A new report from the Federal Bureau of Investigation has revealed a spike in hate crimes in the United States, with as many as 6,121 cases reported during 2016, reflecting a near 5 per cent rise from the preceding year.
The report points to a wide range of hate crimes, motivated by bias toward race, ethnicity, ancestry, religion, sexual orientation, disability, gender, or gender identity.
Hate crimes directed against Sikhs and Hindus form part of the report, which notes that overall, 21 per cent of the crimes in this compilation were motivated by a religious bias.
The Bureau, among others, registered 12 anti-Hindu hate crimes, seven anti-Sikh hate crimes and one case against the Buddhist community.
The Sikh Coalition immediately contested the FBI figures, saying that it was a case of under-reporting. “FBI data showing 6,121 hate crime incidents and 7 anti-Sikh hate crime incidents in 2016 represents the tip of the iceberg,” said Sim Singh, the Sikh Coalition’s national advocacy manager, adding that only adoption of mandatory hate crime reporting will bridge the vast data gap.
“If law enforcement agencies fail to document the true extent of hate crimes against our communities, our nation will have a hard time mobilising the political will and resources necessary to prevent and combat the problem,” said Singh.
According to FBI, the majority of hate crimes (57.5 per cent) were motivated by a race, ethnicity or ancestry bias. And 17.7 per cent of the cases were motivated by a sexual orientation bias, while the remaining incidents were motivated by a gender identity, disability or gender bias.
Among the racially-motivated crimes, over one-half were directed at members of the African-American community. Among the religiously-motivated ones, 54 per cent of the crimes targeted members of the Jewish community, while about 25 per cent targeted Muslims.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said the report points to the need for all Americans to stand up to increasing bigotry nationwide. Council spokesperson Corey Saylor said the report just “confirms everything we’ve already known...Hate crimes went up”.