In November of 2018, the FBI released its report on hate crimes in the U.S. for 2017. It wasn’t good news. Hate crimes on the basis of religious identity surged 23 percent, the biggest annual increase since 2001, the year of the 9/11 terror attacks. And one of the most startling statistics is that the number of hate crimes targeting Jewish people increased 37 percent from the previous year.
So, why are hate crimes on the rise? Many have placed blame at the foot of political leaders and specifically President Trump for emboldening anti-Semites and white supremacists—very fine people, he’s called them—but yet, there’s another, equally troubling side to the story—one that calls into question the validity of the FBI’s own hate crime statistics and gives us more questions than answers.
I’m Jonathan Beasley, and this is the Harvard Religion Beat, a podcast examining religion’s underestimated and often misunderstood role in society.
The Rundown
00:01 - Phone call and defacing of synagogue library
01:19 - Violence against religious minorities is on the rise
02:56 - Responsibility of politics leaders and President Trump
04:41 - Rabbi Gerson on what it's like to lead worshipers in unsettling times
06:13 - The FBI's misleading hate crime statistics
10:21 - Emboldening of white supremacists
13:41 - White nationalism's global rise
14:47 - Hope for the future
15:54 - International response needed
16:36 - Golf clap + other ways to connect
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Full transcript: https://hds.harvard.edu/news/2019/04/23/podcast-why-hate-crimes-are-rise
