Austin has seen its share of hate in the past year: Hyde Park residents found antisemitic flyers on their lawns; an 18-year-old last year was charged with arson after setting fire to a local synagogue; and the coronavirus pandemic triggered an increase in racial aggression toward Asian Americans.
Community groups focused on fighting bigotry, antisemitism and racism in Austin say residents and local leaders need to understand Texas hate crime laws, how they work, how to report a hate crime and why you should.
“The topic is more timely now, even though hate crimes have been happening for a long time — but there’s been more public incidents that have happened that have woken people up,” said Renee Lafair, Austin Anti-Defamation League regional director. “People are seeing hate crimes and hate incidents that happen on a reasonably regular basis, and they’re bothered by it and want to participate in stopping it and in healing their community.”
In the first two months of 2022, three hate crime incidents have been reported in Austin. Last year, 25 incidents were reported, according to city data.
Statewide, a total of 550 hate crime incidents were reported in 2020, according to the most recent data available from the Texas Department of Public Safety. DPS officials told the American-Statesman that 2021 hate crime data is being compiled and will be released this fall.
The 2020 numbers represent an increase of 35.1% when compared to 2019 when 407 incidents were reported.
“These incidents involved 632 victims, 546 offenders and resulted in a total of 557 offenses,” the annual DPS crime report states. “The hate crime volume significantly increased in 2020, along with victims and offenders.”
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Here’s a look at what a hate crime is; how to know when a crime could become a hate crime in Texas and how to report it:
What is a hate crime?
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, at the federal level, a hate crime is violence or threats of violence motivated by bias against race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or disability.
The “crime” in hate crime is a violent crime, such as assault, murder, arson, vandalism, or threats to commit such crimes. It may also cover conspiring or asking another person to commit such crimes, even if the crime was never carried out.
When used in a hate crime law, the word “hate” does not mean rage, anger, or general dislike. In this context “hate” means bias against people or groups with specific characteristics that are defined by the law.
—U.S. Department of Justice
In Texas, if someone commits a crime against you or your property, and a prosecutor can prove the offender was motivated by bias based on the victim’s race, color, disability, religion, national origin or ancestry, age, gender, or sexual orientation that crime could be prosecuted as a hate crime.
What is a bias incident?
Bias or hate incidents are acts of prejudice that are not crimes and do not involve violence, threats, or property damage. Some examples include racial slurs, hate speech, distribution of racist or antisemitic flyers or use of public signs. Under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, people cannot be prosecuted simply for their beliefs.
“People may be offended or upset about beliefs that are untrue or based upon false stereotypes, but it is not a crime to express offensive beliefs, or to join with others who share such views. However, the First Amendment does not protect against committing a crime, just because the conduct is rooted in philosophical beliefs,” the U.S. Department of Justice hate crimes resource website states.
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The Texas James Byrd Jr. Hate Crime Act
In 2001, the Texas Legislature adopted its current hate crime statute named after James Byrd Jr., a Black man who was chained to the back of a truck and dragged for nearly 3 miles along a secluded road outside Jasper in East Texas on June 7, 1998. The 49-year-old was alive for at least 2 miles before his body was ripped to pieces.
According to reports by the Associated Press, prosecutors said Byrd was targeted because he was Black. His killer was openly racist and had offensive tattoos on his body, including one of a Black man with a noose around his neck hanging from a tree, according to authorities. Byrd’s 44-year-old killer was executed at the state penitentiary in Huntsville in 2019.
That same year in Wyoming, Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old gay student at the University of Wyoming, was the target of homophobic violence and brutally murdered.
In 2009, the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act was signed by President Barack Obama. The Shepard-Byrd Act is the first statute allowing federal criminal prosecution of hate crimes motivated by the victim’s actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.
According to the Justice Department, “The Act makes it a federal crime to willfully cause bodily injury, or attempt to do so using a dangerous weapon, because of the victim’s actual or perceived race, color, religion, or national origin. The Act also covers crimes committed because of the actual or perceived religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or disability of any person, if the crime affected interstate or foreign commerce or occurred within federal special maritime or territorial jurisdiction.”
When does a crime become a hate crime in Texas?
In Texas, the law does not view a hate crime as a specific and independent criminal offense. Rather, the law allows prosecutors to “add a sentencing enhancement to crimes” if they can prove that the offender acted because of the crime victims’ race, color, national origin, religion, disability, age, gender or sexual orientation.
“And if the fact-finder finds that it is beyond a reasonable doubt, then the sentence is enhanced, and the seriousness of the underlying offense is aggravated by one level,” Jennifer E. Laurin, a Wright C. Morrow Professor of Law at the University of Texas told the American-Statesman.
