‘American Hate’ explores intolerance and racism

Explore the legacy of hate in America and what it means to the country today in “American Hate,” airing Tuesday, June 30, at 5 p.m. on Arizona PBS.

The documentary was produced as part of the 2018 Carnegie-Knight News21 program, a national multimedia reporting project produced by the nation’s top journalism students and graduates. Each year, students selected into the program report in-depth on a single topic of national importance. The theme for 2018 was “Hate in America.”

Thirty-eight journalism students from 19 universities traveled to 36 states, including a 7,000-mile road trip around the country, conducting hundreds of interviews and reviewing thousands of pages of federal court documents, FBI data and state and federal statutes for “Hate in America.”

The project found more than 2.4 million crimes suspected of being motivated by hate in the five years between 2012 and 2016, based on an analysis of the federal National Crime Victimization Survey.

“This project takes a deep look into intolerance, racism and hate crimes in the United States,” said News21 Executive Editor Jacquee Petchel, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist. “Our fellows were fair and aggressive in reaching out to people to get a range of voices for this project. They were immersed in cultures that would be uncomfortable for even the very best professional reporters. They handled each interview with a high degree of skill and professionalism.” The project won the prestigious Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award in 2019.

“Hate in America” includes more than a dozen digital stories and the documentary “American Hate” as well as a five-episode podcast following the lifecycle of hate. Explore their reporting here.