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Religion & Law

: Religion Clause

Civil Rights Group Issues New Report On Hate Crimes

By Howard M. Friedman

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The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights has recently issued a 48-page report titled Confronting the New Faces of Hate: Hate Crimes in America 2009. The report is an update of a similar one issued in 2004. It emphasizes that "the number of hate crimes committed against Hispanics and those perceived to be immigrants has increased each of the past four years for which FBI data is available, and hate crimes committed against individuals because of their sexual orientation has increased to its highest level in five years." Portions of the report also focus on hate crimes against religious minorities: Jews, Muslims and Sikhs. The Executive Summary says in part:

Fear and vilification of immigrants has combined with the worst economic downturn in decades and the election of the first African-American president to cause a surge in the activity of white supremacist groups.... Extremists have taken advantage of the Internet and new technologies to recruit new members and promote their bigoted ideology. Whereas hate mongers once had to stand on street corners and hand out mimeographed leaflets to passersby, extremists now use mainstream social networking sites such as MySpace or Facebook to access a potential audience of millions ? including impressionable youth.

[Thanks to Michael Lieberman for the lead.]

Full post as published by Religion Clause on June 19, 2009 (boomark / email).