Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson proclaimed today FBI Dallas Hate Crimes Awareness Day. The Dallas skyline will be lit up in blue as part of the FBI’s new national campaign and you’ll notice more ads including a unique one unveiled today.
Monday morning in Oak Cliff, the FBI's Dallas field office in partnership with Mayor Eric Johnson unveiled a new mural that serves as part of the FBI's nationwide campaign to raise awareness about hate crimes.
"Hate crimes are often under-reported, severely underreported, and if we don't know about it, we can't investigate it," said Matthew DeSarno, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Dallas Field Office.
That is why they're encouraging victims to come forward and report hate crimes.
The FBI first rolled out the campaign in 2021 but continues to expand its advertising on buses, trains, at Dallas Love Field, Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, area gas stations, digital billboards, on AM and FM radio and mobile/digital/web mediums.
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They're also taking a unique approach by connecting with different communities through murals.
"For someone like myself, who has experienced hate crimes when I was younger, I really thought it was a good opportunity to kind of, you know, let out some of that emotion into the mural for it," said Daniel Yanez, the artist behind the massive piece of artwork in Oak Cliff located at 200 S. Tyler St. in Dallas.
It took the Oak Cliff native two weeks to spray paint. He said the city of Dallas approached him to make the mural for the FBI. He said it was personal for him.
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"There have been times were here in Dallas. I was, you know, it picked on because I was Mexican. I've had a white woman, yelling at me like that she hated Mexicans. I lived in a small town in Alabama for about a year and a half, two years, and when I was younger, I actually had kids beat me up because, you know, I was the only Mexican and the only colored person period in that small town. So I thought this was a good opportunity to kind of speak about those things," said Yanez.
Yanez, who said this is his 4th mural to make in Oak Cliff, said for this one, he was inspired by the beauty of making people more so the same rather than different.
"I guess my ultimate goal was to use my style, which uses a lot of patterns and colors to show that we're all similar. once you put all these different colors and patterns in the same orientation across somebody's face, you can kind of see the similarities and differences, but somehow we're all still connected, you know," said Yanez.
"This mural is a beautiful piece of art, it's representative of our city and the diversity of our city," said DeSarno.
He said especially in Latino communities, there is a lot of underreporting due to people being nervous to interact with law enforcement due to their immigration status.
The FBI defines a hate crime as a criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender's bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender or gender identity.
"The FBI's top priority in civil rights is investigating hate crimes, justice for victims, holding people accountable who commit hate crimes," said DeSarno.
Across the city in Uptown, another mural is in the process of being made.
"People of all colors encounter different degrees of hate and if I can do something through art to help counteract that or shed some light on that subject, I'm happy to do it," said artist Isaac Davies.
For the last four days, he's been working on a mural underneath the Katy Trail at Cedar Springs.
Mayor Johnson last year created the Dallas Anti-Hate Advisory Council to help tackle the problem which is on the rise.
"It's so important that we take a zero-tolerance approach in the city of Dallas when it comes to acts of hate," said Johnson.
He also proclaimed Oct. 3 "FBI Dallas Hate Crimes Awareness Day” and on Monday night downtown Dallas will be lit up blue in
"There is absolutely no place in the city of Dallas for hate period," said Johnson.
The FBI said hate crimes against people in the Asian, Black, Jewish and LGBTQ Plus communities have been on the rise.
Earlier this year a gunman targeted the Hair World Salon in Dallas' Koreatown neighborhood, which was deemed a hate crime.
Earlier this year someone held members of a Synagogue in Colleyville Hostage, most recently a woman was arrested after a racially charged confrontation in Plano.
In Dallas, several men were arrested and sentenced last year for hate crimes after targeting gay men on Grindr.
If you believe you are a victim or a witness of a hate crime, you are encouraged to report it to the FBI by calling 1-800-CALL-FBI or submitting an online tip at tips.fbi.gov. You may remain anonymous.
"The FBI's top priority in civil rights is investigating hate crimes, justice for victims, holding people accountable who commit hate crimes. So we encourage you, please report hate crimes to us and we will investigate," said DeSarno.
