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Police officials in Washington D.C. are reporting that racially motivated hate crimes against Hispanics are on the rise in the nation’s capital. Typically hate crimes in D.C. have targeted someone for their sexual orientation not their race.
In the past 18 months, 39 percent of all hate crimes were racially motivated. Police Chief Cathy Lanier noted that the new targets “are largely Hispanic and white residents.”
Last year D.C. police responded to numerous robberies targeting Hispanics as they left their place of work. The department’s Latino Liaison Unit has been advocating for Hispanic residents to be on the look out and to be aware they are being targeted for certain crimes. Chief Lanier did not cite any example of white hate crimes.
Experts believe the rise in hate crimes against Hispanics is being fueled by the deepening racial divide between the have’s and have not’s and some people not wanting the city to be defined by its minority populations.
