Group launches online hate reporting form

Following an increase in reports of hate speech and harassment across the state, the Montana Human Rights Network has launched an online incident reporting service to monitor the spread of hostile behavior.

The group’s Co-Director Rachel Carroll Rivas said the human rights network has received over 12 reports of politically or racially charged acts such as graffiti or vandalism since the Nov. 8 general election — a higher number than the group typically encounters in a year.

Rivas attributed the increase to the unconventional campaign run by President-elect Donald Trump, which she said emboldened people to push forward their beliefs through intimidation and fear.

The online reporting service will provide an official avenue for citizens to notify the network of targeted behavior.

Such a tool could have served a purpose in several high-profile cases that occurred in Polson this fall.

In late September, pictures circulated online of Polson High School students wearing clothing perceived as racially insensitive. The episode sparked a state-wide media frenzy as well as a protest march outside the school’s homecoming football game.

Rivas said the human rights network received no official reports of the situation, but instead learned through the uproar on social media.

In anther incident, the Lake County Republican Party Headquarters in Polson were vandalized with profane and anti-government graffiti the weekend following the general election.

Reports of hate speech have circulated across the state, but Rivas said western Montana has emerged as an epicenter. While the network has long battled white supremacist groups in the region, she said the ever-divisive political climate has helped normalize a discriminatory mentality.

“I experienced some of that during the post election of Obama, but not as dramatic as this,” she said.

When notified of an incidence, the human rights network responds in a variety of ways, from lending an ear to support an individual to acting as a legal entity, Rivas said.

Although the group’s presence draws ire in some circles, Rivas said their persistence advocacy, illustrated by services such as the online reporting form, serves as a reminder of their overarching message.

“There are definitely people who see our efforts as continual and nagging,” she said. “But they should. That is our job.”