the stabbing of a Muslim woman in
Northwest Harris County earlier this
month is considered a hate crime by the
Sheriff's Office the victim was attacked
by a man shouting anti Islamic slurs
that case and the violence at this white
supremacist rally in Virginia last
summer leave little doubt about the
motivations of the people involved but
there are other organizations identified
as hate groups in this civil rights
report that claim the label is unfair
leaders are pushing back saying their
beliefs do not equal hate tonight
investigator Robert Arnold is taking a
closer look at this report and he's
revealing how many hate crimes are
committed here in Texas
religion politics gender Wars a crowd of
ideas beliefs and ideologies but when
does belief become hate I was very angry
for Mark Crawford the answer was a note
taped to his pickup in the driveway of
his Willowbrook area home and why
investigators never caught who did it
you pray to this over but there's so
much going on it you know deep down
inside you know that it's really not the
Southern Poverty Law Center a civil
rights organization based in Alabama
tracks hate groups nationwide the SPLC
reports 66 hate groups in Texas over a
dozen in the Houston area some groups
and their members strongly disagree with
the label or being lumped in with the
likes of the Ku Klux Klan and neo-nazis
they try to use the group label to shut
you up
Houston attorney Jared Woodfill is with
the conservative Republicans of Texas a
group that opposes gay marriage abortion
and in 2015 help defeat Houston's Equal
Rights Ordinance his organization is
labeled a hate group by the SPLC but
Woodfill says his beliefs do not equal
hate we should be standing up and having
a vigorous spirited debate over what we
believe and there's nothing wrong with
free speech is at the heart of this
debate SPL sees map shows the yahushua
ministry in livingston its website
preaches the white race is the chosen
race in race mixing is an abomination
there is no church just a Pio box when
we track down pastor Bill Patterson to a
house outside town he wouldn't talk on
camera but told us we don't hate anybody
we're not out protesting anybody this is
what we believe in the Constitution
gives us the right to say that director
of intelligence for the SPLC heidi
barrack says groups aren't listed
because of belief we tried contacting
other groups on the map like the new
Black Panther Party for self defense
Israel United in Christ in the great
millstone groups accused by SPLC
of being anti-semitic and A&T white we
didn't get a response we
over the last two years seen a rise in
the number of hate incidents Southwest
Regional Director for the
anti-defamation league Diane gross says
a lot of those incidents involved
bullying at schools in propaganda on
college campuses it hurts people it
could lead to violence in the future
over the last three years the Houston
Police Department and the Harris County
Sheriff's Office have documented nearly
50 hate crimes
everything from assaults to graffiti
statewide the Texas Department of Public
Safety reports between 160 in nearly 200
hate crimes a year Milton Martin is
captain of HPD's criminal intelligence
division he says proving a crime is
motivated by hate can be tough often
times you find yourself basically trying
to get into the head of the offender and
determine what they were thinking and
the time they committed the act Deana
mark says that's why the ADL works to
stop hate before it becomes a hate crime
there are people who don't understand
how deeply hate hurts
Houston police also recently announced
they're updating policies and training
to better protect and investigate crimes
against members of the LGBTQ community
on click2houston.com we also have the
information on where in Texas hate
crimes have been documented what
motivated these crimes and who is most
often a target Robert Arnold KPRC
Channel 2 News