Had it been any other week, a white gunman killing two black people at a grocery store might have dominated the news.
But followed by a mass shooting at a synagogue and the killing of two women at a yoga studio, it was soon drowned out by a wave of hate
buzzfeednews.com/article/jtes/k…
But followed by a mass shooting at a synagogue and the killing of two women at a yoga studio, it was soon drowned out by a wave of hate
buzzfeednews.com/article/jtes/k…
It wasn’t until Oct. 28, the day after the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre, that police used the phrase “hate crime,” saying then that the shooting seemed to be motivated by racism.
“I just think we have to remember how close we came to being another Charleston,” one local said.
“I just think we have to remember how close we came to being another Charleston,” one local said.
Those nightmarish 10 days came as no surprise to those who closely follow hate crimes in the US.
“What we saw [that] week is a continuation of patterns we’ve been seeing. The only difference is everything happened at once,” criminal justice professor Phyllis Gerstenfeld said.
“What we saw [that] week is a continuation of patterns we’ve been seeing. The only difference is everything happened at once,” criminal justice professor Phyllis Gerstenfeld said.
From 2015 to 2016, hate crimes rose by over 4%, and experts say they anticipate a similar rise in FBI numbers from 2016 to 2017.
But these figures are imperfect; few hate crimes are reported to police, and not every law enforcement agency reports their numbers to the FBI.
But these figures are imperfect; few hate crimes are reported to police, and not every law enforcement agency reports their numbers to the FBI.
The suspected shooters in Louisville, Pittsburgh, and Tallahassee all fit the mold of hate crime perpetrators in 2018: men who don’t belong to any organized hate group, who share their views on the fringes of social media, and who likely have some record of domestic violence.
Experts say hate crime perpetrators have shifted from young bullies to older people acting alone, reacting to major events and targeting specific groups: Muslim and Arab Americans post-9/11, black people after the rise of Obama in 2007; immigrants in 2010 when unemployment peaked
Today all of these groups are targets of hate crimes. The precipitating event: Donald Trump’s election, the president’s embrace of nationalism, and his discriminatory remarks and policies against several of these groups.
As they become more frequent, there are consequences to losing hate crimes in a spiraling news cycle, including reinforcing those who believe racism and other biases aren’t a problem in the US anymore.
The breakneck speed of American hatred has left Louisville grief-stricken – and feeling forgotten too quickly.
“Day-to-day, things are pretty normal,” one resident said. “I think that means there’s nothing to stop these things from happening again.”
buzzfeednews.com/article/jtes/k…
“Day-to-day, things are pretty normal,” one resident said. “I think that means there’s nothing to stop these things from happening again.”
buzzfeednews.com/article/jtes/k…
