Latest FBI Hate Crime Statistics once again belie cries of widespread “Hinduphobia”

If Hindu nationalists in the US continue to defend the indefensible in India and the US, they will inevitably feed anti-Hindu sentiments 

The FBI recently released its revised Hate Crime Statistics for 2021 (see: https://tinyurl.com/mwt45a9r).

The data shows that “Anti-Hindu” hate crimes remain the lowest among 35 categories tracked, with only Jehovah’s Witness experiencing lesser number of hate crimes.

Source: https://tinyurl.com/mwt45a9r

HfHR has maintained that even one hate crime is one too many and that we must speak out against all hate crimes, especially against our Sikh and Muslim brothers and sisters, who are experiencing much higher rates of hate crimes (see https://scroll.in/article/1043735/what-fbi-data-about-anti-hindu-hate-crimes-in-the-us-reveals-about-fears-of-hinduphobia).

The Hindu American community should be grateful that we are at the lowest end of the hate crime spectrum. HfHR prays that it should remain so. However, it is extremely important for us to also ask ourselves how these statistics square with cries of widespread “Hinduphobia” by Hindu nationalist groups.

As I have stated before, their highly exaggerated sense of victimhood seems to be a smokescreen for the precipitous slide of Indian Democracy and anti-minority violence under Prime Minister Modi.

It is my fear that the perception of Hindu Americans as a whole is sure to take a beating as more and more Americans realize that a community that is benefiting from the minority friendly polity here is also actively supporting the Hindu supremacist policies of the Indian government.

Going back to Hate Crime Statistics, it’s important that all of us educate ourselves better on what constitutes a hate crime and to report any hate encounters promptly to the police. There is a lessons to be learned from the experience of Asian Americans, who had to scramble to strengthen community education and reporting in the wake of a sudden spurt in hate crimes when the community was blamed for COVID.

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