Hate crimes spiked last year in New Mexico
Anti-Defamation League leader points to ‘divisive rhetoric’ for increase
Even as the number of reported hate crimes nationally decreased slightly in 2018, the number of such crimes reported in New Mexico during that year spiked to four times what it had been in 2017, according to the FBI’s recently released Hate Crime Statistics Act report.
The slight decrease in hate crimes nationwide came after three consecutive years of increases, the annual report said. The FBI reported 7,120 total hate crimes in 2018, compared with 7,175 in 2017.
In New Mex- ico, the FBI documented 28 reported hate crimes in 2018 compared with seven reported incidents in 2017. The overwhelming number of them, 21, were based on race, ethnicity or national origin. Three were based on religion, three were based on sexual orientation and one on gender-identity.
That follows the national trend in which the most common type of hate crime was race-based. Nearly 50% of race-based hate crimes were directed against African Americans.
Hate crimes directed at LGBTQ individuals increased by almost 6%, including a significant 42% increase in crimes directed against transgender individuals. Anti-Hispanic hate crimes increased 14%. Even though religion-based hate crimes decreased by 8% from 2017, nearly 60% of hate crime attacks that did occur were targeted against Jews and Jewish institutions in 2018.
Scott Levin, Mountain States Regional director of the AntiDefamation League, said one reason hate crimes have not declined appreciably is because “the people who have the ugliest hate-filled thoughts are feeling more empowered to act today and, unfortunately, some of this has become more normalized.” He pointed to the increased high-profile activity of white supremacists and extremists in recent years, fueled by the “divisive rhetoric” of candidates during the last presidential campaign.
In the past, hateful rhetoric and actions were kept in check by community leaders. “Whether it was a mayor or governor, president of a university or president of the United States, they would in an unequivocal tone speak out against hate,” Levin said. That has not happened over the last few
years, resulting in hateful language and actions “becoming more normalized.”
Levin also noted that hate crimes are underreported because not all police and law enforcement agencies track them, and not all ethnic groups are comfortable interacting with police and law enforcement.
Because New Mexico has such a large Hispanic community, with many members of that community undocumented, “they are less likely to report hate crimes for fear of immigration reprisals,” Levin said.
“We need to make sure people feel safe to report hate crimes, and that law enforcement takes it seriously enough to investigate and prosecute the hate crimes,” he said. “But the other thing that is absolutely imperative is that we stop normalizing hate and that begins with our leaders.”
John Anderson, U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico, said that his office as well as other U.S. Attorney offices around the country “have been extraordinarily vigilant in prosecuting hate crimes where there is sufficient evidence to do so, and in conjunction with our law enforcement partners we work very hard to build those cases where there is a suggestion of a hate crime that is subject to federal jurisdiction.”
New Mexico has a state hate crimes law that allows for increased penalties for crimes that target people because of their race, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, disabilities or religion.
Many of the incidents reported in New Mexico, such as hateful graffiti in parks or swastikas painted on buildings, “as horrific and offensive as these things are, they are not necessarily things that we have jurisdiction over under a federal hate crimes statute,” Anderson said.
He also expressed concern about violence directed toward the city’s homeless population. Unfortunately, homelessness is not a protected category of individuals under federal hate crimes statutes, he said.
A bill introduced in the New Mexico Legislature last year proposed adding the homeless as a protected class under the state’s hate crime’s statute. That bill was tabled and did not make it through the session.