Murders considered to be hate crimes rose to a record last year and overall hate crime figures were up, based on data released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Figures show 51 people were the victims of murder or non-negligent killing triggered by hate in 2019, nearly twice the number of people killed from the previous year.
Based on data by the Anti-Defamation League, 2018 had been the most violent year on record for hate crimes since the FBI started monitoring the data in the early 1990s.
Hate crimes have been on the rise in the U.S. nearly every year since 2014. Advocacy groups warn the trend comes in the face of increasing prejudice and racist discourse. Last August, 22 people were killed in a shooting targeting Mexicans at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas.
The death toll from that attack was more than twice that of 2018's deadliest hate crime - the mass shooting targeting Jews at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh.
Around 7,314 hate crimes were recorded in 2019, up from 7,120 the year before and nearing the 7,783 of 2008. The FBI's yearly report defines hate crimes as those motivated by bias based on a person's religion, race or sexual orientation among other categories.
According to Southern Poverty Law Center president Margaret Huang, the FBI's report is "another reminder that we have much work to do to address hate in America," The Associated Press quoted her as saying in a statement.
The report showed an almost 7% increase in religion-based hate crime, with a 14% rise in crimes targeting Jews or Jewish institutions. Hate crimes against Latinos grew 8.8% from 485 in 2018 to 527 last year to its highest total since 2010.
Blacks are still the No. 1 target in hate crimes more than any other group in the American population. However, the FBI said the number of hate crimes against African Americans slightly declined to 1,930, from 1,943.
