Statement of Prof. Brian Levin on Behalf of the California Association of Human Relations Organizations (CAHRO) and the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism, California State University, San Bernardino Before the Orange County, CA Board of Supervisors June 6, 2017

Chairwoman Steel, Vice Chair Do and Supervisors Bartlett, Nelson and Spitzer, thank you so very much for the opportunity to briefly address you in support of funding to continue the exceptional work of the Orange County Human Relations Commission and Council, which my research will show is vitally needed at this critical time.

I come to you, wearing three hats, as Director, Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, Board Member of the California Association of Human Relations Organizations and as a long time resident of this marvelous county – the fifth most populous in the nation. I am a former NYPD officer and graduate of Stanford Law School and have presented my research before both houses of Congress, the California State Senate among others, the U.S. Supreme Court and the FBI among many others as well.

The Commission’s work to aid universities, schools, law enforcement, and diverse communities in providing mediation, data collection, training and educational resources is critically urgent now because we are at a time where hate crimes are not only on the rise, but so too are hate incidents and political violence perpetrated by both the hard left and racial nationalists across the ideological spectrum. I know this all to well, because while at a Ku Klux Klan rally, doing university research last year, I protected the grand dragon of the California Klan at a rally in Anaheim not far from here from an angry Antifa mob armed with metal poles and wooden sticks, where three others were stabbed. I received a death threat from that incident which is still under investigation.

Our latest research shows that this horrific incident was but one of almost 20 cases of violent public conflicts across the state since Dec 2015, resulting in numerous injuries and hundreds of arrests or criminal charge referrals, following violent mass street or campus confrontations. California based extremists have become increasingly combative as they openly organize for violent confrontations on social media. About one quarter of these violent incidents in the state took place right here in Orange County alone.

Moreover, as the latest HRC report shows hate crimes in the county rose 13.6% from 44 to 50, consistent with the statewide average in our study of 14.2%. California, has now in 2016, had its first back to back consecutive annual increase in hate crime since 1996. However, in Orange County, last year, there was an even greater increase in non-criminal hate incidents, 67%, which the HRC is uniquely qualified to record and address.

As CAHRO’s President Ann Noel states, “The OCHRC has created an innovative model, merging the work of a non-profit with the county government-funded HRC.  Both play a vital role, the HRC focusing on responding to instances of hate crimes and the non-profit focusing on hate crime prevention.”

I urge you to continue funding to this vital resource for our county’s civic health to do what Bobby Kennedy urged our society to foster shortly before he was struck down:

Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world.

May God bless all of you and the United States of America.

Major Confrontational California Public Demonstrations,

Dec. 2015- April 2017

TABLE 3: HATE CRIME IN CALIFORNIA’S LARGEST CITIES, 2016

 Police designated hate crime occurrences across cities covering 9.3 million residents

Local data may vary from FBI data and caution is urged by the FBI in ranking because of variations, including in reporting efficienices. These are crimes only, obtained directly from the agencies or from publicly available sources for San Diego and Long Beach.