Statewide hate crime hotline already getting a range of calls
Minneapolis has launched a new statewide hotline to report potential hate crimes.
Director of the Minneapolis Civil Rights Department Velma Korbel said a rash of incidents in the last year that may have been motivated by prejudice prompted the city to open the hotline.
Since the hotline launched last month, Korbel said 70 calls have come in, and not only from people who are experiencing potential hate crimes.
"What is also encouraging to me is that we are getting calls from people who are not just standing by and idly by and watching something happen to a person," Korbel said.
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Korbel said the hotline has fielded a variety of calls, most of them about race or religion.
Some of the calls have been from people who complain that the hotline is meant to curb freedom of speech.
"There was some rhetoric around the middle of June where people were claiming that in some ways that the hotline was trying to impede free speech," Korbel said. "I want to say categorically that is not true."
Korbel said that operators who answer the calls pass along the tips to other departments, depending on the details of the complaint.
Callers in Minneapolis can report concerns through the city's 311 line. Outstate callers can call 612-673-3000.
MPR News host Euan Kerr spoke to Korbel about hate in Minnesota and the new hotline. To hear their full discussion, use the audio player above.