“And that is in and of itself, a significant burden for the state to have to shoulder,” Laurin said. “Because what they have to establish beyond a reasonable doubt is not just that the defendant had unattractive beliefs about other people, for example, but rather, in the moment when the defendant acted, the defendant did so because of those beliefs.”
For instance, the Justice Department last month announced that a 21-year-old Midland man pleaded guilty to three counts of committing a hate crime after he attacked an Asian family at a store in March 2020 because he believed they were Chinese and responsible for the coronavirus pandemic.
The man, identified as Jose Gomez III, followed the family around the store and then found a steak knife. Gomez punched and stabbed the father and two young children, ages 6 and 2, and an employee at the store who had intervened.
“The defendant violently and horrifically attacked an unsuspecting innocent family because of how they looked and where he thought they came from,” said U.S. Attorney Ashley C. Hoff of the Western District of Texas in a statement. “This type of hate-based violence has no place in our society and will not be tolerated.”
Gomez faces a maximum sentence of life in prison and for each offense, a $250,000 fine.
Last year, President Joe Biden signed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act to address a drastic increase in violence and discrimination directed at Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The act expedites the Justice Department’s review of hate crimes and tasks the department to work with local law enforcement and community-based organizations to facilitate and raise awareness about hate crime reporting, including establishing an online hate crime reporting system in multiple languages.
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Bias motivation in Texas
According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, the largest percentage of hate crime reports in the state in 2019 were related to race, ethnicity, ancestry, or 64.5%. In 2020, that largest percentage inched up to 67.6%.
The second most commonly reported bias motivation in 2019 was sexual orientation at 15.5%. That number held steady in 2020 at 15.4%.
The third most common bias in 2019 was religious at 9.8% and the fourth most common bias was disability at 4.5%. In 2020, the third most common continued to be religious bias, rising to 11.3%, and the fourth most common bias remained disability, but down to 2.8%.
Why understanding hate crime laws matters
The Anti-Defamation League Austin Chapter, the Austin/Travis County Hate Crime Task Force, which formed in 2010, the Austin Police Department, the Austin Office of Civil Rights and other local organizations have been advocating to educate the community and public safety agencies to help them understand hate crimes in Texas.
The Anti-Defamation League and Hate Crimes Task Force hosted a virtual community training last month to address how religious institutions can protect their places of worship against security threats. The workshop came in the aftermath of a recent hostage situation at a synagogue Colleyville in January.
“The problem with hate crimes in general, is that even though an individual or group of people are targeted, when they’re targeted based on an immutable characteristic, it reverberates through that entire community.” Lafair said. “We understand the impact (hate crimes) have in our communities. That’s why they have to be taken care of carefully and in a community-wide fashion. We always need to do community outreach and education.”
In September, the city of Austin’s Civil Rights Office — created by the city in 2020 — hosted a virtual workshop to address hate, discrimination and violence toward the Asian American and Pacific Islander community. The workshop helped residents know when hate bias can rise to the level of a hate crime and how to report them.
Carol Johnson, Office of Civil Rights director for the city of Austin, told the Statesman the office’s goal is continue to having hate crime education workshops for all of Austin’s marginalized and underrepresented communities.
“We want to reach every minority group in Austin because we know that a hate crime against the Jewish community could look very different than hate crimes against the Latino or African American community,” Johnson said. “We want to engage and learn what the needs are for each specific community.”
Where to report a hate crime or a bias incident in Austin
Officials say it’s important that witnesses and victims report a hate crime or hate incidents in order to gather data that can help distribute resources.
To report a crime or a bias incident, residents can visit the following agencies and organizations:
Austin Office of Civil Rights
- austintexas.gov/department/office-civil-rights
- 512-974-3251
Austin Police Department
- If it’s an emergency call 911
- austintexas.gov/department/ireportaustincom
- If the incident has already occurred, the immediate danger is over and there are no injuries call 311 to report a crime; call 512-974-5000 for help in Spanish
Austin Police Safe Place Initiative
- austintexas.gov/department/apd-safe-place
- If the incident has already occurred, the immediate danger is over and there are no injuries, call 311 or 512-974-2000
Consulado General de Mexico En Austin
- Call 512-478 2866 ext. 105, 106, 108, 109, 119, 124
Anti-Defamation League and Austin/Travis County Hate Crimes Task Force
Austin American-Statesman reporter Natalia Contreras can be reached at 512-626-4036 or ncontreras@statesman.com. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook, @NataliaECG.