On this date in 2007 at the Scotts Valley High School in Santa Cruz County, California, a football coach discovered racist graffiti and swastikas in the school's gymnasium; and, police found what appeared to be a pipe bomb outside the principal's office. The school was evacuated and closed for the day. The Anti Defamation League has offered a $1,000 dollar reward for information leading to an arrest in the case. The ADL also reported that in March, 2007, flyers were posted at the high school announcing the formation of a "Scotts Valley Aryan Club." Police are investigating. If you have any information about the incident, please contact Detective Sergeant Rutherford of the Scotts Valley Police Department at (831) 440-5670.

In Parkland, Florida, on this date in 2008, it was discovered that the Chabad of Parkland, located at 7170 Loxahatchee Road was vandalized with anti-Semitic spray-painted writings in what Broward County Sheriff Al Lamberti has called a hate crime. Three swastikas and the word "heil" were scrawled on the walls of the synagogue, and a stop sign in the parking lot had "4 Hitler" scrawled on it.

On this date in 2009 in Washington, D.C., on the floor of the U.S. Senate, Kansas senator Sam Brownback, along with 12 co-sponsors, introduced S.J. Res. 14, "A joint resolution to acknowledge a long history of official depredations and ill-conceived policies by the Federal Government regarding Indian tribes and offer an apology to all Native Peoples on behalf of the United States." Every year from 2001 through 2007 Native Americans had the second highest relative risk for being the victim of a race-based hate crime in the United States (blacks were the highest at-risk group during these years).

On this date in 2009, the U.S. Justice Department announced the indictment in federal court in Florence, South Carolina, of three men—Thomas Howard Blue Sr., 48, his son Thomas Howard Blue Jr., 28, and Judson Hartley Talbert, 34—from Marlboro County, South Carolina. The men were handed a 21-count indictment for allegedly violating and conspiracy to violate the civil rights of three South Carolina citizens (a black man, Dahndre A. Moore, and two white men, Jamie Gray and Jackson Hayes), carjacking, use of fire to commit a felony, use of a firearm in relation to a crime of violence, evidence tampering, and grand jury perjury. The three defendants stand accused of attacking the three men in December, 2007, including forcing Mr. Moore out of the store he owns, threatening him with a chainsaw, stealing his car then setting it on fire at Blue’s Landing along the Great Pee Dee River, and threatening Mr. Gray and Mr. Hayes who were perceived by the defendants to be aiding Mr. Moore. The defendants could have received up to ten years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine for each of the 21 federal civil rights charges. Instead, on December 7, 2009, in a Florence, South Carolina courtroom, Thomas Blue Sr., Thomas Blue, Jr., and Judson Talbert pleaded guilty to conspiring to deprive, and actually depriving, Mr. Moore of his right to engage in a federally protected activity, and conspiring to carjack and actually carjacking Mr. Moore’s car all because Mr. Moore is African-American. Thomas H. Blue, Sr., 49, also pleaded guilty to depriving Mr. Gray and Mr. Hayes of their right to engage in federally protected activity as well as using a firearm in relation to a crime of violence against them. As part of their plea agreements, Thomas Blue Sr., 49, agreed to a 13-year prison sentence, Talbert, 35, agreed to serve nine years in prison, and Thomas H. Blue, Jr., 29, agreed to a three-year sentence for his role in the race-based hate crimes. The three South Carolina men were sentenced on April 20, 2010, and in a rare federal sentencing move, they were not sentenced to any post-release supervision.

In a mostly Orthodox Jewish neighborhood and across the street from a synagogue in Brighton, New York, on this date in 2011—the day before Holocaust Remembrance Day—Benjamin Cuatt, 17, from Rush, New York, and Luke Buckett, 17, from Rochester, New York, allegedly doused toilet paper with gasoline, shaped it into a swastika, and then lit it one fire at 30 Edgemere Drive. Both young white men were charged in Brighton Town Court with felony aggravated harassment and misdemeanor arson. On May 9, 2011, the two white teenagers pleaded not guilty. If convicted of felony aggravated harassment, they each could get up to 16 months to 48 months in prison.