BUFFALO, N.Y. — A report put out by Thomas DiNapoli, New York State Comptroller, revealed that hate crimes across New York state have been on the rise in the past five years
The report noted there have were 1,089 reported hate crime instances in 2023 - 69% more than in 2019 and the highest number since data collection began after the New York’s Hates Crimes Act of 2000 was passed. According to the report, most crimes are increasingly targeting people rather than property.
Armand Morrison with the Buffalo Jewish Federation says the impact is being felt right here in Western New York.
"We've seen some swastikas painted on playground equipment at some of the local elementary schools, Jewish children have been bullied on social media recently, we even had some teachers concerned about fears of safety," said Morrison.
The majority of the attacks reported to be against Jewish, Black and Gay Male New Yorkers
Rev. Mark Blue, president of the Buffalo Chapter of the NAAC, says fixing the issue starts with education.
"It's learned behavior and what's learned can be unlearned so we have to make sure that our children have a very good, thorough knowledge of what it took to get here because it didn't happen overnight, this was entrenched in our history," Rev. Blue said.
In a statement released with the report, DiNapoli said: "Fighting hatred and bigotry demands that we communicate with, respect and accept our neighbors. It requires our spiritual, political, community and business leaders to take active roles in denouncing hate, investing in prevention and protection efforts, and increasing education that celebrates the value of New York's diversity."
The report also found:
- The most common bias motivation reported in New York state in 2023 was for religion, with 543 incidents or nearly half. Race, ethnicity and national origin constitutes approximately one-third, and sexual orientation/gender identity (LGBTQ+) almost 17%.
- In 2023, 44% of all recorded hate crime incidents and 88% of religious-based hate crimes targeted Jewish victims, the largest share of all such crimes.
- Hate crimes against Jewish and Muslim New Yorkers rose by 89% (253 to 477) and 106% (18 to 37), respectively, between 2018 and 2023.
- The share of racially motivated incidents in the state is now greater than it was five years ago. Nearly 17% of all recorded hate crime incidents and 52% of racially motivated hate crimes were anti-Black.
- 71% of hate crimes based on an anti-LGBTQ+ bias targeted gay male victims, almost 12% of all incidents. Over the past five years, anti-gay male incidents have risen by 141% (54 to 130) and hate crimes against transgender New Yorkers have risen by 140% (10 to 24).
- During the pandemic, anti-Asian hate crimes spiked from five reported incidents in 2019 to 140 in 2021. In the last two years, the number of anti-Asian incidents has dropped by half, but remains 11 times the number of incidents reported in 2019.