Voices Against Hate – Episode 1: Understanding Hate Crimes and Building Stronger Communities

In the premiere episode of Voices Against Hate, host Safraz Bacchus launches an important and timely series exploring the reality of hate crimes in the United States and beyond. Drawing attention to the human stories behind the statistics, this episode examines what hate crimes are, why they occur, and the lasting impact they have on individuals, families, and entire communities.

Listeners will gain insight into the rise of Islamophobia, antisemitism, anti-Black racism, anti-Asian hate, and discrimination against other minority communities. Safraz discusses how fear, misinformation, prejudice, and division can fuel hatred, while emphasizing the importance of education, dialogue, empathy, and community engagement as tools for change.

This episode challenges us to move beyond silence, confront difficult conversations, and choose understanding over suspicion, compassion over hatred, and unity over division. It is the first step in a series dedicated to promoting awareness, healing, and stronger, more inclusive communities.

Listen, learn, and join the conversation as we work together to build bridges where others seek to build walls.

Transcript

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We are living in a time where hate has become louder, where words are fueling division, and where fear and violence are entering our streets, schools, homes, and places of worship. Every day, people are being targeted because of their faith, race, culture, or simply because they are different. But we refuse to allow hate to define our future. This series is about more than hate crimes. It is about humanity, healing, understanding, and courageous conversations that bring people together instead of tearing them apart. Featuring faith leaders, community advocates, public officials, survivors, and voices from different backgrounds united in confronting hate and building hope. Because love must speak louder than hate. And our shared humanity must always rise above division. Join us for this powerful new series on the SB Life Institute podcast. Conversations on hate, healing, unity, and hope coming soon. Greetings and peace be with you all. Welcome to SB Life Institute Podcast, where we strive to inspire, serve, and build. Today I want to say that we will begin a very important series. In that series, it's quite relevant and it's necessary and it's a timely one. And that is, we start today a new series on hate crime. We will be discussing in the series, upcoming series, hate crimes in the United States of America and also in general. This is not an easy conversation. It's a conversation that is quite challenging, it's uncomfortable. It makes a lot of people uncomfortable, it's emotional, and also it challenges our assumptions and forces us to confront painful realities about the very society in which we live in. Yet it's a conversation that we should not shy away from. We must have this conversation. Because behind every statistic, behind every statistic, there is a human being. Behind every hate crime, there is a family that suffered. There's a family that is suffering even to this point because of their past experiences. Behind every hate crime, it leaves an impact, a negative impact. Behind every act of hatred in a community, what happens? It left people wounded. And we have to acknowledge that. And cannot be comfortable with that. Grows unchecked. It grows and no one speaks about it. No one monitors it. So this very beautiful nation in which we call our home, the United States, is a beautiful nation built by people from different races, right? Different races, different faiths. It does not belong to a particular group. So it was built by people from different cultures and also background. But yet, throughout the history of this nation, we know that they struggled with prejudice, they struggle with discrimination. There's a struggle with fear, there's a struggle with division. And again, I'll say we cannot shy away from this at all. So today, in the very society in which we live in, we see the rise of hate crime. Hate crimes that is directed towards specific communities, whether it is the rise of Islamophobia, which is directed towards the Muslims, anti-Semitism, which is directed towards the Jewish community, hate towards the Afro-American community, the Asian community, the immigrants, the Sikh, and other minority communities. Why is this happening? Take a moment and think about it. Why is it happening? Why are people becoming more fearful of one another? Why, when I look at someone, I feel insecure, not knowing anything about that person, right? And what can we do about it? What are some of the recommendations that we can make in creating a safer environment, one that is built on love and harmony and togetherness? And those are the questions I'll say we will explore. We explore. So allow me to commence this episode by sharing something quite important, and that is the definition of hate crime. This is something we heard. We read in the news, we hear on the television, we hear these words echoed about hate and animosity or hate crime. And I'll start by saying that I want you to know that hate crime is not simply a crime. It's not simply a crime, it's a crime that is motivated by bias. A crime that is motivated by prejudice against a person because of their race. So you treat them differently because of the very race, because of their religion, because of the choice of their religious practices, because of their ethnicity, because of their nationality, because of their disability, or sometimes because of their identity. So when someone attacks a person because they are Muslim, or because they are a Jew, or because they are a black, African-American, or Asian, or they practice Sikhism, or because of their racial background, in terms of being an Hispanic, or some other race, or because of other protected identity, that crimes sent a message beyond the victim. Right? And what is that message? That message that says, You are not welcome, you do not belong, you should be afraid, and that is why that hate crimes have such a very deep impact on people's lives, leave them with a trauma, fear. Sometimes you're in isolation. It affects an entire entire community or entire communities. One particular attack can cause people to be traumatized, it can traumatize thousands of people. So, therefore, we must basically pay heed and attention to this. So, when we look at the statistics, the statistics is quite alarming. And the statistics sometimes does not depict the real numbers because there are many people out there that experience hate crimes and they are fearful of going forward, of coming forward, and reported to the authorities. And there are various factors while these hate crimes, why these hate crimes are not actually reported. So, according to the FBI data, hate crime incidents in the United States have risen significantly over the last decade. It's not decreasing, but rather it's increasing. We see that there is a rise of hate crimes towards the Muslim and Jewish communities. Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, that there is a rise in that. Anti-Semitism incidents are increasing, and we should not tolerate that. Islamophobia as well, we're seeing it increasing, and we should not tolerate that. So Islamophobic attack continues to affect Muslim communities, as anti-Semitism attack also affects the Jewish communities. Asian Americans continue to be disproportionately targeted in racial motivated crimes. And black Americans also have been targeted in racial motivated crimes. The Asian Americans, hate crimes directed to them start to increase, you know, during the COVID-19 pandemic and even after that. And all it takes from us to pay some attention to it, and I'll say this that you may not see the necessity of talking about this until you are faced with it, until your mosque is targeted, or your synagogue is targeted, or you as a person is targeted from a particular religion. Right? And we have to really be proactive rather than reactive. What is perhaps more concerning, I'll say that many experts believe that hate crimes are under-reported, and I I mentioned that, right? Many victim victims never come forward. Some people they feel they fear that there may be retaliation. Others do not trust the authorities. There is a lack of trust between communities and authorities. Some people want people sometimes want to move on from the trauma and to be healed because of the trauma that they experience. But the numbers we see may only represent a portion of what is actually occurring. I'll say we are not safe, we don't feel safe. Religious communities in some parts of this country and some parts of the world do not feel safe. So there is an effort of weaponizing this very fear, and one of the greatest tools used to spread hatred is fear, right? Fear is quite powerful. Think of a moment when you are fearful and ask yourself if you were able to function in the moment of your fear. When people are fearful, they stop thinking rational. When we are fearful, we stop thinking rational. Right? And fear causes people to look for something to blame. So when you're fearful, you look at someone else to blame. It's because of him, it's because of her, it's because of this community, or because of that community. And all it takes for us to look back through history, and when we do, it teaches us a lesson, this very lesson, uh repeatedly and continuously. That lesson of economic uncertainty, not knowing where the economic crisis would lead our or cause what impact it will have on our personal life, and where it will lead a community towards what? Right? And also you find a group to blame when that happens, political tension. There's tension within the political parties, we find someone to blame. We start to play the blame game in the midst of political tension, social problems, we find a group to blame, and we see this quite often in the media as well. Fear mongering occurs when we find leaders, media outlets, influencers, organizations, they deliberately exaggerate threats in order to gain power and attention and votes and influence. Lately, we saw one of the politicians that occupy a very high seat saying, yes, Muslims must feel safe and we must protect them. And the only way for us to protect them is for them to leave this land and go back where they came from. We will not discuss this, but just want to show you from the highest seat that we will find politicians because of vote and because of the intent of causing divide, they tweet and they make these remarks. You take a moment, you open your smartphone, and you type a line that is controversial, that is filled with hate, with a particular intent, and you get millions of views, and you rile up an entire entire nation. So these people, what they want to do is to create us versus them mentality is this group against that group. They convince people that their neighbors are their enemies, that you cannot coexist with your neighbor if they if they look differently or practice differently, that immigrants are dangerous. They want to instill in the minds of people that people of other faiths cannot be trusted. That the United States of America is a Christian state, and this is not so, right? The diversity is a trap, these are the one-liners that they promote, and they pay millions of dollars to promote this, right? In their ads, and all the platforms. So diversity, they say it's a threat, and the result is polarization. The result is polarization, the result is suspicion, and also the result is hatred, and eventually hatred becomes action. It motivates someone to do something that is not acceptable, to commit a violence. Words become violence, rhetoric becomes crime, division becomes a tragedy. And I said before that this conversation is quite difficult, and you know, many people avoid discussing hate crimes because they fear, they're fearful that they may be misunderstood. Right? They they're scared that someone will not understand them. And today, as we we talk about this, right, I'll say to you, do not be fearful of communicating and talking about hate crime. I know for a fact that some people worry talking about racism because they're fearful of people to call them racist. Some people are uncomfortable in talking about religion because they are fearful that it will cause conflict. Some feel helpless and overwhelmed, right? But remember that silence does not solve the problem. Silence doesn't solve the problem. Difficult