Melanie Eversley

USA TODAY

What may seem like a dramatic rise in the number of hate harassment and hate incidents happening across the country in the wake of Tuesday's general election is not in anyone's imagination, experts say.

There indeed has been a spike in the number of reports of such incidents, say representatives for two organizations that track such occurrences. A representative for one group, in fact, said the rise appears to be even worse that what was took place immediately after the terror attacks in 2001.

"Since the election, we've seen a big uptick in incidents of vandalism, threats, intimidation spurred by the rhetoric surrounding Mr. Trump's election," Richard Cohen, president of the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala., told USA TODAY. "The white supremacists out there are celebrating his victory and many are feeling their oats," Cohen said.

The incidents, some that bring up memories of the Jim Crow era, continued into Friday. In Philadelphia, the University of Pennsylvania issued a statement saying it was working to find the source of racist messages sent to black freshmen, and in Syracuse, N.Y., a group of pickup trucks - one draped with the Confederate flag - drove through an anti-Trump rally. In Columbus, Ohio, a man banged on the car window while a Muslim woman was driving, her children and elderly parents with her, and told her, "C--t, you don't belong in this country," according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, based in Washington.

All those were added to the list of incidents that included black children being told to get to the back of a bus and Latino children being taunted about the wall that Trump promised to build between Mexico and the United States.

The SPLC, which tracks hate crimes, says it has logged more than 200 complaints since the election, and while it could not provide a figure for the average number of complaints it takes in each day, Cohen assured that the number is much larger than what is typical. Anti-black and anti-immigrant incidents are generating the highest numbers followed by anti-Muslim incidents, Cohen said. Part of the reason it is happening is that hate group leaders are encouraging members to intimidate people, according to Cohen.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations also said it has seen an increase in complaints made to its offices, so much so that it was moved to urge prayer leaders and imams to address fears with imams, said Ibrahim Hooper, the organization's communications director.

CAIR also said the numbers of complaints demonstrate a marked increase, but just a few days out was too soon to offer details on data.

"It's kind of a very tense time for the American Muslim community and people are really anxious about the future," Ibrahim Hooper, communications director for the Council on American Islamic Relations, told USA TODAY Friday. "I would call it a spike but it's too early to quantify."

Hooper added, "We already had been worse based on the fact that Donald Trump had mainstreamed Islamophobia ... and this was just taking it off the charts."

Members of the public who witness or are victimized by hate harassment are advised to contact police, the SPLC, CAIR or other organizations that advocate against hate crimes.