A 12-year high in hate crime incidents was reported in the United States in 2020, the FBI revealed on Monday.
The figure for last year, 7,759, is the highest number since 2008, during which there were 7,783 hate crimes reported by the bureau, and marks a 6% jump in the hundreds compared to the 7,314 incidents in 2019.
Federal data shows hate crimes against black people rose from 1,930 incidences in 2019 to 2,755 in 2020, which is a 42% increase. Likewise, crimes against Asians rose from 158 in 2019 to 274 in 2020, which is a 73% increase, and crimes against white people rose from 666 in 2019 to 773 a year later, which is a 16% increase, according to the Washington Post.
MORE THAN 9,000 ANTI-ASIAN INCIDENTS SINCE START OF PANDEMIC, NONPROFIT GROUP SAYS
The FBI receives its data from law enforcement agencies that voluntarily submit their statistics to the Uniform Crime Reporting Program, but it may not be the full picture.
Stop AAPI Hate, a nonprofit organization that tracks Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the U.S., found a more pronounced spike in hate crimes against Asian victims: 4,548 incidents from March to the end of the year. The jump coincided with the coronavirus pandemic, which has its origins traced back to China. Some politicians, including former President Donald Trump, have made a point of calling COVID-19 such names as the “Chinese Virus,” which some advocacy groups have described as racist and directly tied to the violence.
In May, President Joe Biden signed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, which aims to make it easier to report hate crimes at local and state levels. The bill received bipartisan support.
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“Every time we’re silent, every time we let hate flourish, we make a lie of who we are as a nation,” Biden said. “We cannot let the very foundation of this country continue to be eaten away as it has been in other moments in our history.”
