Hate Activity Increasing, it’s a Fact

Written by Stephen Piggott

Last month, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights released their brand new report on hate crimes in America entitled, Confronting the New Faces of Hate: Hate Crimes in America. The report was co-authored by Wade Henderson and Michael Lieberman. Earlier this week I listened in as both men hosted a phone press conference to promote their report. Both Wade and Michael introduced the report and its findings before opening up the floor for questions. Before describing the reports disturbing findings, Henderson described two high profile hate crimes that have gained national attention. He first talked about last week’s murder at the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC before moving on to the story of Luis Ramirez who was beaten to death by teens in Pennsylvania in 2008. After introducing the report, Henderson and Lieberman went on to discuss the reports main themes and some of the more shocking findings in their research. Here are some of the main themes and facts:

In 2007, 7,624 hate crimes were reported in the United States. From 2003-2007 hate crimes against Hispanic’s increased nearly 40%. Of hate crimes in 2007 motivated by bias due to the victim’s ethnicity or national origin, nearly 60% were committed against Hispanics, up nearly 50% from 2003. More than twice as many hate crimes were reported against African Americans as against any other group. In 2007, 69% of reported religious bias hate crimes were against Jews. In 2007, 115 hate crimes against Muslim’s were reported, more than 4 times the number reported in the year 2000.

There are many major themes in the report. Here are 4 that I find interesting:

  • The number of hate groups in the United States increases annually, with a staggering 54% increase in the number of hate groups from the year 2000 to 2008.
  • The toxic combination of immigration fears, a failing economy and the election of Barak Obama is leading to an increase in hate incidents, hate groups and hate group recruiting.
  • The internet is becoming a key tool for hate groups. The internet is used for promoting hateful material, recruiting, and organizing. Social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, video-sharing websites like YouTube and open forum sites like Stormfront are extremely popular among hate groups.
  • The reporting of hate crimes is drastically under reported especially in the southern states. An example of this is Mississippi, where 0 hate crimes were reported in the year 2007.

All of these numbers point to the fact that hate crimes are on the rise. This report is further evidence that strict laws against hate crimes must be put on the books. Yesterday, The Matthew Shepard Hate Crime Prevention Act was passed by congress. It will now go before President Barak Obama for signing. The bills passing will come as a huge defeat, especially for white nationalists who have lambasted the bill in recent months. White nationalists argue that this bill attacks free speech is federalizes crimes. This argument is quashed in a brilliant summary by Michael Yaki a San Francisco-based blogger, attorney and political consultant who states:

The second, broader claim — that the Shepard bill unduly “federalizes” crimes that properly belong in state courts — is easier to dismiss. The Shepard bill would expand the jurisdiction of federal jurisdiction to crimes without reference to any enumerated “protected activities,” which include school, employment, usage of state and local programs, or usage of facilities of interstate commerce or public accommodation. It is this section; in particular, that gets the goat of my colleagues on the Commission. The objections raised by the Commission majority are eerily reminiscent of the objections raised by opponents of the 1960′s Civil Rights laws. That somehow local jurisdictions knew best how to educate children in separate facilities, that hotels were simply following local laws and best practices in creating segregated accommodations, and, more importantly, that local law enforcement knew best how to enforce crimes that targeted black Americans. That argument was laid to rest in the 60′s with overwhelming bipartisan support for the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The fact that my colleagues resurrect this tired old saw shows a blinding ignorance to the past and a callous disregard to the facts of today.

Here we see that the white nationalist’s rhetoric hasn’t changed in almost 45 years. The overwhelming majority of the American people have chosen to reject the arguments and ideas of white nationalism. We have seen this in 1964, 1965, and now in 2009. The Matthew Sheppard Act will not end hate crimes in this country just as the Civil Rights Act didn’t end racism but it is a major step in the right direction.

To read Confronting the New Faces of Hate: Hate Crimes in America in full go here: http://www.civilrights.org/publications/hatecrimes/lccref_hate_crimes_report.pdf.