Think Out Loud

Reports of hate crimes and harassment increase in Oregon

By Samantha Matsumoto (OPB)
Dec. 9, 2020 5:48 p.m.

Broadcast: Wednesday, Dec. 9

Candace Avalos, PSU student advisor, at her first protest in June 2020. Avalos, along with other Black leaders in Portland, has received threatening letters.

Candace Avalos, PSU student advisor, at her first protest in June 2020. Avalos, along with other Black leaders in Portland, has received threatening letters.

Courtesy of Candace Avalos / Courtesy of Candace Avalos

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Reports of hate crimes, harassment and other bias incidents have increased in Oregon recently. The Oregon Department of Justice has received a sharp increase in calls to its bias crime hotline since May, when protests against racial injustice began across the state. In recent weeks, several Black leaders in Portland have received letters threatening their lives. Candace Avalos, a Portland State University student advisor and co-founder of the Black Millennial Movement, was among those threatened in the letters. Lindsey Schubiner, director of the Momentum program at the Western States Center links the rise in hate to white nationalist groups.

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