VOICES OF THE SURVIVORS

"We hear it all the time. If you want to get away with murder, commit it on an Indian or commit it on a reservation. Because then you're not going to get an investigation. So when they're not doing their job, predators smell blood."

Erica Shelby

AMERICAN HATE

Survivors Speak

Hate crimes have intensified over the last decade, impacting communities of color, religious and ethnic minorities, and LGBTQIA communities. Between 2014 and 2022, reported hate crimes more than doubled; advocacy organizations say the true number is multiples higher.

When an incident occurs, national reporters and pundits descend with sensational headlines and cursory analysis. It’s a familiar cycle: graphic details emerge, the story of the perpetrator is dissected, and victims share their pain and heartache. The cameras then leave and public attention fades, often before the bodies are even buried. The victims and their families are mostly forgotten, as are their physical injuries, emotional suffering, and enduring trauma.

AMERICAN HATE – SURVIVORS SPEAK is a feature-length documentary that confronts the rise of violent hate crimes in the United States through the voices of survivors and their families. These first-person accounts allow viewers to see, hear, and feel what it means to be targeted because of who you are or what you believe. The film moves from the scene of each crime to its long-term consequences: the grief, the haunting memories, and the permanent rupture in everyday life. Yet despite the devastation, survivors and their communities have discovered a renewed sense of purpose to advocate, organize, and seek justice.

The film follows Native American mother Carissa Heavyrunner, whose daughter Mika Westwolf was killed in a hit-and-run by a white supremacist whose children were named Aryan and Nation. In her pursuit of justice, Heavyrunner embraces the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women movement, fighting for her daughter and so many others whose stories have been neglected and forgotten.

It tells the story of Khalid Jabara, murdered on his front porch by a racist neighbor. His killing sparked national outrage and ultimately led to the passage of the Jabara-Heyer Hate Crime Bill, a landmark federal law signed in 2021 that strengthens hate crime reporting.

The documentary also features Bawi Cung and his children, who were attacked by a knife-wielding assailant amid the surge of anti-Asian rhetoric fueled by “China Flu” propaganda during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Featured from left to right are the victims of the Tops massacre:

1) Celestine Chaney, 2) Roberta A. Drury, 3) Andre Mackniel,

4) Katherine Massey, 5) Margus D. Morrison, 6) Heyward Patterson,

7) Aaron Salter, 8) Geraldine Talley, 9) Ruth Whitfield, 10) Pearl Young.

Also profiled are attorneys John Elmore and his daughter Kristen Elmore-Garcia, who are suing U.S. social media companies on behalf of several Black families who lost loved ones in the Tops Friendly Markets massacre in Buffalo, New York. John Elmore’s advocacy is deeply personal: as a teenager, he survived a mass shooting in 1974, when his father was critically wounded in what is often cited as America’s first modern school shooting. Fifty years later, his daughter and him represent their community in a David-and-Goliath legal battle against some of the most powerful corporations in America.

While media coverage often fixates on the motives of the perpetrators or resorts to partisan blame, AMERICAN HATE – SURVIVORS SPEAK centers the voices of survivors, their families, and communities. The film reveals how they are fighting back, through advocacy, organizing, litigation, faith, and political action. It spotlights the activists, organizations, and diverse movements that have emerged to support those targeted by hate and to confront bigotry in all its forms.

AMERICAN HATE – SURVIVORS SPEAK is a wake-up call to the entire nation: lives are being shattered and we must chart a different future together. Otherwise we risk deeper polarization and even greater violence.

Siblings Rami and Victoria at the gravesite of their brother, Khalid Jabara.

Khalid Jabara's siblings at his grave.png