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Violence Against American Muslims Highest In Over 15 Years

Attacks on Muslims Highest Levels in Decades
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New Research Points To Historic Highs In Islamophobia

The condition of minorities in the United States is getting worse. As per data extracted by Pew Research, many more Muslims were subjected to attack in 2016 compared to 2001. In 2001 there were 93 assaults against Muslims. In 2015, the number of reported attacks against them was 91. In 2016 the number went up dramatically to 217. The data source is the hate crime statistics collected by the FBI. The Bureau collects data concerning hate crimes from approximately 15,000 police or law enforcement agencies.

Violence Against American Muslims Highest In Over 15 Years[/tweetthis]

It is apparent that Muslims suffered a significant rise in assaults in the US in the period starting 2015 and ending 2016. Assaults are not the sole type of hate crime done against Muslims and other minority religious groups. Intimidation is extremely common, with the victim afraid of being inflicted body harm. The year 2016 saw intimidation against Muslims on the rise. About 144 victims have reported the harassment. In 2015, the number of reports on the same charge was 120. The numbers, however, are still few compared to 2001. That year saw 296 victims being subjected to intimidation.

Muslims are not alone. The biggest victims continue to be the Jews. Hate crime incidents involving Jews were 684 in 2016. The numbers were slightly more in 2015- at 664. To compare, Catholics suffered a total of 62 hate crimes. Protestants suffered only 15.

Muslims also suffered crimes which included the destruction or damage to property, like vandalism. These also went up from 70 cases in 2015 to 92 in 2016. Hate crimes against Muslims in 2016 clocked up to 307 incidents. This increase in hate crimes is a topping on the already high hate crime statistics in 2016, as total anti-Muslim incidents went up by a massive 67 percent from fewer than half 154 in 2014. The next year saw 257 in 2015.

The increase in hate crime incidents has led a number of Muslims living in the United States to say that the community suffers discrimination. The Pew Research Survey done in the earlier months of 2017 discovered that 75 percent of Muslim Americans complain about substantial discrimination against Muslims in America. This view is shared by 69 percent of the general public. Besides these, about 50 percent of the Muslim adults reported that it is tough to be Muslim in America. About 10 percent of this specific group attributed such a condition to prejudice, racism, and discrimination.

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