Hate crime incidents against South Asian Americans are just fraction of actual cases, claims US civil rights group

Washington: The latest hate crime statistics released by the FBI shows that violence has become “a fact of life” for South Asian communities, a top South Asian organisation has said. [caption id=“attachment_3956319” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] “The FBI’s hate crimes statistics underline that violence has become a fact of life for our communities,” said Suman Raghunathan, executive director of South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT). According to the FBI’s 2016 hate crimes statistics released this week, since 2015, anti-Muslim hate crimes increased by 19 percent, anti-Hindu hate crimes increased by 100 percent, and anti-Sikh hate crimes increased by 17 percent. “These surges are on top of the historic spike in hate crimes reported in the FBI’s 2015 data, now marking the highest levels of violence aimed at our communities since the year after 9/11. Tragically, hate has become the new normal for our communities,” SAALT said. “These incidents are just a fraction of the violence our communities experience on a daily basis. According to FBI’s own estimates, for every one hate crime reported, five hate crimes go unreported. Enough is enough – the violence must stop,” Raghunathan said. SAALT alleged that Trump, as a candidate and now as President, has encouraged and emboldened hate violence against our communities through his administration’s anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies.