(CNN)An
"explosion" in hate crimes since Election Day has prompted the creation
of a special police unit to fight the uptick in New York, Gov. Andrew
Cuomo said Sunday. The announcement coincided with an address at
Harlem's …
Report: Hate crimes increase after election 02:01
Story highlights
- New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo calls prejudice a "social poison [in] the fabric of our nation"
- Cuomo also vows to set up a legal defense fund for immigrants who fear prosecution under a Trump administration
(CNN)An
"explosion" in hate crimes since Election Day has prompted the creation
of a special police unit to fight the uptick in New York, Gov. Andrew
Cuomo said Sunday.
The announcement coincided with an address at Harlem's Abyssinian Baptist Church, where Cuomo called for an end to the divisiveness that has gripped the country.
"The
ugly political discourse of the election did not end on Election Day.
In many ways it has gotten worse, [turning] into a social crisis that
now challenges our identity as a state and as a nation and our people,"
he said.
President-elect Donald Trump wasn't specifically mentioned in his church address, but Cuomo has in the past criticized Trump and vowed in a New York Daily News op-ed that he would "reject the hateful attitudes that pervaded throughout the 2016 campaign."
The Southern Poverty Law Center has counted more than 700 incidents of hateful harassment and intimidation since the election.
A
toll-free hot line that Cuomo launched on November 15 to connect New
Yorkers with the state Division of Human Rights to report incidents of
bias and discrimination has received more than 400 calls since Friday,
according to Cuomo's office.
Calling
this kind of prejudice a "social poison [in] the fabric of our nation,"
the governor cited a number of recent incidents, including a scourge of
swastika graffiti and the case of black freshmen at the University of
Pennsylvania being sent pictures of lynchings and racial slurs.
Cuomo
also vowed to set up a legal defense fund for immigrants who fear
prosecution under a Trump administration. He said the fund would be the
first of its kind.
The plan, he
said, would be to set up a public-private partnership "to provide
immigrants who can't afford their own defense the legal assistance they
need ... because in New York, we believe in justice for all," Cuomo
said.
He added, "If there is a move
to deport immigrants then I say start with me. I am a son of
immigrants. Son of Mario Cuomo, who is the son of Andrea Cuomo, a poor
Italian immigrant who came to this country without a job, without money,
or resources and he was here only for the promise of America."
Cuomo's
plans also include the expansion of New York's Human Rights Law to
protect students who are bullied or discriminated against.
New York Police Department Commissioner James O'Neill told a New York radio station on Sunday he was disturbed by the trends.
"We've
had an uptick in hate crimes, actually a little bit more than an
uptick. We're up 31% from last year. We had at this time last year 250,
this year we have 328, specifically against the Muslim population in New
York City -- we went up from 12 to 25, and anti-Semitic is up, too, by
9% from 102 to 111," O'Neill said.
"I
have no scientific evidence as to why, but you've been paying attention
to what's been going on in the country over the last year or so and the
rhetoric has increased, and I think that might have something to do
with it," O'Neill added.
Cuomo
said on Sunday that New York's tolerance will lead the way for the rest
of the nation, and his announcement came as an "anti-hate" rally was
held in a Brooklyn park vandalized with swastikas and pro-Trump
graffiti.
Swastikas and the words "Go Trump" were painted on playground equipment at Adam Yauch Park in Brooklyn, the NYPD says.
The
rally, at a playground named after the late Beastie Boy Adam Yauch, was
attended by band member Adam Horovitz, better known as Ad-Rock.
"Keep your eyes open, stand
up for each other. This is homegrown terrorism for real," Horovitz told
the crowd. "I reject Donald Trump's vision for America. New York City,
I'm asking you to do the same."
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