FBI report states obvious: Hate-inspired crime rises

Most Americans hardly needed a new FBI report to recognize that hate and the pernicious crimes it spawns continue to rise at an alarming rate throughout this country.

In recent weeks, for example, just consider a few of these hate-inspired headline-grabbing examples:

Eleven Jewish worshipers were attacked and killed while taking part in worship services at a Pittsburgh synagogue.

A deranged white man opened fire at a Kroger grocery store near Louisville, Ky., killing two blacks after he tried but failed to execute an attack on worshipers in a nearby black church.

And just this week, a man created panic and fears of mass violence when he stood up in a crowded Baltimore theater and shouted “Heil Hitler” at a performance of “Fiddler on the Roof,” a musical about a Jewish family facing persecution in Tsarist Russia.

These and many, many other examples of mayhem and tragedy triggered at least in part by hatred toward minority groups make the conclusions of the FBI’s annual report on hate crimes, released Wednesday, completely unsurprising. They are nonetheless disturbing.

Overall, it reported hate crimes climbed a significant 17 percent in 2017, the third year in a row of spikes in crimes rooted in hatred. What’s more, many reasonably argue the scope of hate-based crime in America is far worse than projected in the the FBI’s admittedly incomplete data.

According to the Hate Crime Statistics Act of 1990, hate crimes are those “that manifest evidence of prejudice based on race; gender and gender identity; religion; disability; sexual orientation; or ethnicity.”

HATE-REPORT HIGHLIGHTS

Highlights of the 2017 report show a total of 7,106 single-bias incidents that involved 8,493 victims and 6,307 known offenders. Of them, 58.1 percent were motivated by a race/ethnicity/ancestry bias; 22 percent were prompted by religious bias and 16 percent by sexual-orientation bias.

Is it any coincidence, then, that after years of declines, the rate of hate crimes began to intensify when Donald J. Trump began his successful campaign for the presidency in 2015? We think not.

Ever since he cruised down the escalator at Trump Tower to throw his hat into the presidential ring, the billionaire New York City real-estate developer has oftentimes used implicit and explicit racist, nationalistic, chauvinistic, xenophobic and homophobic comments that appeal to the basest instincts among some of his followers unhappy with the demographic changes that are transforming the U.S.

The president, however, clearly is not solely responsible for the disturbing growth in the gravitation toward hatred and prejudice in our culture.

The rise of hate-based websites and social media platforms have succeeded in enlisting growing ranks of recruits who range from thrill seekers to passionate opponents of those of differing races, ethnicities, gender or sexual identity. Divisive rhetoric from politicians of all political stripes also make our national turf fertile ground for growing hate.

The FBI report, then, has value in taking the pulse of hate crimes in the nation – even if that pulse is inaccurate. Because reporting by law-enforcement agencies remains voluntary, a complete picture of the scope of such nefarious violence remains a mystery.

For example, the FBI report does include examples of race-based hate crimes from such Mahoning Valley communities as Austintown, Boardman, Howland and Salem. It does not include a single report from Youngstown, as no data from the region’s largest city was submitted, according to the report.

That’s why some are reasonably calling on Congress to provide law enforcement with incentives for hate-crime reporting or to make such reporting mandatory.

But before any dent can be made in the level of hate-based violence, a tamping down of hate-based attitudes must come first.

For his part, President Trump provided some hope in this reaction to the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre: “It’s a terrible, terrible thing what’s going on with hate in our country, frankly, and all over the world, and something has to be done”

He and all decent Americans would be wise to respect and follow through on Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker’s response to the new hate-crime report: “The Department of Justice’s top priority is to reduce violent crime in America, and hate crimes are violent crimes. They are also despicable violations of our core values as Americans.

“This report is a call to action – and we will heed that call.’’

All Americans should do likewise.