NOTE: Faculty, if you are interviewed and quoted by news media, or if your work has been cited, and you have an online link to the article or video, please let us know. Contact us at news@csusb.edu.


CSUSB professor writes on ‘How social media exploits our loneliness’
Psychology Today
June 14, 2021

Anthony Silard, associate professor of public administration, wrote on “How Social Media Exploits Our Loneliness” or his Psychology Today blog, “The Art of Living Free.”

He wrote, in part, “Social media has, strangely, created its own demand. By isolating you from your friends, your loneliness becomes greater and you feel more motivated by what the British psychologist Pamela Qualter calls the ‘reaffiliation motive’ to check your social media and see what your friends are doing.”

Read the complete article at “How social media exploits our loneliness.”


CSUSB study cited in column about wages and food prices
The Hawk Eye (Burlington, Iowa)
June 16

A column by Alan Guebert about the effect worker wages have on food prices cited a June 13 BusinessInsider.com article that also addressed the topic and referenced a 2016 study by Daniel MacDonald, associate professor of economics at CSUSB.

The BusinessInsider.com reported that Chipotle announced it was raising its prices due to it increasing workers’ wages from $13 to $15 per hour.

Guebert wrote, “Moreover, it continues, ‘A study from California State University San Bernardino found that for a minimum wage increase of 10%, food prices increased by just 0.36%’ -- or a fraction of the price hike Chipotle instituted because of ‘higher worker wages.’” (MacDonald’s study, “New Research on the Price Pass-Through Effects of the Minimum Wage,” said the increase was about 0.46%.)

Read the complete article at “Farm and Food: Worker wages are not the cause of higher food prices.”


CSUSB professor comments on large number of Florida residents facing charges related to Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot
USA Today
June 16, 2021

Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino was interviewed for an article about Florida emerging as a cradle of the insurrection as the fallout from the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol building paints a clearer picture of those involved. Florida is tied with Texas for the most individuals facing charges stemming from Jan. 6, with 47 arrests in each state out of the 484 total nationwide, according to a database maintained by USA Today.

Levin noted that Florida is a large state with many different groups of people and types of communities that is rapidly evolving, which can be a recipe for conflict. “Florida is so diverse, from the Panhandle down to South Florida,” Levin said. “You’re also seeing the type of diversity that is thrashing itself out in conflict … up state, down state, rural vs. urban … international vs. people who maintain that change is coming too fast for them.”

Levin pointed to Florida’s “more conservative demographic” as one potential explanation for why more individuals from the state would be motivated to take drastic action in response to the unfounded stolen election narrative. He also said places such as Florida with changing demographics can be more volatile.

“It has been a state where anti-government fears have been aroused in the local populace and have a significant degree of support, and it’s also a state that is both politically and demographically changing,” Levin said. “And when we see places on a tipping point … we often see different types of backlash and I think that’s what you’re seeing there.”

Levin believes Florida may be more prone to having ongoing extremism problems.

“Florida, is it red? Is it blue? Is it conservative? Is it Anglo? Is it more diverse? Florida itself is sorting that out,” he said. “At a time when we see fragmentation nationally, regions experiencing a combination of changes are the types of places we’re going to see elevated activity of all types.”

Read the complete article at “Florida emerges as a cradle of the insurrection as Jan. 6 Capitol riot arrests keep piling up.”


CSUSB professor discusses government security and openness six months after U.S. Capitol riot
Stateline/The Pew Charitable Trusts
June 16, 2021

Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, was interviewed for an article about state and local government officials balancing openness and security. And some observers say leaders would be wise to heed the simmering unrest just below the surface as the far-right groups who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 continue to simmer over what they falsely think was a stolen presidential election. 

Levin suggested it’s not just officials at state capitols who need to reassess their security – local and county government buildings are vulnerable too, he said.

“We’re seeing contentious standing room only meetings at the county level as well,” he said in an interview.

He suggested officials maintain some kind of perimeter protection around public buildings, with limited entry and exit points.

“That can be done in a way so it doesn’t look like a fortress,” he said. “Spacing, video surveillance and making sure people aren’t armed.”

Read the complete article at “Post-insurrection, states balance Capitol security, openness.”

