Author: Brielle Entzminger

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Reporting back: Tracking hate crimes in Heather Heyer’s name

Susan Bro has participated in press conferences with the Jabara family in support of the Jabara-Heyer NO HATE Act. Photo by Eze Amos

Nearly two years after plowing his car into a group of counterprotesters at the Unite the Right rally—killing Heather Heyer and injuring 35 others—self-proclaimed neo-Nazi James Alex Fields Jr. was convicted on 29 federal hate crime charges.

Yet Heyer’s death was one of the thousands of hate crimes not included in official FBI hate crime statistics, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The FBI relies on local law enforcement agencies to report hate crimes, but because the system is voluntary, many agencies don’t. And even the data that is submitted is flawed, advocates say, because the definition of a hate crime varies from state to state and many local agencies aren’t trained to identify them.

In 2016, nearly “nine out of 10 law enforcement agencies in the country reported no hate crimes, even though…the FBI has information showing hate crimes going up,” says Virginia Senator Tim Kaine.

In response to this systematic underreporting, Kaine, along with fellow Virginia Senator Mark Warner and a bipartisan group of lawmakers, is pushing Congress to pass the Khalid Jabara-Heather Heyer NO HATE Act, named in honor of Heyer and Khalid Jabara, a Lebanese man killed by his neighbor Stanley Majors in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 2016. (Though Majors, who repeatedly harassed the Jabara family with racist taunts and ran one of the family members down months before shooting Khalid on his front porch, was convicted of a hate crime, that murder was also not included in official FBI hate crime statistics.)

The act aims to “fix the problematic underreporting of hate crimes…and reiterate that hate is not welcome in this country,” Warner says, specifically by supporting the implementation of the National Incident-Based Reporting System to make it easier for local and state law enforcement agencies to comply with existing reporting requirements.

Hate crimes have increased sharply since the election of President Trump, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. But they are still underreported: In 2015, the FBI reported approximately 7,000 hate crime victims nationwide, but the National Center for Victims of Crime says that, between 2005 and 2015, there were about 250,000 hate crime victims per year. Studies show that only about half of all hate crimes are even reported to the police.

Kaine says doing a better job of measuring hate crimes will help reduce and prevent them, and he points to the example of law enforcement homicides.

Local agencies are “very good [at reporting] the deaths of law enforcement officers,” he says. “As a result, the number of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty has dramatically decreased in [recent] decades, by focusing attention on it.”

Another goal of the act is to help better train law enforcement to prevent and recognize hate crimes. It will create a grant to support law enforcement agencies that establish policies on identifying, investigating, and reporting hate crimes, including training officers, developing systems for collecting data, establishing hate crimes units, and engaging with the community.

“One of the reasons that [law enforcement agencies] often don’t report is they just haven’t had training on how to recognize hate crimes,” says Kaine.

The act will also create a grant program to establish and operate hate crime hotlines across the country, allowing states to record information on hate crimes and direct victims to law enforcement and local support services.

Perpetrators of hate crimes will be sentenced differently as well. The bill will allow judges to require persons convicted under federal hate crime laws to undergo community service or educational classes centered on the community targeted by their crime.

Heyer’s mother, Susan Bro, has participated in press conferences with the Jabara family in support of the act, and spoken with some of the lawmakers sponsoring the bill.

“Heather is everywhere—in the news, in our minds, in our hearts—but she’s not in the data, nor are the 35 people who were injured while marching alongside her in Charlottesville. If such a despicable act of hatred is not reflected in hate crime statistics, think of everything else that might be missing,” said Bro at a press conference.

“Hate crime investigation…has been pushed aside in general,” added Bro in an interview. “In order to have an authentic prescription for the problem, we need to at least know how big the problem actually is.”

The act has been endorsed by more than a dozen organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Disability Rights Network.

“We have broad stakeholders who’ve looked at this [act] and feel like it’s balanced and it’s going to help us tackle the phenomenon of the increase in hate crimes,” says Kaine.

Bro encourages everyone to call on their representatives and senators to support the act.

“We need bipartisan support,” she says.

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Yay or neigh?: Mural stirs controversy

Some Charlottesville residents find the new mural on the side of Six Hundred West Main to be tone-deaf. Photo Credit: Staff Photo

The developers of Six Hundred West Main, a luxury apartment building that opened in September, promised the city a “gift” in the form of a public mural from internationally acclaimed artist Faith XLVII.

But some residents may want to give it back.

The mural, which was unveiled during the week of September 23, features a horse and the word “LIBERATE” against a dark green background. Working with the Charlottesville Mural Project, the artist, a white South African, designed the piece to pay “homage to the equine history of the area while subtly harkening to both historical and contemporary notions of Freedom that are tied strongly to Charlottesville’s identity,” according to the proposal.

“Looking at this mural, I’m guessing that maybe they meant residents could ‘LIBERATE’ themselves out of $2,200 for a 1BR,” tweeted Charlottesville journalist Jordy Yager, who posted a thread on the mural on September 25. Others chimed in to criticize the building, where rents range from $1,240 to more than $4,300, and which is set to expand to the University Tire site next door.

