SACRAMENTO, the United States, May 22 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. state of California's anti-hate hotline has recorded more than 1,000 reports in its first year of operation, according to the state's Civil Rights Department.

The hotline, called "CA (California) vs Hate," was officially launched by Governor Gavin Newsom in May last year to address the rising hate crimes and incidents in the state. It is the state's first-ever multilingual statewide hotline and online portal that allows victims and witnesses of hate acts to report the incidents anonymously.

In the past year, the hotline received 2,118 contacts from the public seeking assistance, with discrimination as the top reason for a report at 18 percent, followed by verbal harassment and derogatory names or slurs, according to the data released this week by the department.

Of the total reports, the staff verified that 1,020 are actual reports of hate based on the information provided by the individual reporting the act.

After further reviewing the validated reports, the department staff identified specific motivations behind the bias. The additional review unveils that race and ethnicity account for 35.1 percent of the cited bias motivations, with gender identity at 15.1 percent, and sexual orientation at 10.8 percent.

For reports related to race and ethnicity, 26.8 percent of the hate incidents target Afro-American people, with 15.4 percent and 14.3 percent targeting Latino and Asian people, respectively.

"CA vs Hate is about recognizing and protecting the incredible diversity of our state and sending a clear message that hate will never be tolerated," said Newsom in a release.

Whether people report online or by phone, they are eligible to receive care coordination and access resources and support, including legal, financial, mental health, and mediation services, according to the department. Enditem

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