by John Bacon

January 5, 2017

 

A burst of hate incidents and crimes reported in the days following Donald Trump’s election in November has eased, but hate activity remains above pre-election levels, the Southern Poverty Law Center says.

Heidi Beirich, head of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project, called on Trump to take a strong stand against hate speech and crime.

“He was interviewed on Sixty Minutes and he said ‘stop it’ but never took a really strong stand,” Beirich told USA TODAY on Thursday. “Going forward, the question is how does Trump conduct himself?”

Beirich said that the 9/11 terror attacks prompted an outbreak of assaults targeting Muslims.

“The dynamic was altered when (then-president) George Bush went to a mosque,” Beirich said. “The number of incidents ground almost to a  halt.”

 

Full article:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2017/01/05/law-center-hate-crime-activity-has-declined-since-election/96195520/