The FBI reported more than a 17 percent rise in hate crimes across America, officials said Tuesday — the third consecutive year the numbers have increased.
The annual report showed there were 7,175 bias crimes, which targeted 8,493 victims based on their race and sexual orientation, reported in 2017.
There had been 6,121 hate crimes reported in 2016, 5,850 such offenses in 2015 and 5,479 in 2014. The 17.2 percent spike follows increases of 4.6 percent and 6.7 percent in the previous two years.
The hate crime totals were comprised of 59.6 percent acts against a victim based on race, 20.6 percent because of religion and 15.8 percent for sexual orientation, the FBI said.
“This report is a call to action — and we will heed that call,” acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker said in a prepared statement.
“The Department of Justice’s top priority is to reduce violent crime in America, and hate crimes are violent crimes. They are also despicable violations of our core values as Americans. I am particularly troubled by the increase in anti-Semitic hate crimes — which were already the most common religious hate crimes in the United States — that is well documented in this report.”
One high-profile example, when tensions spilled over into protests and violence, was the so-called “Unite The Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017.
Counter-protester Heather Heyer, 32, was killed when suspect James Alex Fields, who had traveled from Ohio to join white nationalists, allegedly plowed his car into her and other demonstrators.
Fields, 21, been charged with second-degree murder in state court and hate crimes in federal court.
