Faced with an explosion in hate crimes since the dubious election of fascist demagogue Donald Trump to the US Presidency, the governor of New York State Andrew Cuomo is launching a major counter initiative to protect civil rights.

"The ugly political discourse of the election did not end on Election Day," said Governor Cuomo in a speech at the predominantly African-American Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City.  "In many ways it has gotten worse, (growing) into a social crisis that now challenges our identity as a state and as a nation and our people."

A week ago, the Governor set-up a telephone hotline for people to report hate crimes.  By Friday, 400 calls had been logged.  This prompted Mr. Cuomo to announce the formation of a Hate Crimes Task Force in the New York State Police, and a public-private partnership "to provide immigrants who can't afford their own defense the legal assistance they need," he said, "Because in New York, we believe in justice for all."

The hate crimes have mostly been racist graffiti and some low-level violence, but the sudden rise has police on guard.

"We've had an uptick in hate crimes, actually a little bit more than an uptick. We're up 31 percent from last year.  We had at this time last year 250, this year we have 328, specifically against the Muslim population in New York City - we went up from 12 to 25, and anti-Semitic is up, too, by nine percent from 102 to 111," said New York Police Department Commissioner James O'Neill.  "I have no scientific evidence as to why, but you've been paying attention to what's been going on in the country over the last year or so and the rhetoric has increased, and I think that might have something to do with it," he added.

One of the graffiti incidents occurred at Adam Yauch Park in Brooklyn, named for "MCA" of the Beastie Boys, the philanthropic rapper who died in 2012.  Some scumbag spray painted swastikas and the words "Go Trump" on park fixtures.  Yauch's bandmate Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz spoke at an anti-hate rally at the park.

"Keep your eyes open, stand up for each other.  This is homegrown terrorism for real," Mr. Horovitz told the crowd.  "I reject Donald Trump's vision for America. New York City, I'm asking you to do the same."