DALLAS (1080 KRLD)- Dallas mayor Eric Johnson created an Anti-Hate Advisory Council Wednesday, to try to curb hate crimes in the city. The move comes after the FBI released a report that found hate crimes have hit a 12 year high in the nation.
The stats show that nationwide, Blacks are still the most targeted group in America. LGBTQ people are the most targeted per capita. And Jews are the most targeted religious group.
Texas did improve, reporting 411 hate crimes in 2020, down from 459 in 2019. Dallas reported 38, second behind Houston, which had 43.
Nationwide, race was the most common motivator for these crimes. Race, ethnicity or ancestry accounted for 65.4% of reported incidents, followed by religion (15.5%), and sexual orientation (13.9%). In Texas, however more hate crimes were targeting sexual orientation and gender identity than those motivated by religion.
While Dallas' hate crime numbers have remained relatively low and below national trends, Johnson compared hate to cancer, and says it needs to be cut out.
16 people from different ethnic, religious and sexual backgrounds, will make up the panel.
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