Colorlines - Report: 66 Percent of Hate Crime Victims Targeted Because of Anti-Latino Bias
This just came on my twitter feed, courtesy of @colorlines
The FBI’s annual Hate Crime Statistics report was released on Monday, and the numbers show a dramatic spike in crimes against Latinos. In total, the study reported that 66.6 percent of victims of ethnically motivated hate crimes in 2010 were targeted because of anti-Latino bias. It is the highest percentage of victims targeted for their Latino heritage in almost a decade.
There was an 11 percent spike from the previous year’s report that showed Latinos accounting for nearly 45 percent of hate crimes based on ethnicity or national origin.
While the FBI says it’s unclear why hate crimes agaisnt Latinos are on the rise, it is important to note that between 2000 and 2010, the Latino population grew by 43 percent — or four times the nation’s 9.7 percent growth rate. All fifty states and Washington D.C. saw rises in the Latino population.
Some say the number of hate crimes may even be higher for Latinos because they’re the least likely to report crimes against them. Mark Potok, a spokesperson for the Southern Poverty Law Center, told The Huffington Post: “One thing to understand is that Latinos, and in particular undocumented immigrants, are among the least likely to report hate crimes because they fear deportation.”
When is America going to address the results of the xenophobic way our nation addresses immigration policy? All on TV we see politicians riling up crowds with sensational anti-immigration rhetoric just to get votes… all the while actual people become collateral damage.
Well gee, don’t I feel safe in my own country.
