Attorney General Nessel hosts townhall surrounding hate speech in Michigan
AG Nessel hosts hate crime awareness townhall in West Bloomfield
Nessel underscored the importance of recently passed laws expanding what counts as a hate crime at a time when she says anti-semitism is on the rise like never before.
WEST BLOOMFIELD TWP., Mich. (FOX 2) - Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel was taking part in a West Bloomfield town hall on hate and extremism with security so tight, organizers asked the press to not disclose the meeting location.
"Michigan seeing over 250 reported incidents of hate crimes in a single year and important to note those numbers are so low compared to the actual number of hate crimes, because these are some of the most underreported types of crimes that we have," Nessel said.
What they're saying:
Nessel underscored the importance of recently passed laws expanding what counts as a hate crime at a time when she says anti-semitism is on the rise like never before.
"I’ll never forget I had a senator say to me, "so what? You just hate someone and all of the sudden you go to prison? And I was like man have you never seen Law and Order or anything? Like no. That’s not how this works. You have to commit an actual crime. You can’t just hate someone. That hate has to be translated into an act," she said.
The ADL just published a report saying anti-Semitic incidents around the world skyrocketed in 2024 and spiked 227% in the U.S. between 2021 and 2023.
"We know of course that the numbers showed an exponential rise in hate crimes of all sorts but especially in anti-Semitic incidents."
Dig deeper:
West Bloomfield State Rep. Noah Arbit said he faced major headwinds when trying to get the bolstered hate crimes laws passed in the last few years.
"I could tell you about how many times the bills seemed dead one evening only to be resurrected the next morning and then dead again that following afternoon," he said. "And that isn’t even hyperbole. It happened multiple times."
The AG also criticized the Feds for ending DEI programs and withholding federal funding to universities like the University of Michigan in an effort to curb anti-semitism.
"You know come from different walks of life, we come from different political persuasions, but I don’t appreciate how the Trump Administration has been trying to justify the elimination of people’s academic rights and civil liberties under the guise of combating antisemitism," Nessel said. "I don’t think he’s making it better. I think he’s making it worse."