Thousands of people march around the Justice Department in Washington, Friday, Nov. 16, 2007, during the "March Against Hate Crimes" to protest hate crime issues. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Posted on 11/20/2007 3:42:28 AM PST by SkyPilot
Thousands of people march around the Justice Department in Washington, Friday, Nov. 16, 2007, during the "March Against Hate Crimes" to protest hate crime issues. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Almost 10,000 people in the United States were victims last year of hate crimes targeting them because of their skin color, religious belief, sexual orientation or ethnic origins, the FBI reported Monday.
Sixty percent of the 9,642 hate crimes reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation targeted individuals or a collective of people, such as businesses or institutions, the statistics showed, while 39 percent were directed at property, and were primarily acts of vandalism.
Thirteen percent of the attacks on people involved serious aggression, including three murders and six rapes.
More than half of hate crime victims -- 5,020 -- were attacked because of their race, the statistics showed.
Two-thirds of victims of racially motivated attacks were black, while one in five were white.
Some 1,750, or around 19 percent, of the total of hate crime victims were attacked because of their religion, with two-thirds of those hate crimes targeting Jews and nearly 12 percent perpetrated against Muslims.
More than 1,100 anti-Semitic attacks were perpetrated in the United States last year, including 80 which saw Jews physically attacked.
Among the 208 hate crimes targeting Muslims, 54 involved attacks on individuals, marking a significantly higher proportion than the anti-Semitic attacks.
Some 1,472 hate crimes were based on a person's sexual orientation, the majority against male homosexuals, the statistics showed.
Around 1,300 people were attacked because of their ethnicity; nearly 63 percent of those hate crime victims were Hispanics.
The statistics represent only crimes reported by police to the FBI, and not all state police departments filed hate crime statistics with the FBI.
Although reports of hate crimes covered 85 percent of the US population, the states that did not file statistics, or gave uncharacteristically light figures, were in the deep south, where racism still regularly surfaces.
In Louisiana, where the harsh sentences given to six black teens for beating up a white youth after a noose was hung in their school in the town of Jena sparked recent nationwide protests, 22 hate crimes were reported.
Georgia reported 13 hate crimes, Alabama reported one, and Mississippi -- none.
The publication of the statistics came amid a sharp increase in incidents in which nooses -- a symbol of racist lynchings -- were hung outside black people's homes, schools and workplaces, including that of a professor at Columbia University in New York.
On Friday, thousands of black Americans marched in Washington demanding the federal government act against racial hate crimes and give equal protection to all US citizens.
The protesters complained of cases where young blacks have been killed or roughly treated by police, while those who threatened blacks by hanging nooses have not been punished.
The FBI data showed a rise of seven percent in the number of victims compared with 2005, when 8,804 people were the target of hate crimes, and were almost identical to figures for 2004, when around 9,500 victims of hate crimes were reported to the FBI.
They are PC madness - and only apply to "approved" groups. Whites, Christians, Europeans, and Asians need not apply.
When a white couple in New York city was recently mugged by black men, the woman horribly raped, and the man terribly beaten - a 'hate crime' isn't even considered.
Any government that makes and enforces such laws is quite worthy of hate—and a lot worse.
What is the difference between hate crimes and thought crimes?
Ah, those are the love crimes.
“...were victims last year of hate crimes targeting them because of their skin color, religious belief, sexual orientation or ethnic origins..”
that is not hate crime, that is society cultivation
The only way to beat this thing is to demand that minorities be held to the same standards as whites when it comes to hate crimes.
I wonder how many “hate crimes” were committed against heterosexual caucasians
Oh, please!
Have they even caught ONE person who did this? Is the AFP implying that someone has been identified as a noose-maker but has not been charged or arrested?
I never heard of this "crime" until these past few months, and that with Halloween recently occuring. Hangmen's nooses were a common display for Halloween that I remember--nothing at all to do with race.
For all we know, the nooses might have been made by those seeking attention to their victimhood.
Blacks make up about 13% of the US population, but account for 52% of the violent crime. Most of the victims are other Blacks. Statistically, crimes of where the race of the perpertrator and the victim are different tend toward Black perps and white victims. Of course, these are not "hate crimes", whereas any crime against a Black by a white is treated as a "hate crime".
And I love the shout-out to my beloved South. Yup, the Land of Racism, brought to you by the Democratic Party. /s
“On Friday, thousands of black Americans marched in Washington demanding the federal government act against racial hate crimes and give equal protection to all US citizens.”
Oh yeah. The all knowing, all powerful federal government can protect us all from hate. I demand equal protection!
Is it my imagination? The faces in that crowd do not look all that loving to me. I think I’m offended. /s
A “crime” ain’t a crime until someone does something outward, with a specific action.
Someone can resent their neighbor all day and night.
But until they walk on his property and break, or threaten, then their talk or thoughts is simply hot air.
Personally, I readily admit I carry animosity toward certain groups and/or peoples in this world.
As long as I treat EVERYONE with respect (which I do) then I am not a racist regardless of my inner feelings.
For the aurthor to state that, is a hate crime toward southerners.
“And I love the shout-out to my beloved South. Yup, the Land of Racism, brought to you by the Democratic Party. /s”
“Although reports of hate crimes covered 85 percent of the US population, the states that did not file statistics, or gave uncharacteristically light figures, were in the deep south, where racism still regularly surfaces.”
I was impressed with the part about the Illegal Alien gangs murdering African American citizens in certain major cities. (Needs links) /s
Because if that's not the case, shouldn't these be considered alleged hate crimes?
Profiling is the best way to ferret out criminals. There is nothing wrong and everything right about profiling.
Those incinvenienced by profiling should work to change the profile rather than eliminate it.
I pretty much hate the concept of hate crime....
How many of these were criminally motivated or in a crime and the coicidence of race was used to pad the charges? (drug deals or prostitution crime gone violent)
How many of these are actually law violations ? Has the president actually signed the PC thought crime law?
"We, the privileged few, are EXEMPT from all Hate (and all other) Crimes. Americans are such lame SUCKERS!!!!."
Oh, please. Hate crimes laws do not create any new crimes. All they do is provide sentencing guidelines and statistical tracking for acts that were already crimes. No one who would not have been convicted of a crime before hate crime laws were adopted could be convicted of a crime after.
They are PC madness - and only apply to "approved" groups. Whites, Christians, Europeans, and Asians need not apply.
That is simply false. It's an urban legend easily dispelled by a brief perusal of the FBI hate crime statistics. The relevant question is the motivation for the crime, not the identity of the perpetrator or victim.
When a white couple in New York city was recently mugged by black men, the woman horribly raped, and the man terribly beaten - a 'hate crime' isn't even considered.
Again, simply false, and moreover, irrelevant. Rape, murder, battery, those should and do carry heavy penalties regardless of motivation. But spray-painting a smiley face on a water tower is not the same crime as spray-painting swastikas on a synagogue, though the physical act is the same. A bar brawl is not the same crime as a gang of skinheads chasing down Jews, even if the number of punches thrown and the wounds inflicted are identical.
It is in these sorts of cases that hate crime statutes are not only reasonable, but beneficial. Where the motive matters.
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