Hate Crimes Against Black People are Increasing in This U.S. City
To no surprise, hate crimes are still very prominent in the United States, and unfortunately, Black people still happen to be some of the biggest victims of race-related crimes. But, in one particular U.S. city, hate crimes against Black people are rising at an enormous rate.
We must remember, incidents are not considered hate crimes if the suspect is white and the victim is Black. They are acts of bigotry that are done because of the victim’s membership to a certain group and it has to be proven, according to the Chicago Commission on Human Relations (CCHR).
Read more
According to WTTW, Nancy Andrade, Commissioner of the CCHR, said that hate crimes against Black Chicago residents are up 50% in 2022, with the agency reporting 16 hate crimes against Black people in October and the Chicago Police Department receiving 27 reports for anti-Black crimes.
More from WTTW:
“The consequences of unreported hate crimes is that you see more hate crimes, more hate speech, more actions against people who are different and you have more victimization,” Freeman-Wilson said.
Victims and survivors of hate crimes might choose to not report because of fear and mistrust of the police, Bell said.
“If the police are not showing themselves as open to the investigation of hate crimes and catching perpetrators, if the police department does not show they are willing to help victims, individuals who are targeted by hate crimes, then there is little impetus to report,” Bell said.
While this is a huge problem in Chicago, this is also a nationwide issue, especially for Black people. The latest FBI Hate Crime Statistics reported that the total number of number hate crimes committed based on someone’s race, ethnicity or ancestry increased by more than 1200 incidents than the previous year.
Among those, anti-Black crimes had by far the highest number of incidents compared to other groups, nearly 2,000 more than the next group.
The most infamous hate crime this year was the horrific mass shooting at a Buffalo grocery store, but there are still a plethora of anti-Black crimes occurring way too often than anyone would like. The next step is discovering how we make those incidents go down. I don’t have the answer, but someone smarter than me may.
More from The Root
Sign up for The Root's Newsletter. For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
