Spurt in Hate Crime Complaints Sparks 'Day Out Against Hate'

In response to a spike in hate crime complaints this year, the Reverend Al Sharpton and the City Council speaker, Christine Quinn, are launching a citywide "Day Out Against Hate" to combat the trend.

The announcement came as police officials disclosed yesterday that hate crime complaints have climbed more steeply in the past week — 20% versus this time last year—than in the previous month, when a 12% rise in complaints and several high-profile incidents grabbed public attention.

Also yesterday, the Anti-Defamation League released its annual survey indicating a slight rise in anti-Semitic attitudes across the country.

The survey, which has been conducted since the 1960s, also found that one in four Americans thinks Jews are more loyal to Israel than to America, a statistic the league's president, Abe Foxman, said he found the most disturbing.

"This hasn't budged in 40 years," he said at a news conference announcing the results of the study. "That's what I find haunting."

At a rally yesterday to announce the anti-hate day, scheduled for November 29, Ms. Quinn was joined by dozens of other council members and local civil rights leaders to denounce the recent uptick in hate crime complaints, which have included both swastikas and the first hangman's nooses reported in the city in recent memory. Such events have become almost routine in the past month, and the build-up of such incidents across city has prompted local officials, university students, and community groups to organize protests and community meetings.

"The one way to drown out hate is to have a loud and consistent drum beat for tolerance," Ms. Quinn said. Besides the Day Out, Ms. Quinn and the mayor are planning to roll out a series of public service announcements condemning hate crimes, city officials said.

"The swastikas, I think, and the nooses, are really worrisome," Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday. "I hope it's not changing — the compassion, and tolerance and mutual respect that this city has built up over a long period of time."

Officials have also responded with legislation.

Yesterday, City Council Members considered two bills, one to increase fines for hate crimes and another to support legislation already moving through the state Legislature to make displaying a hangman's noose a felony. Ms. Quinn suggested yesterday that legislators look for other hateful acts to add to the list of felony-level bias crimes, which already includes swastikas.

At a City Council hearing that followed the rally, the commanding officer of the NYPD Hate Crimes Taskforce, Michael Osgood, said he supported the efforts to fight bias incidents with more laws, noting that hate crimes appeared to decrease when harsher punishments are enacted. He suggested tightening up the current state hate crime law, which he says includes some vague terminology.

Mr. Osgood also disclosed a more detailed breakdown of hate crime complaints. Answering a question from Council Member Peter Vallone about whether the recent visit of President Ahmadinejad of Iran has had an impact on the number of hate crimes, Mr. Osgood told the council that the tally of anti-Semitic acts has seen the sharpest increase in the city in the past 90 days – rising 36% above last year's numbers.

A professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Eugene Kelly, has suggested that adding to the hate crime statute could burden the police force.

"You want to condemn that kind of conduct," he said in a recent interview. "But as a practical matter, it really does tend to stretch police resources."

Police disclosed last week to The New York Sun that arrests for hate crimes are down this year in comparison to last year.