How a Small Town Silenced a Neo-Nazi Hate Campaign

Photos and videos show various actions religious leaders and institutions in Baltimore are taking to help rebuild their community and foster positive interaction in the midst of racial tension, looting, and rioting.

The Stop AAPI Hate movement has increased the public’s awareness of the increase in hate crimes and prejudice as a result of COVID-19. The movement collects incident reports and uses the data to advocate for change. In addition to increasing awareness by ensuring that hate crimes did not go unnoticed, more people have participated in protests and become engaged with organizations working to stop anti-Asian racism. The movement has also fueled some policy wins, such as Congress’ approval of the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act.

Hate crime laws apply to a narrow range of conduct, and often fail as a response to bias incidents that constitute hate speech but are not in themselves a crime. When high school students working on a history class project produced a video with a song treating the KKK and racist murders as a joke, the school and community responded not with prosecutions but with community dialogues to air differences of opinion about the incident. Students of color then formed a group, Project D.R.E.A.M., that expanded the conversations to the entire school, educating a mainly white community about the impact of racism.

By establishing online platforms to make anonymous reports of anti-Asian hate crimes during the pandemic, two Canadian organizations elicited hundreds of stories that help victims to process their experiences. The first platform, Elimin8hate, was the creation of a filmmaker who understands the therapeutic value of storytelling as means of coping with trauma. Her Vancouver group's alliance with a Toronto organization attracted funding to train discussion leaders who will lead anti-racism discussions in government and businesses.

A burst of creativity is helping Portland confront its racist histories. From murals appearing on boarded-up buildings, protest art on exhibit at art centers, and artists gathering downtown to display their work depicting clashes between protestors and federal troops, new opportunities have been created for the city's Black artists. Community groups are also connecting artists with affordable housing resources and memorializing displaced Black communities using murals, photography, and oral histories. While a good start, more work is needed to bring about structural changes.

In Dayton, Ohio, a Ku Klux Klan rally was met with over 500 counterprotesters. While the city is one of the United States’ most segregated, community members including church groups, New Black Panthers, Antifa members, and students came together in a show of solidarity against the racist group.

Young individuals who have lost loved ones to violence and live in violent areas are likely to perpetuate these trends. 'Becoming a Man' and 'Working on Womanhood' are programs that involve mentorship, behavioral therapy, and other skill development in order to help teenagers find a healthier path.

New York Police Department has Operation Ceasefire, in which a mother whose child was a victim of gun violence calls gang members at risk of perpetuating similar crimes. The effort aims to bridge the divide between ethnic minority communities and the police with community pressure on behalf of the police.

When anti-drag protesters appeared at a library storytelling event in Calgary, counter-protesters from the Fairy Garden Project showed up with pink angel wings to protect performers and attendees entering the event. The strategy follows a long tradition of counter-protest in LGBTQ2S+ communities.

Since 1990, the Detroit Symphony's African American Orchestra Fellowship has offered two-year stints to Black musicians in an effort to diversify the group's membership. Fellows have gone on to join top-25 orchestras, win jobs around the world, and work as teachers, freelancers, and arts administrators, but racial disparities still persist in orchestras across the country.