The Hate Crime Files

Ahmaud Arbery’s life was at a crossroads on February 23, when he laced up his running shoes for his daily run.

Ahmaud probably wasn’t thinking about his past that Sunday afternoon. He had plans for the future. His mother said he intended to go back to South Georgia Technical College and complete his training to become an electrician, like his uncles.

His future stretched out before him, like the familiar roads he jogged along every...

It was a sunny Sunday afternoon when 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery set out from his home in Glynn County, Georgia, just outside of Brunswick, where he lived with his mother in the predominantly black community called Fancy Bluff. Nestled in a marshy coastal corner of Georgia, Glynn County is about 300 miles southeast of Atlanta. With a population of 65,000, it's known for its barrier islands and vibrant African American culture.

Like m...

Last year marked the 100th anniversary of a pivotal summer in American history, African American history, and the civil rights movement. It was known as the Red Summer of 1919. Author James Weldon Johnson, who also wrote the lyrics to "Lift Every Voice And Sing," gave it that name because of the blood that stained the streets of so many American cities and towns.

At least 25 riots and incidents of mob violence took place from late...

Unfortunately, the coronavirus pandemic is following the patterns of other outbreaks. Fear and ignorance are spreading nearly as fast as the virus itself. Worse yet, it seems to be trickling down from the highest levels of government.

In a disturbing trend, Asian Americans and Asians in other countries report that they are facing harassment related to the coronavirus pandemic. Some cases involve microaggressions — comments and acti...

Richard Collins III, a 23-year-old African-American student at Maryland's Bowie State University, appeared to be on the threshold of a promising future. He was set to graduate and would have walked across the stage to accept his diploma on Tuesday, May 23.

But Collins would never get to celebrate his graduation.

On May 19, Collins was looking to spend a Friday night out with friends. He sent a text to his ROTC group, asking if anyo...

In 10 days, just before the 2018 midterm elections, Americans saw four terrifying new hate crimes.

On October 24, 51-year-old Gregory Bush tried and failed to break into a black church outside of Louisville. He went to a nearby Kroger, and killed two black shoppers, telling a bystander that "whites don't shoot whites."

Two days later, a 57-year-old Florida man and Trump supporter named Cesar Sayoc was accused of mailing pipe bombs ...

In his 2017 book "Angry White Men: American Masculinity at the End of an Era," sociologist Michael Kimmell coined the term "aggrieved entitlement" to describe the state of mind of some American white men, who become angry to the point of advocating mass murder and genocide. Kimmell argues that white men who join extremist movements are part of the downwardly mobile middle class, who feel "betrayed by the country they love, discarde...

Today New York City's Jackson Heights neighborhood is also home to a large, mostly Latino LGBTQ community, which has transformed the area into a destination spot that rivals Chelsea and the Village. It's also become home to LGBTQ families seeking good schools, affordable rents, an easy commute, and a vibrant community in a kid-friendly — and queer-friendly — environment.

Jackson Heights wasn't always as safe or welcoming to LGBT pe...

I wanted to post a quick announcement to let my listeners know that I've decided to take a break from posting new episodes during the holiday season, and will return will all-new episodes in the new year. I've had a great first year doing this podcast, and I'm grateful to all the listeners who subscribed and shared this podcast with friends and family. I'm looking forward to bigger and better things in the new year.

I'll be taking ...

Democrats in the House of Representatives have launched public impeachment hearings against President Donald Trump, following an inquiry into whistleblower testimony that Trump asked the President of Ukraine to investigate the family of a political opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, and withheld military aid to Ukraine for additional pressure.

Trump's reaction has been characteristically over the top, with the victimhood di...

On October 9, 1983, 10-year-old Christopher Vaughn was out hunting with his father when the two of them came across the body of an African-American male in a grassy ditch next to some power lines. The body was so severely damaged that authorities had trouble identifying it. Police asked the public for help with the identification.

On October 10, the 15-paragraph article at the bottom of the front page of the local newspaper describ...

This week marked the 21st anniversary of Matthew Shepard's death. Since the details of Matthew Shepard's murder are widely known and readily available for anyone to look them up, I wanted to do something a little different from the usual narrative for this episode. Fortunately, I had the chance to sit down and talk with Veronica Kennedy, who was a classmate of Matthew's at their boarding school in Switzerland, to learn more about w...

For the last 20 years of his life, Caughman lived on W. 36th Street in Manhattan, at the Barbour Hotel. The single room occupancy hotel now provides housing for people transitioning out of homelessness, but Caughman was not homeless. Svein Jorgensen, the chief executive of Praxis Housing Initiatives, which manages the Barbour, said that of the 100-odd residents, Caughman was one of the few who were actually permanent tenants and no...

Arthur "J.R." Warren was a 26-year-old African American gay man, who resided in Grant Town, West Virginia. He lived with his parents and his 16-year-old sister Audra on Paw Paw Street, nestled between the main road and the railroad tracks that is home to most of Grant Town's black residents. His mother, Brenda, worked as a salesclerk at the Ames department store outside Fairmont. His father, Arthur, was a former coal miner who was ...

Discrimination and denial of opportunity put many transgender people in harm's way by leaving them vulnerable to poverty and homelessness and causing some resort to sex work as a means of survival.

That was the situation facing 43-year-old Duanna Johnson, an African American transgender woman living in Memphis, Tennessee, in 2008. She struggled with poverty, unemployment, and crack addiction, as well as several arrests for prostitu...

October 27, 2018, began as a peaceful Saturday morning. It was the Sabbath many of the residents of Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood, and there was a slight drizzle as they made their way to synagogue. The tree-lined neighborhood about 10 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh is a hub of the city's Jewish community, and one of the largest predominantly Jewish neighborhoods in the country.

A profound sense of security reigned in S...

In Western culture, we're taught at an early age that it matters when men hold hands. At a young age, boys may hold hands with other boys or even hug and kiss. But as they approach their pre-teens, they learn to believe that their human nature is unacceptable. It's so intolerable that some men even turn to violence to prove it. This enduring legacy of masculinity that tells us men shouldn't hold hands is unnecessary, sad, and dange...