This article was published on January 1st, 2019
It should be of no surprise to anyone paying attention to the news and media that hate crimes are on the rise around the world, according to a 2018 FBI report. The world looks to the American President in these times as a compass to gravitate towards. Unfortunately, this current US White House Administration and its policies are becoming synonymous with fear tactics and fierce opposition to anyone deemed un-American—including foreigners, black and brown people, immigrants, and the LGBT community. While it has become easier and easier for the President to scapegoat using minorities to blame, there are those people out there like The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights fighting these injustices.
A coalition made up of people and more than 200 organizations working towards making America a better and more equal nation, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights has already reached out to the American Justice Department in 2017 with a list of 17 recommendations to improve the rising rate of hate crimes throughout the United States.
However, a new 2018 Federal Bureau of Investigation report shows little improvement and an increase in hate crimes from last year to this one. A stark reality of this report is that the United States government does very little in updating and improving their collecting of data methods to better and accurately represent those effected by hate crimes.
Because many states do not have hate crime legislation on the books, victims are often left with few options to report these crimes and have them taken seriously.
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, including members like the AARP and ACLU call on government leaders and the Trump Presidency to denounce hate and expand hate crime legislation. Currently, the deplorable rhetoric, hate speech, side with enemies of the state, and discriminatory legislation enacted by the White House has lead the coalition to want to take further action before a situation arises. The source of the heat firing this hate can be directly traced back to Donald Trump and his divisive agenda.
Whether the White House or the newly elected congress will take action remains to be seen. But if the recent FBI report contains nothing more, it does indeed highlight that the United States of America continues to be anything but united on a hand full of fronts.
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