interesting, but slightly skewed...

Submitted by Redouane (United States), Sep 9, 2006 at 15:15

The figures presented are the number of reported hate crimes in this country. Amongst the Jewish communities in the United States, there are large numbers of support group and activists who make sure that most hate crimes against their community are reported. With Muslims on the other hand, many of whom are recent immigrants and do not speak English fluently, there is a lesser probability that they will report the hate crime, often because they fear that if they contact the FBI, they will be mistaken for terrorists or deported on some falsified charge.

Furthermore, there is not a large support group or activist element which unites American Muslims, many of whom are divided amongst ethnic, racial, sectarian, and national lines. Whether or not their fears are founded (which I think they are), this leads to a roadblock when it comes to reporting hatecrimes, and so the true number of attacks on Muslims is far higher than what is actually reported, even if it is not as high as the number of attacks on Jewish targets.

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