Margriet van der Linden Explores American Hate Crimes in New Series STATE OF HATE

In the late 1990s, Margriet van der Linden worked as a correspondent in New York. During that time, she was confronted with shocking hate crimes: attacks and murders stemming from deep-seated hatred against people who are different or think differently. Now, nearly thirty years later, Margriet returns to the United States and reflects on this turbulent period.

In STATE OF HATE, she visits, over five episodes, the places where notorious hate crimes took place; she traverses the country and visits states like Oklahoma, where Timothy McVeigh committed a terrorist attack out of hatred for the government, and Texas, where a Black man was lynched in the 1990s. Margriet speaks with survivors, both from the perpetrators' and victims' sides, as well as with others involved and residents who still feel the impact of these hate crimes. What do they remember about these specific events? Has anything changed since then? And what does it mean for the reality we live in now? Because all hate crimes have clear connections to the present, where abortion laws have been tightened, the Capitol has been stormed, violence against the LHTBIQA+ community is increasing, and racism against Black people is still exposed daily. STATE OF HATE can be seen weekly starting Monday, January 8, at 22:20 on BNNVARA on NPO 2.

Margriet: “All these intense events were not just crimes but hate crimes whose traces are still visible and have even taken on a different face today. In ‘State of Hate,’ viewers will see where fear and hate for 'the other' can lead, but also where fear and aversion to the other come from. Making this series was confronting. I myself am often 'the other,' but the reverse is just as true."

After her successful series "How to be gay" and her daily talk show "M," Margriet is back on television after nearly two years.