A new study by Brian Levin of California State University in San Bernardino shows that hate crimes in four of the biggest five cities in the country increased since last year. Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and Philadelphia all experienced a double-digit percentage increase in reported racial crimes since 2016.
Houston is the only city of the five largest in the nation to remain stagnant when it comes to hate crime increase. Meanwhile, Portland saw a rise of over 200 percent in hate crimes since last year, followed Phoenix with a near 50 percent increase.
Levin, working at CSUSB at the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, understands that hate crimes often spike during election years, but states that this time is much more different than previous years. In fact, this is the first time in over a decade that hate crimes rise for two consecutive years.
“What is so unusual about 2016—with the exception of the Midwest—and particularly among the largest jurisdictions with the best data, was a clear and dramatic spike for the election period that was unlike anything I can recall in my professional career.” – Brian Levin
According to the HuffingtonPost, Levin is a trusted predictor of what the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) publishes each November. He believes 2016 will have anywhere from 6,069 to 6,245 reported hate crimes.
However, the US Bureau of Justice Statistics calculates that only a fraction of racial attacks gets reported to authorities. If true, this would mean the United States is home to over a quarter-million of racial crimes every single year.
Also, if Levin’s calculations for the 2016 year are correct, it would be the highest rate of hate crimes in America since 2012, another election year. In reality, though, the numbers are expected to be much higher, making Levin’s prediction a conservative one.
Donald Trump’s hate rhetoric has affected the entire nation, emboldening white supremacists, Neo-Nazis, and KKK members alike. Any announcement he makes slamming women, transgenders, Muslims, or Latinos, starts a wave of hate crimes toward that group of individuals.
Targeting people based on religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, or for any other reason, has no place in America. Trump needs to accept this and act quickly, not say that there are good people on both sides and brush it off as normal.
Despite his constant verbal attacks on immigrants, Congress told Trump that he needs to make hate crimes punishable by law. Although the POTUS immediately agreed, his words say one thing, and his actions say another, but numbers never lie, and right now they’re telling us we’re in trouble.