On Monday, 30th August 2021, the FBI agency released its annual report on hate crimes. According to the report, there was a 6% increase in these crimes in 2020 compared to 2019. The cases surged from 7314 in 2019 to 7759 in 2020. This is the highest increase since the 7783 cases reported in 2008.
This data was submitted to the FBI agency by 15,136 law enforcement agencies. This is just the tip of the iceberg, as not every hate crime gets reported to a law enforcement agency. Better yet, most law enforcement agencies do not give out truthful data. As such, the situation on the ground may be far worse than meets the eye.
In their press conference, the FBI noted that two of every three hate crimes reported had something to do with bias against race or ethnicity. 36% of the said cases, for instance, represented the anti-African-American, 10% described the anti-white, while 9% were anti-Jewish.
The FBI describes a hate crime as an offense motivated by a bias against a race, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, and gender identity. The Asian people have, for instance, faced massive hate crimes since the onset of Coronavirus that originated in China. Most people associate the virus with the Asian community, with renowned leaders such as Donald Trump terming it “Chinese Virus.”
The FBI agency advocates for a safe and comfortable environment where people of all backgrounds can interact freely. During this year’s annual hate crime report, different FBI agency leaders came out to strongly condemn the hiking numbers.
Merrick Garland, the agency’s secretary-general, had this to say, “These hate crimes and other bias related incidents instill fear across entire communities and undermine the principles upon which our democracy stands.”
