:quality(75)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/elcomercio/P7WRPMIPFRGJPHXAPMJJHIDLLQ.jpg "US: Attacks on African American and Asian Citizens Increased in 2020")
Reports of hate crimes increased in 2020 in USA, especially against those who were black or Asian people, according to data released Monday by the federal police (FBI).
Last year, 7,759 crimes motivated by racism, homophobia, sexism, anti-Semitism or hostility towards minorities were reported, compared to 7,287 in 2019, which means an increase of 6%.
The number of acts against African Americans rose 40% from 1,972 in 2019 to 2,755 in 2020; a year marked by the massive protests of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Likewise, attacks on Asian Americans increased 70% with 274 incidents in 2020 against 161 in 2019, according to the FBI. This data seems to confirm a trend reported by that community since the beginning of the pandemic.
Those statistics “show the urgent need for a comprehensive response,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland.
However, the FBI asked not to jump to conclusions and noted that the data may be related to “a different level of public participation.”
More than half of the complaints were for intimidation. But 18% of the attacks were serious assaults and 22 killings were motivated by hatred.
Homicides in 2020 were fewer than 52 in 2019; when racist violence in El Paso, on the border with Mexico, left 23 dead; mostly Hispanic.