Hate crimes against Muslims surged by 67% in 2015: FBI

While crimes targeting Muslims grew highest, incidents of hate against Jewish, black and LGBTQ people also increased


News Desk November 15, 2016
The harassment and discrimination has been widespread, targeting people based on race, ethnicity and national origin, as well as region and sexual orientation.

UNITED STATES: Hate crimes against Muslims surged by 67 per cent in 2015, according to new statistics released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a rise which experts say was fueled by acts of extremism abroad and anti-Muslim rhetoric in Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

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The FBI reported 5,850 hate incidents across the country in 2015, compared to 5,479 in 2014. While crimes targeting Muslims grew by the highest amount, incidents of hate against Jewish, black and LGBTQ people all increased last year as well.

The statistics show incidents recorded against Muslims were the highest last year since 2001, when the United States was struck by the most deadly terrorist assaults in history.

Civil rights groups have observed religious and racially charged crimes following the election of Donald Trump as president. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which vigilantly monitors the extremist movement across the United States, said the 'exploitation' of the Islamic State's attacks last year in Europe and terrorist-inspired strikes in the US likely "fueled anti-Muslim hatred.''

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Sunday marked the one-year anniversary of the deadly attacks in Paris, an attack which had left more than 130 people dead. Less than a month after the Paris attacks and just days after a mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, believed to have been inspired by the group, Trump called for a total prohibition on Muslim immigration into the US.

Since Trump has been elected the president, thousands of protesters have hit the streets all over the country. Even though the demonstrations have been peaceful so far, police still arrested dozens of people in Portland last weekend. Moreover, it was being closely monitored and observed how Trumps’ speeches in his campaign trial fueled vandalism, harassment and intimidation against racial, ethnic and religious groups in people.

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"The harassment and discrimination has been widespread, targeting people based on race, ethnicity and national origin, as well as region and sexual orientation, '' ACLU senior staff attorney Heather Weaver wrote. "Not surprisingly, in light of promises to ban Muslims from our country and to single out American Muslims for surveillance, many of the victims have been Muslim.''

Trump confessed in a recent interview with on CBS' 60 Minutes that he was saddened by some of the recent hate incidents. "Stop it,'' Trump said.

This article originally appeared on The Guardian.

COMMENTS (1)

curious2 | 7 years ago | Reply The aggregate total of "hate crimes" against Muslims is less than 300 and the vast majority of those are things like spray painting nasty comments. 67 percent increase sounds nasty but the numbers are so small any increase gives you a large percentage.
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