#JabaraHeyerNOHATEAct | Tell Congress to Support the Khalid Jabara and Heather Heyer NO HATE Act

#JabaraHeyerNOHATEAct

The Jabara-Heyer NO HATE Act will improve our hate crime data and promote a more effective response to hate crime in our communities. Now is the time for us to work together and counteract the scourge of hate crime in this country. Urge your elected representatives to cosponsor the Jabara-Heyer NO HATE Act (S.2043|H.R.3545).

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I am writing to express my support for the Khalid Jabara and Heather Heyer NO HATE Act (S.2043), introduced by Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and its House companion bill (H.R.3545), introduced by Representatives Don Beyer (D-VA) and Pete Olson (R-TX). Named after two victims of hate violence whose murders were prosecuted as hate crimes but not reflected in official hate crime statistics, the Jabara-Heyer NO HATE Act will improve our hate crime data and promote a more effective response to hate crime in our communities. I urge you to support and cosponsor this important legislation.

Under the Hate Crime Statistics Act of 1990, which Congress passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) collects data on hate crimes reported by state and local law enforcement agencies. According to the most recent edition of FBI’s annual Hate Crime Statistics report, which was published in November 2018 and based on 2017 data, law enforcement agencies reported 7,175 hate crime incidents. This marked a 17 percent increase from 2016 and the third year in a row with a reported increase.

While the data collected under the Hate Crime Statistics Act represent the best source of information on hate crime in our communities, they remain seriously inaccurate. The U.S. Department of Justice estimates the actual number of hate crimes that occur each year to be over 30 times greater than what is reflected in federal hate crime statistics. Research indicates that multiple factors contribute to the undercount. For example: victims might be apprehensive to report hate crimes to law enforcement; agencies might be using outdated reporting systems; technical glitches might occur during the data submission process; or law enforcement officers might lack the proper training to identify, report, and respond to hate crimes.

And as we have seen in recent years, even the most overt acts of hate violence, such as the 2016 murder of Khalid Jabara in Tulsa, Okla., and the 2017 murder of Heather Heyer in Charlottesville, Va., have gone unreported. Khalid and Heather were killed on August 12, exactly one year apart, and although their murders were prosecuted as hate crimes, they are not included in the data. With knowledge of these omissions, we are forced to confront a difficult question: If not even these incidents were reported, what else are we missing?

The consequences are significant. The data collected under the Hate Crime Statistics Act are supposed to provide policymakers, law enforcement, and impacted communities with the information they need to develop an effective and appropriate response to hate crime. Under the current status quo, the data are not serving their intended purpose.

Fortunately, there is a bill to fix that. The Jabara-Heyer NO HATE Act will improve our hate crime data and promote a more effective response to hate crime in our communities. Now is the time for us to work together to counteract the scourge of hate crime in this country. Please cosponsor the Jabara-Heyer NO HATE Act (S.2043|H.R.3545). Your leadership will ensure that our communities have the information and resources to keep us safe.

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