Iowa Center for Public Affairs Journalism (https://iowawatch.org/series/news21-hate-in-america/)
U.S. Department of Education data from 155 Iowa college campuses showed 13 incidences of hate crimes on those campuses in 2016, the most recent year for which data exist. This IowaWatch Connection podcast explores what student leaders are doing to overcome the negative impact of bias- and hate-related incidences when they happen.
Four registered hate groups were listed on the Southern Poverty Law Center Hate Map as operating from Iowa in late July 2018. They are called the Daily Stormer, Gallows Tree Wontansvolk Alliance, ACT for America and Great Millstone. Four hate groups is a relatively low amount when compared to other U.S. states. During the 1920’s the Ku Klux Klan was present in Iowa, making its way into the state shortly after World War I. During this time the Klan experienced a national rebirth and membership was soaring to new highs across America. However, as time went on its numbers dwindled.
American Hate is a short documentary that explores the legacy of hate in America and what it means to the country today. It is part of Carnegie-Knight News21’s 2018 investigative project “Hate in America.” Editor’s note: Video contains violent imagery, which may be disturbing to some viewers. American Hate Documentary from News21 on Vimeo.
“If you attack one of us, you attack all of us.” Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the New York-based Union for Reform Judaism, wasn’t just speaking for Jewish people.
As soon as students get off Highway 30 and arrive at Iowa State University, in Ames, they are greeted with bright yellow banners saying, “welcome,” in multiple different languages. This is just one thing Julian Neely, a journalism and communication major from Des Moines and the 2018-19 Student Government president, said the university does to promote inclusivity and reach out to students of different backgrounds.
Responding to a steep rise in reports of hate crimes on campus, at least 260 colleges and universities have implemented bias-response teams or other reporting policies to track such incidents. But the teams have created friction of their own, as conservative students, controversial speakers and followers of the alt-right movement claim colleges are sanitizing campuses of dissent, in violation of the First Amendment’s right to free speech.
Ken Parker was baptized in a predominantly black church in Jacksonville, Florida, his tattoos – a large swastika, one Confederate flag, a Ku Klux Klan insignia and an Iron Cross – immersed in holy water. His story is one of many revealed in a multi-story, nationwide News21 journalism project.
More than 2.4 million crimes, whose victims suspect were motivated by hate, were committed across the United States in the five years between 2012 and 2016, according to a News21 analysis of the federal National Crime Victimization Survey, which interviews tens of thousands of Americans annually.
The most recent Federal Bureau of Investigation data for 2016, issued in late 2017, showed 12 Iowa law enforcement agencies reporting 17 hate crimes in Iowa.