Several news sources have reported that hate crimes in America have risen for the fourth year in a row to the highest level in decades, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
The FBI's figures reveal an 11.6% rise in hate crimes across the country, with more than 9,000 incidents reported in 2021.
However, the record number of hate crimes could be even higher as the data runs up to August and some police departments failed to share their statistics.
Brian Levin, the director of California State University-San Bernardino's Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, stated that: "We are in a unique and disturbing era where hate crimes overall stay elevated for longer punctuated by broken records".
The data outlined that most victims were targeted because of their race, ethnicity or ancestry, while the number of anti-Asian hate crimes surged by 40%.
While incidents of anti-Semitic crimes rose by 20% in total, a report by The Times of Israel highlighted that the FBI data also showed that there was a 15% drop in 2021 compared to 2019, and a slight decline from 2018.
Overall, according to the Director of the Anti-Defamation League's Center on Extremism, Joanna Mendelson, this year's report represents an "explosion in white supremacy.
" Notably, the FBI data also includes a significant number of cyberhate incidents for the first time, an issue that has come under the spotlight with social media abuse.