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Friend, The United States has a hate crime problem. The most recent FBI report shows the number of hate crimes reaching an all-time high. The number of reported hate crimes is up by 60 percent over the last five years — and those figures are massively understated. Hate crimes occur in every region of our country, in our large cities and our small towns and suburbs. They’re taking place in our homes, on our streets, in our workplaces. Disturbingly, one in ten of the reported hate crimes occurred in our schools. As the premier organization combating hate and extremism in the U.S., the SPLC has designated October as Hate Crimes Awareness Month to alert the public, advocates and policymakers to the problem of hate crimes and press for action to prevent them. We launched this campaign to encourage difficult but essential conversations about how we can prevent hate from taking root in the first place — and, with your help, how we can show Americans a path forward, out of the hate and violence plaguing our country. In a country with a long history of racial discrimination and violence, we believe that it will be difficult — but not impossible — to free our communities from the terror of hate crimes. This October, we hope you will join us in sounding the alarm and fighting back against hate and extremism in the United States. Together, we can stop the senseless hate violence that shatters families and communities, undermines trust, and destroys the lives of innocent people. People like: O’Shae Sibley, the young gay Black man who was murdered in front of a Brooklyn gas station after dancing to a Beyoncé song with a group of friends, reportedly because the alleged attacker “had a problem with them dancing.” Or Laura Ann Carleton, the California woman who was murdered because she flew a Pride flag outside her clothing store and refused to be intimidated by the man who tore down the flag and yelled homophobic slurs when she confronted him. Or Angela Michelle Carr, Anolt Joseph Laguerre Jr., and Jerrald De’Shaun Gallion, who were gunned down in a Jacksonville, Florida, Dollar General store by a white gunman who believed in the “inferiority of Black people.” Or the tens of thousands of other Americans targeted with intimidation and violence simply because of who they are … what their skin color is, where they’re from, what language they speak, which God they pray to, what their gender is or who they love. Our work will be an uphill battle, but it is a deeply necessary one. Thank you for being a part of our work to create a world where no one must fear for their safety because of who they are or where they were born.
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