Racial tension and violent behavior among students are prevalent in schools today. Despite the fact that many hate-motivated crimes go unreported the number of reported incidents is up. When students in Informal surveys nationwide acknowledge that fighting and violence in school is one of their major concerns, we know that we have a national problem Students and faculty want safe places in which to teach and learn, But often racial tension results in fights, name-calling, graffiti and other bias-related incidents. These acts of hatred often represent a much deeper-rooted expression of hostility against a person or property because of race, religion, nationality gender, ethnicity or sexual orientation than we would like to admit. Schools and other institutions need to learn to recognize and address bias-related incidents. Educators must encourage students to speak up when they see or experience something hateful and teachers and students must learn to do something about the problem. Definition of a Hate Incident Hate-motivated incidents are defined as an expression of hostility against a person or property because of the victim's race, religion, disability, gender, ethnicity or sexual orientation.(However, hate-motivated incidents include those actions that are motivated by bias, but do not meet the necessary elements required to prove a crime. This may include such behavior as non-threatening name-calling, using racial slurs or disseminating racist leaflets. Protected classifications vary from state to state. Definition of a Hate Crime A hate crime is a criminal act against a person or property in which the perpetrator chooses the victim because of the victim's real or perceived race, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, gender or ethnicity. (This includes, but is not limited to, threatening phone calls, hate mail, physical assaults, vandalism, cross burning, destruction of religious symbols and fire bombings. Protected classifications vary from state to state.)