conversations are often the ones that society needs the most. Then you will see someone's maturity, right? Real healing begins when people listen to one another, when we begin to take a moment and listen in an empathetic way to the our brothers and sisters. What are their fears? What are their issues? Education. Know more about the person, and that tension will be relieved. Open your places of worship and welcome people without from other faiths, without what? Without crossing the boundaries that is laid down within your faith, without compromising your faith. So real understanding begins when people are willing to hear experiences that is different from their own. It's not only about your experience, but listen to someone else's experience. Open up to hear someone else's experience. Real change only occurs when we stop talking. At each other and start talking with each other. Talking with each other is what will work. Talking at each other will not work. Hate crimes has a cost. There's a cost. And what is that cost? You know, when a person experiences hate crimes, it leaves a scar. A scar that statistics cannot actually measure. A child is fearful of wearing their religious symbol. Jewish child fearful of wearing the kippah. Muslim fearful of wearing the topi or the masjid hat. The nun is fearful of wearing her scarf. In addition to this, our Sikh brothers and sisters are fearful of wearing their turban and a dupatta, like many other communities. So the child is afraid to wear a religious symbol. A woman, she is scared to walk alone, afraid of what may happen to her. Families are watchful in holy seasons of their religious groups because they're fearful of walking towards the mosque. The community of fear to gather publicly. So when there's fear, it changes behavior, it changes relationships. When you instill fear in the hearts of people, how people see their place. In society, it changes them. When you instill fear in the hearts of people, they don't feel that they are part of the very society in which they live in for decades. They feel that they don't have a voice that's taken away from them. That is why combating hate crime is not my responsibility. It's not your responsibility, it is all of us, it is our responsibilities, despite where we come from, what is our background, it is our responsibility to come together to combat this. And as we conclude this episode, I'll say, what can we do? What can we do as a community as we tackle hate crime? First of all, every one of you have a responsibility to educate yourself, know what is a hate crime, how it's affecting your community, and understand that what you experience today impacts you, and you have to think of the future of your children. So educate yourself about hate crimes, the statistics. Teach your child about other religions, grant them and give them the knowledge of cultural competencies, educate yourself of other culture, and you will be amazed with the commonalities that you will see. So also, I want to say that ignorance often fuels prejudice. So we must build relationships across differences. Get to know your neighbor who is not a Muslim. If there's an open house at the mosque or at the church or the synagogue, go and be a part of it. Know your neighborhood, be aware of your neighborhood. It is difficult to hate someone you know, you truly know. It's difficult to hate someone that you take the time to know. Take the time to know people, and knowing them will remove that barrier and that fear. As they share with you their personal stories, as they share with you their struggles, as they share with you about their identity and how they perceive themselves. Also, I'll say there is a lot of misinformation. So when we hear misinformation being peddled, we must challenge those misinformation. We should not be silent, ask questions. Don't be silent. Silence will cause more problems. So when there is misinformation, call out that misinformation. Not everything we see online is true. Not everything that the media pedals is true. Not every viral video represents a reality. Because it goes viral, it is truth and it represents the very reality. We must have the courage to speak up. Do not shy away. Silence sometimes empowers people, it motivates people, it pushes people. Right? And we must remember our shared humanity. Look at the common things that we have. You cannot say that you are superior over me, or I cannot say I'm superior over you because of one reason of the other. We all are the children of Adam. And Adam came from dearth, Darth. We are all, we are all, we every single one of us were created from dearth. And we have that particle inside of us. And be mindful of that. Before race, before religion, before politics, we are all human beings. And we all seek dignity. I seek dignity as you seek dignity. I seek safety as you seek safety. We all seek belonging. So in closing, I'll say that as we launch hate crime series, our goal is not to divide. Our goal is not to blame, our goal is not to create more anger. Our goal is understanding. Our goal is healing. Our goal is education. And our goal is building bridges where other seeks to build walls. In the coming episodes, we will hear from community leaders, from faith leaders, government officials, advocates, survivors, and experts who are working every day to confront hate and to build stronger communities. The challenge before us is very simple. The challenge is very simple. Will we allow fear to somehow define us? Would you allow fear to define you? Or we will choose understanding over suspicion and compassion over hatred, or we will choose unity over division and segregation. I want to thank you all for joining us. This is Safra's Bacchus. I'm the host of SB Life Institute Podcast. And I want to invite all of you to subscribe to our YouTube channel, Safra's Bacchus Life Institute. Please share. Listen and share, and stay tuned for upcoming series. Peace and love. I'm also on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Please take a moment and listen. Share it with your families and friends. Sit as a family and listen to this. Empower yourself, empower your kids about how important to live in love and harmony and how we can, you know, combat hate crimes that we're all affected by. Thank you. Peace and love.