Andrew Sullivan points out that, per capita, blacks are charged with more hate crimes than any other group:
But what about hate crimes specifically? In general, the group disproportionately most likely to commit hate crimes in the US are African-Americans. At 13 percent of the population, African Americans commit 23.9 percent of hate crimes. But hate specifically against Asian-Americans in the era of Trump and Covid? Solid numbers are not yet available for 2020, which is the year that matters here. There’s data, from 1994 to 2014, that finds little racial skew among those committing anti-Asian hate crimes. Hostility comes from every other community pretty equally.
The best data I’ve found for 2020, the salient period for this discussion, are provisional data on complaints and arrests for hate crimes against Asians in New York City, one of two cities which seem to have been most affected. They record 20 such arrests in 2020. Of those 20 offenders, 11 were African-American, two Black-Hispanic, two white, and five white Hispanics. Of the black offenders, a majority were women. The bulk happened last March, and they petered out soon after. If you drill down on some recent incidents in the news in California, and get past the media gloss to the actual mugshots, you also find as many black as white offenders.
This doesn’t prove much either, of course. Anti-Asian bias, like all biases, can infect anyone of any race, and the sample size is small and in one place. But it sure complicates the “white supremacy” case that the mainstream media simply assert as fact.
A Daily Kos writer responded that the concept of per capita is “a favorite statistical manipulation of white nationalists” and that the per capita stats inspire mass shootings.
@sullydish seems to have trouble not just distinguishing shootings from bombings, but interpreting the facts at his disposal about hate crimes. This is from the source he cites. White people are by far the demographic most likely to commit hate crimes.https://t.co/loIIThKjFy https://t.co/WjFLZAPLMX pic.twitter.com/Jk5ZqKEKMk
— David Neiwert (@DavidNeiwert) March 21, 2021
See? 52.5% is a bigger number than 23.9%, so whites are more likely to commit hate crimes than blacks! (As long as you don’t do any Statistical Manipulations involving White Nationalist concepts like per capita):
The use of “as a percentage of the population” crime numbers to suggest blacks are more likely to be criminals is a favorite statistical manipulation of white nationalists, especially the whole “Color of Crime” crowd that inspired Dylann Roof.https://t.co/iIAI1Tk6bz
