New York ranks high in post-election hate incidents: SPLC

New York State has reported 15 hate incidents since the election of Donald Trump as president, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The state is among the places nationwide with the highest number of hate incidents, which includes acts ranging from physical assaults to racial emails to Nazi graffiti.

As of Tuesday, a total of 437 such incidents have been reported nationwide since Election Day, according to the center, a nonprofit organization founded in 1971 to monitor hate groups and racial injustice.

The center launched a website last week to track hate incidents.

Center employees are collecting data on hate incidents from news media reports, social media postings and direct submissions by victims and witnesses. They attempt to confirm each reported incident.

Within the state, 15 hate incidents were identified in New York City since election night, the center said.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo last week ordered investigations into two hate incidents.

In one, a residence assistant at a student dormitory at SUNY Geneseo found a swastika and the word “Trump” painted in a common area of the building.

The other incident occurred in Wellsville, where someone had spray-painted “Make America White Again” and a swastika on a dugout at a softball field.

Cuomo ordered the state police and the Division of Human Rights to investigate the incidents.

“To any New Yorker who is scared, I want you to know that we have your back, we will keep you safe, and that protecting your rights is what America stands for,” the governor said.

The president-elect said during an interview on “60 Minutes” that was aired Sunday that he was unaware of a spike in racist incidents.

“I am very surprised to hear that—I hate to hear that, I mean I hate to hear that,” Trump said. “But I think it’s a very small amount.”