month immediately following Trump’s election in November 2016. Levin’s team as CSUSB assembled hate-crimes data from 38 jurisdictions and found the effect was unmistakable: “racial hate crime according to FBI data surged during November 2016, and in particular on the day after the election, rising from 10 to 27. Our analysis of the same FBI data set further revealed November was the worst month—with 735 hate crimes—since 2007 and the worst November going back to 1992, when systemic national record keeping began. Further, we found that hate crimes more than doubled, from 17 to 42, the day after the election and that a 72 percent average daily spike occurred in the two weeks following the election compared to before.” Read the complete article at “Trump and his fans and defenders are wallowing in the language of hate crimes.”
CSUSB art professor serves as judge on glassblowing competition show on NetflixFontana Herald NewsJuly 18, 2019 Viewers can prepare to be “blown away” by the breathtaking and unique glassblowing sculptures seen on the competition show “Blown Away,” featuring Cal State San Bernardino’s art professor Katherine Gray as a judge on the Netflix series which launched on July 12. The show, which originally aired in Canada, is hosted by pop-science YouTuber Nick Uhas, who has also appeared on “America’s Got Talent” and “Big Brother.” It features 10 master artisans who are given an art or design challenge each episode, with one contestant eliminated each time. The contestants came from across the United States and Canada. Read the complete article at “Cal State art professor serves as judge on glassblowing competition show on Netflix.”
The real universities outside the ivory tower: PM Abiy’s commencement speech at Addis Ababa UniversityZeHabeshaJuly 21, 2019 Alemayehu G. Mariam, CSUSB professor emeritus of political science, wrote a commentary on the commencement address given by Ethiopia’s prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, at Addis Ababa University. He wrote: “After PM Abiy Ahmed delivered his speech at Addis Ababa University on July 13, I was hoping those who mindlessly and hysterically criticize him would take the opportunity to challenge him. “They could have on his proposal for a global mobilization of Diaspora Ethiopian investment. They could have challenged him on his 4 billion tree planting campaign or the civic virtues he commended to the freshly minted graduates. … “While PM Abiy’s critics are ready to jump on a word or phrase spoken or allegedly spoken by him, they are manifestly unwilling, unable or incapable of responding to him on substantive ideas.” Read the complete article at “The real universities outside the ivory tower: PM Abiy’s commencement speech at Addis Ababa University.”
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