Recent FBI reports have confirmed a sharp jump in hate crime in the US state of Michigan that had been observed anecdotally earlier.
In Michigan, hate crimes reported to the police went from 309 to 399 last year, a rise of 29 %, making it the fourth-highest among all states.
This jump is much higher than the national growth. The corresponding jump nationally between 2015 and 2016 was only 4.5 % – going from 5,850 to 6,121.
The significant jump in Michigan is raising alarm given that the state has the 10th largest population of the country.
Civil rights advocates believe that the actual number of hate crimes may be higher than those reported since there may law enforcement authorities who choose to not report the crimes to the FBI.
Rashida Tlaib, a former state representative now with the Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice noted that hate crimes were typically happening more than reported.
Black Americans Targeted the Most
The most often targeted are –
- In terms of ethnicities, African Americans are reported as targets of around over half of all incidents
- In terms of religion, Jews and Muslims most victimized
Out of the 399 hate crimes reported in Michigan in 2016,
- 282 were driven by race/ethnicity/ancestry
- 47 out of religion,
- 59 by sexual orientation,
- 6 by disability,
- 5 by gender.
The cities most seeing the crimes are
- Detroit reported 32 hate crimes in 2016.
The city saw a jump in the last quarter of 2016, reporting 13 incidents which was higher than previous quarters
- Flint came second with 16 hate crimes,
- Dearborn was third with 14 cases
- Others included cities like Warren, West Bloomfield, Highland Park and Traverse City
According to CNN, hate crimes usually dip in the last quarter of a year but in 2016 the incidents actually went up
Understanding Reasons For The Spike
The possible main reasons for the jump seen in Michigan
- The tensions arising out of the 2016 presidential election.
The Michigan Department of Civil Rights said that reported hate incidents has gone up significantly after the November election.
- Another reason could be that the increased reporting of hate crimes by law enforcement agencies to the FBI and by victims to authorities.
Michigan is among the top 5 in terms of law enforcement agencies, participating in the FBI’s voluntary program to report hate crimes via its Uniform Crime Reporting program. Police are not mandatory required to report crimes to the FBI. With 166 reporting agencies, Michigan is only second to California.
Tlaib noted that there were “strong advocacy groups” that push families to report the incidents. In the state
Difficult to Prosecute Hate Crime Cases
The state’s U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI Detroit Office have repeatedly emphasised their intention to take hate crimes seriously but some advocates have criticized the agencies for failing to pursue cases.
At a recent even federal attorneys working with Detroit’s U.S. Attorney’s Office noted prosecution of hate crimes was challenging since federal laws and court rulings have put in place a high threshold with respect to charging someone of these crimes.
Muslims Being targeted
Rebecca Karam, a doctoral student in sociology at the City University of New York who has authored a report on Muslim Americans in Michigan published by the Dearborn-based Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, stated that several of Detroit’s diverse communities including Muslim Americans are alarmed at the spike in hate crime.
Furthermore, the recent retweeting by US President Donald Trump of inflammatory videos with anti-Muslim views has again renewed concerns regarding hate crimes.
Karam noted that the FBI statistics revealed only “a partial picture of hate crimes”.
According to a survey by the Institute over 42% of Muslims in the country having children in K–12 school have reported bullying of their children due to their religion. Nearly 38% of Muslims have expressed fear with regards to their personal safety or of their family from white supremacist groups.
David Kurzmann, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Metropolitan Detroit, said that “both statistically and anecdotally there was “quite an uptick” in hate crimes.
He pointed out that when people are “emboldened to act out and target minorities”, no one is immune or safe.
