Incidents of hate in its many forms have been documented on an annual basis in the U.S. for many years. In recent years, the increase in the number and intensity of incidents reported has been significant. This is illustrated in recent reports by three organizations established to counter hate in our society.
ADL – The Anti-Defamation League
On a continuing basis ADL examines a wide range of current events and historical trends that relate to combating antisemitism, extremism and hate.
Each year, ADL’s Audit of Antisemitic Incidents tracks antisemitic harassment, vandalism, and assault in the United States. In 2022, the organization tabulated 3,697 antisemitic incidents – a 36% increase over 2021 and the highest number on record since it began tracking antisemitic incidents in 1979. Incidents increased in each of the major Audit categories: antisemitic harassment, vandalism, assaults. There was one fatality. The vast majority of antisemitic assaults were perpetrated without the use of a deadly weapon and none resulted in mass causalities.
American Jewish Committee
Based on one of the largest-ever combined national surveys of American Jews and the U.S. general public, AJC’s State of Antisemitism in America Report 2022 describes 41% of American Jews’ view that they are less secure in the U.S. than a year ago – clear evidence of the impact that rising hatred of Jews has had on America’s Jewish community over the past year. Nine in 10 of both American Jews and the U.S. general public agree that antisemitism affects American society as a whole; at the same time, about half of the Jews and a third of the general public surveyed believe antisemitism is taken less seriously than other forms of hate and bigotry. Over the year, 69% of U.S. Jews experienced antisemitism online, either as a target or by seeing antisemitic content, with younger Jews more likely to have experienced antisemitism this way.
Communities Against Hate
Established in March 2017, CAH was a national initiative led by The Leadership Conference Education Fund in partnership with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. It was a coalition of national organizations and neighborhood groups that documented stories and responded to incidents of violence, threats, and property damage motivated by hate in the United States. In January 2019 CAH reported that more than two-thirds of Americans believed that hate incidents had intensified over the years following the 2016 elections. Its report, which documented where incidents occurred, which communities were most likely to experience them, and what form they most often took, is at Hate Magnified: Communities in Crisis.
Measures of Racial Disparities
The depth and breadth of systemic racism in America came under renewed examination in 2020 as COVID-19 swept away lives and livelihoods and as Black Lives Matter and related equal justice protests continued through that year and the following. This has resulted in growing awareness that the systemic racism that has tainted virtually every aspect of modern society must finally be dismantled. Following are selected indicators of the problem published in recent years. View the indicators here.