|
|
Article: Hate-crime statistics distort truth of American tolerance. (fair comment).(Arabs and Muslims in the United States)
- Article from:
- Insight on the News
- Article date:
- January 7, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 News World Communications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Recently released FBI hate-crime data show that crimes against Arabs and Muslims have increased more than 1,500 percent since last year. Presumably this seeming outpouring of ethnic hatred is related directly to the aftereffects of Sept. 11. Our shock at that terrible tragedy apparently has created a desire to lash out at innocents who bear a resemblance to the monsters who attacked us.
However, before we drown ourselves in self-recrimination, some perspective is required. It does not take too much peering behind the numbers to show that rather than a nation wracked with hate, we are a people of remarkable forbearance.
Before we look at those numbers ...