ATLANTA — While the number of reported hate crimes have decreased overall since 2020, anti-Asian and anti-LGBT crimes have seen an increase, according to FBI hate crimes statistics.

The numbers are released annually. The report is not comprehensive of the entire country, as the data is submitted voluntarily by law enforcement agencies based on offenses believed to be motivated by bias toward race, ethnicity, ancestry, religion, sexual orientation, disability, gender and gender identity.

Approximately 63% of law enforcement agencies submitted data for 2021, a decrease from 2020 when approximately 81% of agencies participated.

Some of the largest cities, including New York City and Los Angeles, did not submit data to the FBI, and some states, including Florida and California had less than 2% participation.

Of the 7,300 hate crimes reported within the participating agencies in 2021, nearly 62% were race or ethnicity related, with Black people remaining the largest demographic of hate crime victims.

Black people were 30% of hate crime victims overall and nearly 50% of race-related hate crime victims; among all hate crimes reported in 2020 by participating agencies, 35.5% were classified as anti-Black and constituted 55% of race-related hate crimes.

Anti-white hate crimes constituted the second largest group at 13% and 16% of race-related hate crime victims; anti-gay male hate crimes was third at 7.4% of the reported hate crimes.

White people made up nearly 56% of offenders among all the reported hate crimes and Black offenders comprised 21%.

Most of the offenses, 30%, were through intimidation and another and 24% were simple assaults.

”Our biggest concern with hate crimes is ensuring that the victims of such crimes receive justice, and therefore if you feel you’ve been a victim of a hate crime, you should reach out to the FBI,” said Supervisory Special Agent Marc Benjamin of the Atlanta FBI division. “We recognize that some people may be hesitant to reach out to the FBI based on their immigration status or citizenship. and that should not be a concern. Please reach out, it’s important for us to get justice for these victims.”

Victims of hate crimes can call the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or report online at tips.fbi.gov.

Hate crimes against

Asians continue to rise

Since 2019, anti-Asian hate crimes have continued to increase nationally from 2.2%, 3.37% to 4.17% in 2019, 2020, and 2021, respectively.

Most of the recent crimes against Asians have been attributed to the global coronavirus pandemic, as China was the first country to experience the COVID-19 outbreak.

“Throughout the pandemic, rhetoric about the Chinese government’s potential role in COVID-19’s origins has inspired hate, racism and discrimination toward our Asian American and Pacific Islander community,” said Russell Jeung, Ph.D., co-founder of Stop AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islander) Hate. “Unfortunately, our data shows this trend is continuing today. Of 9,081 hate incident reports included in [a Stop AAPI] report, 48.1% included at least one hateful statement regarding anti-China and/or anti-immigrant rhetoric.”

Anti-Asian hate crimes in Georgia comprised 3.78% of hate crimes in 2021, largely attributed to the March 2021 shooting spree at three metro Atlanta spas or massage parlors. Six of the eight people killed were women of Asian descent and one other person was wounded.

Georgia sees increase in hate crimes against homosexuals

Across the country, hate crimes against gay and LGBT persons have increased by 2% since 2020.

FBI data shows that the 68% of participating law enforcement agencies reported approximately 5.7% of hate crimes against the LGBT demographic in 2021, up from 3.7% in 2020 and 4% in 2019.

Data submitted from law enforcement agencies in Georgia show that crimes against gay men at least tripled in in 2020 from the previous year. Hate crimes against gay men remained third largest demographic nationally and in Georgia, approximately 10% of hate crimes in the state.

“Today’s Georgia hate crime numbers from the FBI are shocking, but not surprising. We must continue to work with our elected officials to drive good policy solutions that address this real rise of hate,” said Eytan Davidson of the Anti-Defamation League’s Southeast office. “For years, ADL has called upon law enforcement to accurately report hate crimes. Today’s data is a clear testament to the growing awareness of the importance of reporting and tracking hate crimes.”

Alabama agencies report alarming anti-Sikh hate crimes

While anti-Black hate crimes and anti-White hate crimes make up 24% and 18% of hate crimes in Alabama, anti-Sikh hate crimes follow as the third largest hate crime demographic at 17.77%.

Sikh follow the Sikhism religion and philosophy founded in the Punjab region of India.

Nationally, FBI data shows Sikhs make up the top group for anti-religion hate crimes, comprising of 3%, or 214 reported cases nationally.

Alabama made up 20% of the country’s reported anti-Sikh hate crimes.

Despite an overall decrease in religious hate crimes since 2019, anti-Sikh hate crimes have increased since 2015.

The Sikh Coalition reports receiving thousands of reports from the Sikh community about hate crimes, workplace discrimination, school bullying, and racial and religious profiling in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the U.S. by al-Quada, an Islamist organization.

”While these numbers and trends paint an alarming picture that generally aligns with the Sikh Coalition’s firsthand experience helping survivors of hate and bias across the nation — we must acknowledge that the data released is wildly incomplete, and there are inaccurate reports that almost definitely impact the numbers,” the Sikh Coalition stated in a news release Dec. 12.

“Similar to last year, there is an unusually high number of Sikh hate crime reports coming from a handful of jurisdictions that the Sikh Coalition does not find credible and demands further explanation. There are also questions about the specific kinds of hate incidents being reported in these areas, leading us to further question the data’s accuracy and credibility.”

In 2021, Alabama 81% of law enforcement agencies submitted data to the FBI.