Los Angeles Times - 13.11.2019

A6 WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2019 WSCE LATIMES.COM

THE NATION

Hate crimes targeting
people in 2018 surged to their
highest levels in 16 years de-
spite a slight overall dip in
the number of hate crimes,
the FBI said in a report re-
leased Tuesday.
The FBI’s tally, which
used data submitted by
more than 2,000 police de-
partments and law enforce-
ment agencies, logged 7,
hate crimes. The total is 55
lower than 2017, a decline of
less than 1%.
The drop is the first time
hate crimes have gone down
in four years. But it’s tiny
when compared with long-
term trends in increased
hate crimes. Aside from last
year, the total number of
hate crimes the FBI re-
ported is higher than every
year since 2008.
“The numbers, on the
surface, seem to remain rela-
tively flat overall,” said Brian
Levin, director of the Center
for the Study of Hate and Ex-
tremism at Cal State San
Bernardino. “But under-
neath the data there are
some interesting trends
happening.
“There has been a dis-
turbing shift to hate crimes
directed against people as
opposed to property, and
these increases are seen al-
most across the board,” he
said.
According to the FBI,
crimes against people grew
to 4,571 last year, a year-to-
year increase of just under
12%.
“The number of crimes
targeting Muslims crater-
ed,” Levin said. “Anti-Semit-
ic crimes dropped. But the
ones targeting Latinos in-

creased for the third year.”

The FBI counted 188 anti-

Muslim hate crimes, down

from 273 the year before.

There were 835 anti-Semitic

incidents, compared with

938 the previous year. And

there were 485 anti-Latino

crimes, up from 427 in 2017.

The total number of crimes

targeting Latinos increased

41% since 2016.

The number of crimes

singling out transgender

and gender nonconforming

people also shot up 41%, to

16 8.

In California, there was a

nearly 4% decline in hate

crimes to 1,063. But Los An-

geles experienced a more

than 7% increase in hate

crimes for a total of 282. The

most common ones targeted

a person’s race.

Last year included the

deadliest attack on Jews in

modern U.S. history, when a

gunman killed 11 worshipers

at the Tree of Life synagogue

in Pittsburgh on Oct. 27, 2018.

Before the shootings, the

suspect posted online about

immigrant “invaders” aided

by Jewish-run refugee reset-

tlement groups and called

Jews the “enemy of white

people.” He awaits trial in

federal court.

Because of the deaths in

Pittsburgh, the 24 hate

crime killings the FBI re-

ported was the highest fig-

ure since the bureau first re-

leased annual data on hate

crimes 27 years ago.

The FBI’s report follows

its 2017 hate crimes count,

which showed the largest in-

crease since 2001. That year,

anti-Muslim crimes in-

creased after the Sept. 11 at-

tacks.

Tuesday’s report is the

second annual release of

hate crimes statistics during

Donald Trump’s presidency.

As he campaigns for reelec-

tion, Trump has defended

himself against accusations

that his presidency has em-

boldened hate groups.

Jewish organizations, in-

cluding the Anti-Defama-

tion League, have blamed

Trump’s rhetoric about im-

migrants and his embrace

of anti-Jewish conspiracy

theories and memes as part

of what led to increases in

2017 in anti-Semitic inci-

dents and those targeting

Latinos and Muslims.

Trump has tweeted anti-

Jewish and anti-Muslim

memes from known extrem-

ists, including a campaign

tweet that featured a symbol

similar to the Star of David,

images of cash and the

phrase “most corrupt candi-

date ever” to describe Hilla-

ry Clinton.

In late 2017, Trump

tweeted anti-Muslim videos

from the far-right group

Britain First, drawing con-

demnation from then-Prime

Minister Theresa May.

This year, the president

faced critics after he tweeted

to four congresswomen of

color — three of whom were

born in the U.S. — to “go

back” to the “totally broken

and crime infested places

from which they came.”

In his defense, the presi-

dent has said he is the “least

racist person there is any-

where in the world.” He has

pointed to his own family,

which includes a Jewish

daughter, son-in-law and

grandchildren, to fend off ac-

cusations of anti-Semitism.

Criminologists and civil

rights groups concede that

hate crimes began to in-

crease in 2015 under Presi-

dent Obama after six years

of decline. Studies have also

shown that hate crimes tend

to grow during election years

and times of tense political

fights over issues such as im-

migration or national secu-

rity, Levin said.

“You can’t prove that ev-

ery move Trump makes

leads to a hate crime,” he

said. “But you can look at the

year 2016 and see a spike in

hate crimes, or look at the in-

crease in anti-immigrant

rhetoric ... in recent years

and see an increase in anti-

Latino crimes.”

Daniel Elbaum, chief ad-

vocacy officer of the Ameri-

can Jewish Committee,

partly pointed to “the ugli-

ness” of social and policy de-

bates in the U.S. to explain

the high number of hate

crimes.

“There is nothing new

about hate in America, but

the combination of the ugli-

ness in our public discourse

and the ease with which this

incendiary language can be

spread has clearly had disas-

trous, sometimes fatal, con-

sequences,” Elbaum said.

“That is what we saw with

the murders at the Tree of

Life synagogue in Pitts-

burgh and the Chabad of

Poway.”

The Poway synagogue

shooting in April of this year

left one person dead and

three others injured.

Experts said the FBI’s

count probably misses many

— possibly most — hate

crimes that took place last

year.

There are more than

16,000 law enforcement

agencies in the country, and

they report hate crime num-

bers to the FBI voluntarily.

In the count released Tues-

day, more than 14,000 agen-

cies did not report data or

told the bureau there were

no hate crimes in their juris-

dictions.

That included all of Ala-

bama and Wyoming, where

agencies reported zero hate

crimes. There were also no

hate crimes reported in St.

Petersburg, Fla.; Madison,

Wis.; and Newark, N.J. There

were 85 cities with popula-

tions higher than 100,

where law enforcement ei-

ther did not share data with

the FBI or said there were

zero hate crimes.

It’s also harder to analyze

the FBI’s data over time be-

cause of changes to how the

bureau has collected infor-

mation.

The FBI defines a hate

crime as a “criminal offense

against a person or property

motivated in whole or in part

by an offender’s bias against

a race, religion, disability,

sexual orientation, ethnic-

ity, gender or gender iden-

tity.” Crimes against Hin-

dus, Sikhs and Arabs have

been counted only since 2015.

Another problem is that vic-

tims don’t always call the po-

lice.

In addition, the FBI’s

data conflict with the Jus-

tice Department’s National

Crime Victimization Survey,

which estimates there to be

250,000 hate crimes each

year. The Justice Depart-

ment count doesn’t include

intimidation and vandalism

incidents, which are in-

cluded in the FBI’s hate

crimes report.

Hate crimes against Latinos rise, FBI says

LASTyear included the deadliest attack on Jews in modern U.S. history, when a

gunman killed 11 worshipers at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh on Oct. 27.

Gene J. PuskarAssociated Press

Individuals, rather

than property, are

targeted more, as are

transgender people.

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