Washington State plans to launch a pilot program for its “hate crime hotline,” Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Bob Ferguson announced Wednesday.
The program is slated to roll out in the counties of Clark, Kin and Spokane to establish a “safe space” for Washington residents to “report hate crimes and bias incidents,” a Washington State Office of the Attorney General press release says. The hotline was created after the adoption of Senate Bill 5427, and it allows residents to report on alleged “hate crimes” and “receive information and referrals.” It will be implemented in the three chosen counties by July 1, 2025 and will go statewide by Jan. 1, 2027.
“The ripples of harm from hate crimes and bias incidents extend beyond the victims who are directly impacted – and they must not be tolerated,” Ferguson stated. “This pilot will set the foundation for a first-of-its-kind centralized, statewide resource for Washingtonians to report hate crimes and bias incidents.”
He added the hotline will assist “victims of hate crimes and bias incidents” in finding support.
My office is soon to pilot a hate crimes hotline. And as Governor, I will create a new Hate Crimes Unit in the Washington State Patrol. We must take action to address hate crimes.
“Washington to pilot hate crimes hotline in three counties: ‘We must all work together’”…
— Bob Ferguson (@BobFergusonAG) June 26, 2024
A hate crime is “assault, property damage or threats to cause injury or property damage” regarding “the perception of a person’s race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, or disability,” according to Washington Law.
“Hate crimes,” however, are not the only focus of the hotline. The Attorney General’s Office also emphasized so-called “bias incidents.” The office claimed these incidents are “important to report,” even if they do not constitute violations of the law.
Washington State defines a bias incident as an individual’s “hostile expression of animus toward another person” concerning the “person’s actual or perceived characteristics.“
Although the law says that personal identifying information will be confidential, it sparked concerns about the hotline’s potential for abuse.
Julie Barret, founder of the Conservative Ladies of Washington, argued the basis for hate crimes is the “perception” of “fluid” factors, including “gender identity and sexual orientation.”
What could possibly go wrong? Hate crimes are based on “perception” of factors that are “fluid” (according to the queer activists) such as gender identity and sexual orientation or identity.
Get out of this communist state or make sure you have a plan to protect yourself and… https://t.co/ksTtaDoQiF pic.twitter.com/40DQVvTZOl
— Julie “Florida Woman” Barrett (@juliecbarrett) June 26, 2024
There are multiple instances of hate-crimes being exposed as hoaxes, most notably with the cases of Jussie Smollet and Bubba Wallace.
Jussie Smollet infamously claimed in 2019 that two men in masks yelling racial and homophobic slurs beat him, but a police investigation and the actor’s own admission revealed the attack was staged.
A year later in 2020, NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace claimed there was a noose in his garage at Talladega Superspeedway. Except, the noose was actually a pull rope used to close the garage door.
Morgan Bettinger, a college student “whose life was destroyed” by false accusations of racism, was stuck in her car in the summer of 2020 as a feminist BLM protest blocked the street near the University of Virginia. She exited her vehicle and spoke to the driver of a dump truck blocking the intersection. Morgan explained she was grateful the driver “prevent[ed] the cars from turning protesters into speed bumps.” (RELATED: How We Built A World Meant To Cave To The Mob)
Student activist Zyana Bryant, however, told a different version of events. She reportedly falsely claimed Morgan threatened the protesters. As a result, Morgan says she suffered widespread harassment from students and the internet.
Notably, Washington considers both gender identity and sexual orientation as “protected classes.” The law also requires one of the pilot counties to reside in eastern Washington, a conservative-leaning part of the state.
Democratic Governor Jay Inslee recently redefined hate crime laws “to include destruction and vandalism targeting public property like Spokane Pride’s crosswalk,” according to a press release from the Washington State Senate Democrats.
Police arrested three teenagers in Spokane in June for allegedly “marking a pride flag” on the road with tire tracks from their scooters.