In an email, Yager pointed out that Six Hundred West Main is surrounded by two historically black neighborhoods, yet their residents were not invited to participate in the mural creation process.

“[This is] another example of integral voices being left out of the conversations that shape the city around us. Not only are key people being left out of the actual building, in terms of being able to afford to live there, but they’re also being left out of the art that they have to walk past every day,” says Yager.

To Charlottesville native Niya Bates, the horse image recalls the Confederate statues, and she finds it offensive and tone-deaf. On Twitter, Bates had previously called attention to the building’s “neighborhood guide,” which featured upscale spots like Purvelo and IX Art Park but excluded black businesses and institutions, calling it “a cheat code to gentrification 2.0.” She said the mural was also “a missed opportunity to elevate and work with someone in our own community.”

FaithXLVII, one of the most famous female street artists in South Africa, originally agreed to speak with C-VILLE for this story. But she later requested questions be sent by email, after which her publicist Kassia Rico responded by declaring that the submitted questions, which asked for Faith’s response to the controversy, were “biased,” and that the artist would not respond to them.

“Faith is an artist that is actively involved in promoting Human Rights, issues of LGBTQ, and Gender Equality. In her studio practice, the horse is a symbol that she is currently working with that stands for the freeing of oneself from various forms of oppression and it is about personal and social liberation,” Rico wrote.

“We hope the residents of Charlotsville [sic] can understand this artwork in this manner, and not the overtly political manner that you are suggesting.”

Faith later replied herself, saying “if anything, the artwork stands in direct opposition” to the Confederate monuments. She then sent a 172-word statement on the mural’s symbolism, featured below.

The issue, says resident and art historian Andrea Douglas, is that the mural “has nothing to do with the kinds of issues that Charlottesville is living with today…. In some ways it’s emblematic and correct. And in other areas it is absolutely in discord with the space that it wants to occupy.”

Artist’s statement:

“The imagery of a rearing horse, sometimes bridled but with reigns flying loose, signifies a powerful animal which has been subjugated by humankind, and has finally broken free. The image of the horse carries with it the weight of nationalism and patriotism, and is associated with memorials and statues of statesmen and war “heroes”. Historically, they were the creatures men took to war, to fight and die alongside them with unrelenting loyalty. Inescapably majestic and elegant in their powerful and muscular form, horses have an inherent sense of nobility.

Within this discrepancy between their physical power and their subservience, they become archetypal symbols for notions of human power struggles, war, nationalism and blind loyalty to leadership. By unleashing or freeing these dignified creatures through these images, we understand their own sense of agency, independent from human quests, ultimately expressing their own innate power.

Shedding their shackles, the figures in this series conjure sentiments of resistance, revolution, and our individual, innate strength and ability to stand up to fascist rule and totalitarian power.” – FAITH XLVII

Updated  10/9/19 to provide complete quote from Andrea Douglas. 

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Healthy minds: CHS students discuss mental health with Virginia’s education secretary

With schools closed since March due to the ongoing pandemic, Charlottesville-area teens have had to finish their high school careers with makeshift versions of the events they had looked forward to for years. PC: Eze Amos

Shana Bullard felt terrified. She was about to meet Virginia Secretary of Education Atif Qarni, for a roundtable discussion on mental wellness initiatives at Charlottesville High School.

“I was very intimidated,” says the CHS junior, who’s been active in several of the school’s mental wellness programs.

But she found Qarni to be personable and down-to-earth.

“He shared that he had similar struggles,” says Bullard. “He was there to listen and internalize—not listen to respond.”

Qarni visited CHS on September 24, as part of his larger effort to highlight mental health and suicide prevention programs in Virginia during National Suicide Prevention Month. A 2017 Virginia Youth Survey found that one in five females and one in 10 males in middle and high school had seriously contemplated suicide in the last 12 months.

In recent years, CHS has introduced several new peer-led models to support students’ social and emotional health. Last spring, it was one of only two high schools in Virginia selected to pilot a national program, Teen Mental Health First Aid, which trains students to recognize and respond to a peer’s mental health crisis. CHS also offers Link Crew, which connects a select group of ninth-graders with junior and senior mentors, and Green Dot, a bystander awareness program designed to prevent harassment and violence.

During the discussion, students shared their own mental health struggles, and how school programs have supported them.

“Freshman year I was just kind of all over the place,” says Bullard. “Link Crew leaders helped with telling us how to get help if [we needed] it. They tried to make [school] a comfortable space.”

Senior Jade Gonzalez, who participated in Link Crew as a freshman, says her mentor “really did help me emotionally because I could just go to her for a lot of things. [She was] a face I knew when I was surrounded by people I didn’t.”

