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SALT LAKE CITY — The Community Partners Against Hate coalition was joined Friday by Salt Lake City leaders to unequivocally state that the city stands against hate and bigotry in all forms.
Together with the coalition, Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill and Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown announced the Salt Lake Speak Up and Stand Up Against Hate campaign, with the goal of raising awareness and increasing reporting of hate crimes and bias incidents.
"We know that hate crimes are woefully underreported, with a record-setting 11,600 hate crimes reported to the FBI in 2022. The Department of Justice estimated that the actual number was as high as 250,000," said Dr. Jay Jacobson, an emeritus professor of medicine at the University of Utah and former president of Utah's United Jewish Federation.
In Utah, 149 hate crimes were reported in 2022, with 44 reported in Salt Lake County and 20 reported in Salt Lake City, according to data from the United Jewish Federation of Utah. Supporting Jacobson's assertion, Department of Justice data estimates that 2,602 hate crimes happened in Utah.
In September, the I.J. & Jeanné Wagner Jewish Community Center at the U. received a bomb threat, prompting a two-hour shelter-in-place order while police investigated. Also in September, the King's English Bookstore in Salt Lake City closed for the day after it received a bomb threat. According to the store's owner, the threat was over a drag queen-hosted storytime. On Oct. 8, Kol Ami — Utah's largest Jewish congregation — was forced to evacuate a holiday service due to a bomb threat.
Muslims are also being targeted.
Luna Banuri, executive director of the Utah Muslim Civic League, said she has personally experienced Islamophobia in the form of verbal harassment outside of her own home.
"Islamaphobia and antisemitism are two sides of the exact same coin," Banuri said, "We are asking for our political leadership in the state of Utah, as they always have, to make an active effort to include and uplift the voices in our community that have historically found themselves on the margins of politics and representation."
The point of the campaign is to report more hate crimes, in turn making it easier for law enforcement to understand the threats communities are experiencing so that they can respond more effectively and work to prevent future incidents. Aside from launching the campaign, Mendenhall also declared Friday as Speak Up and Stand Up Against Hate Day in Salt Lake City.
If you attack our LGBTQ, immigrant communities, people of color, different abilities (and) genders as targeted hate, you will receive no comfort. I commit to you that we will prosecute every crime that we can and hold those individuals accountable because we will no longer tolerate this in our community.
–Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill
"It's important that we remain vigilant as a city, as a community, as individuals and that we speak out against hate, that we condemn (hate) and then that we investigate antisemitism wherever it may fester," Mendenhall said. "Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that. This is a coalition standing against hate, but it is very much a coalition of love."
Brown said any type of targeted hate has no place in Salt Lake City and the department is "100%" committed to investigating and addressing hate crimes.
"We will do everything we can to support survivors and hold offenders accountable. We work to strengthen our laws and our response to hate crimes every day," Brown said. "The wounds of hate crime go much deeper than physical harm. They tear at the very fabric of our diverse communities. We cannot allow fear, mistrust or hatred to divide us."
Gill said increasing reporting, and more comprehensive reporting, will help his office prosecute those who are perpetuating hate crimes.
"If you attack our LGBTQ, immigrant communities, people of color, different abilities (and) genders as targeted hate, you will receive no comfort," Gill said. "I commit to you that we will prosecute every crime that we can and hold those individuals accountable because we will no longer tolerate this in our community.
"Hate has no place here."
