A hate crime is a threat or act of intimidation, harassment, or physical force that is motivated by bias against a person or group based on their actual or perceived: Race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, and physical or mental disability. In Colorado, the law breaks hate crime into two different categories: bias motivated harassment and bias motivated crime. There are also federal laws that protect victims of hate crime, as well.
Report an Incident to Authorities
If you are the victim of a hate crime or a witness to a hate crime, call 911 if your life or health is in immediate danger. If the threat is not immediate, you can report the crime to local law enforcement agencies. Our partner, One Colorado, maintains current information on how to report hate crimes in Colorado.
If you are in Denver and are uncomfortable making a report to authorities on your own, you can come by The Center on Colfax and a staff representative will help you place the call.
Tracking Incidents
Reporting hate crimes and bias motivated incidents helps bring visibility to hate incidents and help survivors/victims gain access to legal resources and social services.
Communities Against Hate
Our community partner, Communities Against Hate includes a national initiative to aggregate data and respond to incidents of violence, threats, and property damage motivated by hate across the United States.
Led by The Leadership Conference Education Fund and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, this database allows us to aggregate data on hate incidents, through partnerships with a diverse set of impacted communities including the Black, Latinx, LGBTQ, Muslim, South Asian, disability, Arab, and Jewish communities, as well as women. You can help inform what is happening across the country in various impacted communities by reporting an incident.
Anti-Defamation League
Our community partner, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), has been tracking and monitoring an increase in white supremacist propaganda distributions and activity in Colorado. They have tracked 36 incidents so far this year. In response, the ADL recently released a new, interactive map that pinpoints extremist activity in Colorado and across the country. If you experience or witness a bias-motivated incident, please also report it to the ADL, as well as the authorities.
The Initiative also maintains a resource hotline: 1-844-9-NO-HATE.