In addition to having multiple professional school counselors on staff, CHS provides in-school mental health services, like one-on-one counseling, to students through a partnership with Y-CAPP and Region Ten Community Services Board. And last year, the school created a “calm space,” where students can use tactile and sensory tools to help them recenter when they’re stressed.

During Qarni’s visit, students suggested other changes schools could make to reduce stress and anxiety, such as eliminating standardized testing.

“I really like how a lot of teachers started switching to doing projects,” says Gonzalez, who experiences anxiety during tests.

Bullard touched on the “excessive pressure of AP classes and college.”

“The teachers [put] pressure on going to college,” says Bullard, but “we don’t really talk about the other options, other than joining the military.”

Both Bullard and Gonzalez expressed concerns about teachers who have yet to undergo any mental health training, and said they believe Teen Mental Health First Aid should be a schoolwide program for students and staff.

Qarni plans to discuss the initiatives he learned about at CHS, among other schools, during the upcoming legislative session, and says he will advocate for more state support of mental health resources for students across Virginia.

“It’s really comforting to hear that there is a change going on,” says Bullard. “There are people caring and listening to actual students for input.”

Correction October 7:  CHS has multiple professional school counselors on staff, not guidance counselors as originally reported. 

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Vape escape: Raising the vaping age hasn’t deterred teens

One Charlottesville High School senior estimates about 25 percent of his classmates vape. Photo: Myles Clark

Bathrooms. Locker rooms. Cars. Check any of these places on a typical school day, and you’re likely to find students taking part in the latest teen trend: vaping.

“It’s pretty common around my crowd,” says one Charlottesville High School senior, who estimates about 25 percent of his classmates vape. “Kids will duck out of class every once in a while [to go vape.]”

Teen vaping, declared an “epidemic” by the U.S. surgeon general last December, has been a growing source of concern for parents and public health officials for a couple years, leading Virginia to join several other states and more than 400 municipalities in raising the age to buy tobacco and vape products to 21. A mysterious new vaping-related illness has only increased the alarm. But has the new law had any effect?

At St. Anne’s-Belfield, the law has made it “a little more difficult” for students to vape, says one senior. “But it’s not like students are going to stop or have stopped because of that.”

“Everyone knows who the people are that you get all the vaping supplies from, who’s going to buy [them],” he says. “It’s just generally kind of accepted.”

Since the law went into effect in July, students have used fake IDs and their “connections with retail locations” to purchase vaping products, says the CHS senior.

According to a 2018 Monitoring the Future survey, more than 37 percent of high school seniors, 33 percent of sophomores, and 18 percent of eighth graders reported vaping within the past year—a dramatic increase from 2017. Experts say many teens vape because they’re not aware of its dangers.

Sally Goodquist, Virginia Department of Health’s Tobacco Control Coordinator for the Northwest Region, finds that many teens believe e-cigarettes just contain water vapor.

“Young people are only educated on cigarettes,” says Goodquist. “They see vaping … as a safe alternative to smoking.”

Even after learning about the dangers of nicotine, some St. Anne’s students simply switched over to using vapes containing THC, a chemical commonly found in marijuana, believing that it was healthier than nicotine, says the St. Anne’s senior.

And at CHS, says the senior at the school, most students think there is little chance vaping will harm them.

Virginia’s new law “typically carries a punishment by a civil penalty or fine,” for those who are caught vaping under age, according to a statement from the Charlottesville Police Department. But it hasn’t led to more teen vapers being charged.

“We have not requested enhanced enforcement, and I’m not aware that we have seen any increase in the number of charges [since July],” says Commonwealth’s Attorney Joe Platania.

But the recent outbreak of vaping-related illness—and a ban on flavored e-cigarettes and nicotine pods that’s been proposed in response—could be a bigger deterrent for teens.

Since August 24, 535 cases of vaping-related lung illness have been identified across the country, and seven people have died.

In the Virginia Department of Health’s northwest region, which encompasses Charlottesville, there have been three confirmed cases and one probable case.

Many have blamed “kid-friendly” flavors of nicotine products for the growth of teen vaping, and in response to the latest health scare, the Trump administration announced September 11 that it would ban the sale of most flavored e-cigarettes and nicotine pods, excluding tobacco flavors.

“Nobody wants to use a tobacco Juul. Getting rid of those [flavors] will take away the appeal because now it’s just as gross as smoking a cigarette,” says the senior at St. Anne’s, who stopped vaping after he learned about the vaping-related illness.

It is also possible the ban could backfire.

“People don’t really care what [the vape] tastes like,” says the senior at CHS.

If there is a ban on most flavors, some teens may turn to the online black market, use tobacco-flavored vapes, or even switch to smoking regular cigarettes.

“I know people that have already switched to [cigarettes] because of the stories about vaping,” added the CHS senior.

It’s unclear when—or if—a nationwide ban on flavored e-cigarettes will be enforced. For now, the CDC has advised people to avoid using e-cigarettes and never buy them on the street. It has also warned against modifying e-cigarettes or adding any substances to them that aren’t intended by the manufacturer.