Arizona

This is a background piece on the meaning of a "hate crime" in the five-part series published by our public media partners at Fronteras. Defining Hate Crimes By Jude Joffe-Block PHOENIX — This week we launch our five-part Fronteras Desk series, The Search For Tolerance. Five reporters in five cities checked on the ways that communities are trying to prevent hate crimes. The stories air on several public radio stations in the Southwest this week. But as communities work to prevent hate, a question often arises when some form of harassment or discrimination does occur: Was that a hate crime? During the last few decades, the vast majority of states have added hate crime laws to their books. These statutes allow longer criminal sentences if there is evidence that a crime was motivated by bias. At a recent town meeting in the Phoenix suburb of Gilbert, concerned residents and the police chief entered into a dialogue about the legal definition of a hate crime.

This is the first in a five-part series published by our public media partneras at Fronteras. Listen to the accompanying radio piece.   By Jude Joffe-Block PHOENIX — Gilbert, Ariz. is a bedroom community outside of Phoenix that has seen explosive population growth in recent decades. As it grew from a small, conservative farming town into a more diverse community, some notable tensions arose. “In 1993, our detectives started to identify in the town of Gilbert a gang that called themselves White Power,” said police spokesman Sergeant Bill Balafas. Six years later, a spin-off gang called the Devil Dogs emerged among football players at Highland High School. “Their belief system, we learned, was for white people and anti everything else,” Balafas said. “So they were racists, but that didn't mean they didn't beat up white people, they just beat up everybody.”

CLICK HERE TO SEE HOW YOU CAN STAND WITH TUCSON. This week, in the wake of tragedy, Tucson witnessed—and inspired—an amazing coming-together of people by the tens of thousands. In both grief and solidarity, the people of Tucson have hosted vigils and memorials, with cities around the country following suit. They have created online groups and organized on-the-ground action. There are angels watching over the families of victims and cyclists whizzing through the streets. Yesterday evening, more than 26,000 attended the public memorial in Tucson at the University of Arizona, including President Obama.

What would you do if the governor said one of your classes was now illegal? That's what's happening in Arizona, where the governor just signed a bill aimed at banning ethnic studies in the public schools. Judy Burns (pictured above), president of the school district in Tucson, Arizona,  says those classes will go on anyway.  She sees how important they are to the students. "I see how engaged the kids are in their education, some of them for the very first time," she says. "They feel empowered. It wakes them up to the possibilities of their future. " On May 11, Arizona passed a law that would ban classes designed primarily for students of particular ethnic groups, or that advocate ethnic solidarity or promote resentment of a race or a class of people. Any district teaching such classes would risk losing 10 percent of its state financing once the law goes into effect Dec. 31. Rather than being divisive, as supporters of the new law claim, Burns says ethnic studies make students more sensitive to the history and culture of other peoples, as well as proud of their own. It makes them better citizens.