For Immediate Release February 29, 2024

Contact: Becca Rose [email protected], 484-788-2188

Right To Be Kicks Off ‘Hate and Hope’ Election Strategy With A Focus On Combating Hate and Harassment At The Polls

The comprehensive three-pronged approach will develop new data-tracking tools for election-related hate and community-based resources to heal from spikes in hate and harassment   

NEW YORK – Amid a multitude of reports from the past year showing spikes in hate and harassment nationwide, Right To Be, a globally recognized leading voice on hate and harassment, is launching its 2024 election strategy focused on bringing awareness to the various ways in which hate shows up in elections and educating voters on the impact of hate against marginalized communities during the election cycle.

According to the Brennan Center for Justice, one in six local election officials experienced threats during the 2022 midterm elections. The Hate and Hope election strategy is designed to both capture and address the breadth of consequences and spikes in hate that result from recent calls for violence. Included in Right To Be’s strategy is an expansion of their story sharing platform – a critical leading source for documenting the rise in hate and harassment nationwide. Right To Be is ramping up the platform so that community organizations, media, legislators and advocates have the data they need to make a difference.

Right To Be’s strategy is rooted in their data-backed theory of change that when hate and harassment are clearly named and made visible, opportunity is created to weaken its hold on people and create change. The overall strategy focuses on three programmatic pillars:

–The Hate and Hope Tracker: Right To Be’s storytelling platform is expanding to include a grassroots, interactive map that tracks user-submitted, election related incidents of hate and hope that will help reporters, elected officials, and local communities track spikes in hate. People can also submit stories of hate that they see in the news and on social media. 

-Hate and Hope Community Roundtables: interactive roundtable discussions with Right To Be’s movement partners highlighting what’s at stake for a variety of marginalized communities, paired with language-accessible guides on how to have these important conversations at home.

-Hate and Hope Study: a research study determining the correlation between making hate visible and the impacts of hateful-based political speech. 

Emily May, President and Co-founder of Right To Be, said:

“Not only are we facing a highly consequential election with increasingly hateful, autocratic rhetoric, but we’re also living in an extremely heightened global context that influences the levels of hate and harassment we’re seeing in our own communities. This moment demands a comprehensive approach that empowers people to prevent and also heal from the spikes in hate we’re already seeing this election cycle.”

Jorge Arteaga, Vice President of Movement Building at Right To Be, said:

“Women, LGBTQ+ people, immigrants, and people of color are some of the groups in the biggest danger of experiencing hate and harassment when vile speech is made on a national platform, making this election crucial. Right To Be’s election strategy allows for processing, connection, empathy, and healing. Tracking community hate and harassment highlights what’s at stake this election year and provides the resources they need to respond, heal, and build resilience.”

For press interviews, contact Becca Rose at [email protected]. 

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Right To Be is a people-powered movement working to build a world free of harassment and filled with humanity. We are a team of educators, motivators, and facilitators who are listening, guiding, and cheering you on. Every day, we train hundreds of people to respond to, intervene in, and heal from harassment. We hold space for people experiencing harassment to share their stories for affirmation and support. And we prepare new leaders to create workplaces, schools, and communities around the world that are filled with humanity. For more information on how you can get involved, visit www.righttobe.org. Follow Right To Be on Twitter and Facebook at @righttobeorg.