 

The CSUSB Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism’s latest research on hate crimes against Asian Americans was cited in the following:   

 

Asian woman, 94, stabbed multiple times in San Francisco
NBC News
June 17, 2021

A man who was released from jail earlier this month was arrested in connection with an "unprovoked" stabbing of a 94-year-old Asian woman in San Francisco, authorities said Wednesday.

Daniel Cauich, 35, faces multiple charges, including attempted homicide, elder abuse, committing a felony while on bail or release and probation violation. Investigators said they were still trying to determine if the incident was a hate crime.

The stabbing is the latest in a wave of attacks against Asian Americans across the country.

An analysis of hate crime data in late April revealed that the increase in anti-Asian attacks has remained consistent. The research, released by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, found that hate crimes surged 169 percent when comparing the first quarter of 2021 to the same time period in 2020 across 15 major cities.

A report from the center in March showed that hate crimes increased by nearly 150 percent in major cities last year.

 

San Francisco stabbing victim Anh ‘Peng’ Taylor came to Bay Area searching for American dream
KPIX TV San Francisco
June 17, 2021

Anh “Peng” Taylor, 94, was recovering Thursday from the wounds suffered in a vicious attack on a San Francisco street. On Wednesday at 10:15 a.m. in the 800 block of Post St., she was attacked allegedly by 35-year-old Daniel Cauich, who was taken into custody two hours later.

It was not immediately known if Taylor was targeted because of her race or was a random victim in a neighborhood plagued by crime. But there has been stunning rise of violence toward Asian Americans in San Francisco Bay Area since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

According to a report by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, released on June 1 there were 12 reported hate crimes committed against Asian-Americans in San Francisco during the first quarter of 2021 — a 140 percent increase over the first quarter of 2020.

 

Alibaba co-founder says Asian Americans get 'scapegoated' in times of crises
Benzinga
June 16, 2021

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. co-founder Joe Tsai believes that Asian Americans get “scapegoated” whenever there is a crisis in the U.S. In an interview with CNBC, Tsai noted that when the U.S. economy is doing well, Asian Americans “play by the rules” and prosper together with everybody else. But if there’s a crisis - if there’s a pandemic, if there’s a war or if there’s an economic downturn - Asian Americans get scapegoated,” the owner of NBA’s Brooklyn Nets added.

People of Asian origin in the U.S. have been subject to rising violence amid the pandemic as COVID-19 appeared to emerge from China. Former U.S. President Donald Trump had also repeatedly linked the pandemic to China.

According to data from the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism (CSHE) at California State University, San Bernardino, anti-Asian hate crimes in America’s 16 largest cities surged by 164% in the first quarter of 2021 as compared to the same period last year.

 

What some metro Detroit organizations are doing to combat growing anti-Asian hate
WXYZ TV Detroit, Mich.
June 16, 2021

If you've been watching the news lately you've no doubt seen incident after incident where people of Asian descent have been viciously attacked. In fact, Anti-Asian hate crimes increased by nearly 150% in 2020 mostly in New York and Los Angeles, according to a new report by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino.

We've also seen the numbers creep up here in Michigan, that is why the community of Madison Heights, which is home to the Association of Chinese Americans, is doing its part to prevent hate and to be more open to welcoming all.

 

Asian American woman assaulted in Culver City in possible hate crime
Los Angeles Times
June 16, 2021

Culver City police are investigating a possible hate crime after a man assaulted an Asian American woman on a sidewalk Monday, June 14. The incident marks the latest in a wave of attacks on Asian Americans across the country during the coronavirus pandemic, which some have blamed on Asians because of its origins in China.

The Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino report showed that the number of hate crimes against Asian Americans in the first quarter increased from five to 12 in San Francisco, a jump of 140%. In Los Angeles, there were nine hate crimes in the first quarter of 2021, compared with five during the same period last year — a change of 80%.

 

Attack against Asian California woman investigated as hate crime
Washington Examiner
June 15, 2021

An Asian woman in California was assaulted, and police are investigating whether she was the victim of a hate crime. The unnamed victim was hit over the head with an unknown object in the early hours of Monday morning, June 14, the Culver City Police Department said in a press release.

New hate crime data shows that there have been 86 attacks against Asian Americans so far in 2021 in 15 of America’s largest cities and counties, while there were 32 during that time in 2020, demonstrating a 169% increase to 2021’s total, according to a report released in April by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino.


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