Hate crimes against Muslims and black people in America surged in 2015, according to new federal data.
The FBI on Monday released its latest Uniform Crime Report that revealed there were slightly more than 5,800 hate crime incidents in the U.S. last year. That’s an increase from the 5,479 total incidents reported in 2014.
The newest figures show hate crimes against Muslims soared 67% in 2015 — from 154 in 2014 to 257. There were also 1,745 anti-black incidents last year, which is 124 more incidents than the year prior.
Victims in more than 59% of the bias-motivated crimes in 2015 were targeted because of their race, ethnicity or ancestry, according to the FBI’s report. About 48% of the roughly 5,500 known offenders were white, data shows.
The bureau has been gathering hate crime statistics from law enforcement agencies across the country since 1990.
Findings from the newest report come as the U.S. sees an increase in racist incidents since last Tuesday’s presidential election. The Southern Poverty Law Center, a national civil rights organization, on Friday said it has counted more than 200 complaints of hate crimes, harassment and intimidation across the country since Election Day. Offenders in some of the cases referenced the rhetoric and proposals of President-elect Donald Trump, the group said.
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