Dec. 15, 2009-Jan.10, 2010 .gif)
Sacramento, CA: Churches and synagogues offer support to an Orthodox synagogue hit with anti-Semitic graffiti on New Year's Eve, the second Jewish center vandalized in a month. Both synagogues were hit by arson a decade ago, as chronicled in a Not In Our Town video .
Buffalo, NY: A lesbian left blind in one eye following a hate attack outside a gay nightclub, is comforted by the many messages of support left on her Facebook page.
Cherry Hill, NJ: Residents hold a peaceful counter-protest outside a high school targeted by the so-called Westboro Baptist Church, and a Facebook campaign generates 1,400 pledges of one dollar each for the Matthew Shepard Foundation for every half-hour the hate group stands outside the school.
Lakeville, MA: When a swastika over the name “Obama” is carved into a
golf course, the owner covers the Nazi symbol with a heart , and local officials and all four public schools turn out for a Unity Rally .
Phoenix, AZ: Immigrant rights groups schedule a
Jan. 16 protest march calling for the removal of controversial Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who is under investigation by the Department of Justice for his harsh treatment of Latino immigrants.
Costa Mesa, CA: Police are investigating the case of a
Koran burned outside an Islamic center as a hate crime.
Florence, SC: Jurors hand down lengthy
prison sentences for three white men who
confessed to attacking a black man because he asked to use a restroom.
Seattle, WA: The man who shot six women, killing one, at the Seattle Jewish Federation in July 2006 will spend the rest of his life in
prison .
Elgin, IL: In a test case of the new Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, a
Chicago-area man faces federal charges for beating another man with brass knuckles because he believed his victim was gay.
Puerto Rico, VI: Following widespread
vigils and a Facebook campaign protesting the murder of a gay Puerto Rican teenager,
federal hate crime charges will be brought against the self-confessed perpetrator.
Anchorage, AL: A couple who
beat a Native man while shouting racial epithets, even as the victim held out his hand to them in friendship, face 10 years on federal hate crime charges.
Arlington, TX: A
Sikh graduate student , attacked while delivering pizza to a group of white men who beat him, threw him into a pool and used racial epithets, moves across town after police did not classify the attack as a possible hate crime.
Terlingua, TX: The FBI is investigating the
kidnapping and rape of a gay teen as a possible hate crime.
Bronx, NY: A
Bronx church that ran a soup kitchen sponsored by late Yankees broadcaster Bobby Murcer is marred by Satanic graffiti and
burned to the ground.