The Rise of Hate Crimes

Hate crimes in America have soared since 2016, the year Donald Trump was elected. His dog whistling to white supremacists—“There are good people on both sides,” after the Charlottesville Unite the Right rally—propelled bigoted extremists out into the open, and they’ve been rampaging ever since.

According to the FBI, the number of hate crimes spiked to 7,759 in 2020, the most in 12 years. Experts believe the real number is even higher, as many crimes go unreported. Blacks, Jews, Asian Americans, Latinos and members of the LGBTQ community were the most frequent targets. In fact, attacks on Asians skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic, largely spurred by the ex-President’s incendiary rhetoric, referring to COVID as the “Chinese virus.”