In 2021, hate crimes in America rose to their highest level in twelve years. Along with the invasion of COVID-19, the virus that began taking its hold in China, hate crimes against Asians increased 150% between 2019 and 2020. The civil unrest related to the killings of George Floyd and other Black men at the hands of the police ushered in an uptick of hate crimes against Black people. Some argue that racial tension in the United States has reached a boiling point and that hate crime legislation has not done enough to curb violence and criminal behavior related to race and sexual orientation. On the other hand, some say that federal hate crime legislation goes too far and oversteps state laws. In this article, we explore the history of hate crime legislation, its evolution, and the purposes behind it.
