According to a recent report from a civil rights group, hate crimes in the United States are expected to surge in the lead-up to the 2024 election.
As per Yahoo News, the Leadership Conference Education Fund’s report, which references FBI data, highlights a clear trend of hate crimes rising during general elections.
The Leadership Conference Education Fund, the research division of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, has warned that “unless action is taken,” the current environment, which includes the normalization of hate and social media platforms’ failure to address disinformation, is conducive to a continued increase in hate crimes leading up to the 2024 election.
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The report outlines an “undeniable trend” that has emerged during the previous four presidential campaigns, with “reported hate crimes increasing during elections.”
The report, based on information from 230 national human rights organizations, indicates that hate crimes have been increasing since the inauguration of Barack Obama, the first African American president in the history of the United States, in 2008.
According to the report, the 2008 election cycle served as a “rebirth” of the anti-government militia movement of the 1990s, and the final weeks of the election saw a rise in hate crimes aimed at racial and ethnic minorities as the US elected its first black president.
The report suggests that hate crimes have almost doubled since 2015, with a significant increase during and after Donald Trump’s election campaign, and have not returned to pre-Trump levels. Black people and Muslims are identified as the primary targets of hate crimes by the civil rights group.
Since the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Muslim population of the United States has increasingly been targeted by Islamophobia and hate crimes, ushering in a new era of racism and discrimination against Muslims.
Steven Freeman, vice president of civil rights at the Anti-Defamation League, said, “I believe it is the responsibility of anyone in a leadership position, anyone running for office or currently in government, to use their platform to speak out against hate.”
Anti-hate groups have called on the US government to ensure that technology giants like Meta, YouTube, and Twitter increase transparency and “invest in de-platforming hate for the upcoming local, state, and national elections” to address hate incidents.
Nadia Aziz, a program director with the Leadership Conference Education Fund, told Yahoo News that Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign “empowered white nationalists and provided them with a platform.”
“A lot of the trust and safety teams have been gutted. So we need to ensure, particularly going into this election, that these teams that monitor disinformation, safety, and content are rebuilt,” Aziz added. “We just need to make sure they’re prepared for what’s to come.”Michael Lieberman, a policy counselor of high rank at the Southern Poverty Law Center, who is also a contributing partner to the report, stated that the report aims to “serve as an early warning about what we can observe and predict.”
Lieberman added, “Given the history of election cycles breeding hatred and normalizing it, and the consequent physical violence suffered by individuals based on their personal attributes, it is imperative that we, as a government and community-based organizations, take all necessary steps to prepare ourselves for the 2024 election cycle.”
