Hate crimes jumped about 17 percent in 2017 from the year before, according to FBI stats released in November. More than 7,000 individual hate crimes were reported to the agency that year by local law enforcement. About 60 percent were prompted by bias over race, ethnicity, or ancestry; 21 percent by religion and 16 percent by sexual orientation.
It was the third consecutive year to see an increase in the number of hate crimes, going back to 2015, when Donald Trump declared his candidacy for President.
The stats for 2018 will not be available until next fall, but all signs point to it being another banner year for hate in America. Consider these headlines from 2018:
