Congress Passes Jabara-Heyer NO HATE Act to Address Rising Problem of Hate

May 19, 2021 (Washington, D.C.) — Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Jabara-Heyer NO HATE Act to improve how hate crimes are reported by law enforcement and help better protect communities. Included in the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, this bill will now head to President Biden’s desk to be signed and is expected to become the first major piece of hate crime legislation in 12 years.
The Jabara-Heyer NO HATE Act was named in honor of two hate crime victims, Khalid Jabara and Heather Heyer, whose murders were prosecuted as hate crimes but not appropriately included in hate crime statistics. The Act will modernize the federal hate crime reporting system and encourage state and local law enforcement to report hate crime statistics to the federal government. It will also create opportunities to rehabilitate hate crime offenders by giving them the option of learning more about the community they targeted and participating in community service projects. Lastly, the Act will create better hate crime victim support and assistance services.

“To curb hate crimes, we need accurate data. Having this data will identify the prevention strategies required to keep our communities safe,” said Sim J. Singh, Sikh Coalition Senior Policy and Advocacy Manager. “After many years of advocacy by leading civil rights organizations, the Jabara-Heyer NO HATE Act will be the first necessary step towards resolving the longstanding problem of hate in our nation.”
The Sikh Coalition has advocated for better hate crime reporting and victim support services since our founding in the aftermath of 9/11. In 2013, after a successful three-year campaign by the Sikh Coalition, the FBI agreed to track anti-Sikh hate crimes, giving policymakers official data about anti-Sikh violence for the first time in our nation’s history. Since the FBI started tabulating this data in 2015, anti-Sikh hate crimes have seen, on average, a year over year increase exceeding 100%, and Sikhs are now documented as one of the top five most targeted faith groups in the United States. Even worse, based on the Sikh Coalition’s own reporting, these shocking numbers published by the FBI still only capture a fraction of the hate crimes Sikhs experience across the country.
The Sikh Coalition was among the first civil rights organizations to support the Jabara-Heyer NO HATE Act when it was first introduced in 2019, and again when the new Congress reintroduced it in April 2021. Moving forward, we will continue working with state and federal policymakers to bring forward solutions that address and reduce the incidents of hate affecting our communities.
The Sikh Coalition is the largest Sikh civil rights organization in the United States. For 20 years, we have worked tirelessly on issues related to hate crimes and provided free legal representation to Sikh Americans who have been directly affected by bias-motivated violence and discrimination. For interviews, please contact Rajanpreet Kaur or Graham West.