A recent report on hate crimes and incidents in Orange County, California showed an increase in related incidents, with Blacks being the leading target of hate crimes compared to any other racial group last year.
The Orange County Human Relations Commission released the annual report on hate crimes and incidents for 2021 on Sept. 15.
The total hate crimes and incidents in Orange County increased by 6% from 2020 to 2021. There were 97 hate crimes and 301 incidents reported for 2021. In the previous year, 112 hate crimes and 263 incidents were reported.
The hate crimes in the report for 2021 showed 16 were anti-Black, 10 were anti-Asian/Pacific Islander, seven were anti-Latino, four were anti-Middle Eastern/Arab, and four were anti-White. 16 hate crimes were anti-LGBT.
According the report, 56% of the hate crimes were motivated by race or ethnicity, 21% by religion, and 23% by sexual orientation. For hate incidents, 65% were motivated by race or ethnicity.
Hate crimes fell by 13% over the one-year period, but hate incidents increased by 14%, totaling an overall 6% increase.
According to the 2020 U.S. Census, Blacks only represent 2.2% of Orange County residents. The county population is more than 3.1 million people, the third largest county in California.
The full report can be found here.
