In our interfaith work at CaresGlobal and CasteFiles, we have observed rising antisemitism and rising anti-Hindu hate over the past few years. This is corroborated by FBI reports every year. The recent FBI report shows a dramatic increase in violent anti-Hindu hate incidents.

After the CA vs Hate hotline was established, the California Civil Rights Department (CRD) recently released its pilot analysis of the hate incidences filed via its hotline CA vs Hate.

Of the 2118 interactions, about half, or 1020 were actual hate reports; of these, only 560 were reviewed and validated by CRD staff. So essentially only a quarter of these cases were relevant for the “Hate Analysis” conducted by the Possibility Lab at UC Berkeley using CRD’s data.

A typical act of hate as reported to CRD happens in residential areas (30%) and public places (20%) where the victim reports discriminatory treatment and verbal abuse in over 50% of the cases.

The “petty” hate instances collected by CRD also reflect similar trends where the highest hate is observed against Jews followed by Hindus in California.

CasteFiles Founder Richa Gautam said, “As far as Hinduism is concerned, CRD has been under the scanner in many different forums as an agency that violated the fundamental rights of Hindu Americans during the infamous Cisco Caste case where two Hindu American managers Sundar Iyer and Ramana Kompella were wrongly targeted for alleged Caste Discrimination. They proved their innocence and forced CRD to dismiss the case against them. The CRDs dubious past is concerning as it is allegedly guilty of many egregious violations of fundamental rights, constitutional rights, and prosecutorial abuse. This has been extensively documented on CasteGate.org a fact-based website.”

“CRD violated the right of Sundar Iyer to self-identify as an atheist instead, forcing a Hindu Brahmin identity on him, thus violating First Amendment Rights,” Gautam said.

CasteFiles Director Abhijit Bagal said, “Currently CRD Director Kevin Kish is facing a Lawsuit in this matter. CRD had to remove their biased comments on Hinduism and their endorsement of the unscientific report by Equality Labs. CRD has violated the constitutional rights of Hindu Americans, resulting in the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) filing a case against CRD for violation of the individual’s right to practice their faith as they want. 

Bagal said, “CRD is supposed to look out for the rights of California citizens. Besides the Cisco case, think tanks like the California Policy Center have raised concerns regarding CRD’s “Bounty Hunter” tendencies as it goes after companies like Activision and Tesla refusing arbitration. Two CRD lawyers were fired due to aggressive prosecutorial abuse. CRD is also mired in other issues like fighting with the federal EEOC, allegedly discriminating against religious minorities, and even getting sued by its staff union.”

“Hopefully, this will not become another process of documenting anonymous anecdotes. Our think tank comprises expert Data Analysts. We are always concerned when anonymous anecdotes are utilized to frame policy or develop narratives in media as was done during the controversial Caste Bill SB-403 that was defeated after widespread community backlash,” added Gautam

In conclusion, CasteFiles welcomes the report by CRD that captures issues like verbal hate and provides mental health support and community resources to victims of what seems like mainly neighborhood or public kerfuffles. However, we will continue to monitor and expand our understanding of the underlying causes of the reported incidents that are being utilized for statistical reportage.

We also urge caution in using this data extensively because, unlike FBI data which is rigorous and part of a well-oiled redressal mechanism, data from a pilot study needs a cautionary approach and CasteFiles hopes to access the information for further breakdown of statistics and causes. 

If you’re interested in understanding truth about caste and race, please visit the Caste Files website at www.castefiles.com or email info@castefiles.com and become part of the conversation.

This is a joint press release by CaresGlobal and CasteFiles.