Hate crimes are on the rise in Illinois. Illinois NPR reports that hate crimes rose by 30 percent in Illinois according to recently released data by the FBI. Nationally, gender-based hate crimes especially against those in the transgender community grew by 41% while hate crimes toward Latinos grew by 14%.
Recent incidents in Illinois include a University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign student leaving a noose in a resident hall elevator and a man harassing a woman wearing a Puerto Rican flag t-shirt. Quincy had one reported hate crime towards an African-American earlier this year in the local region.
Leaders in the human rights community say that local, state, and national leaders need to be more vocal about denouncing bigoted rhetoric. They have also called for more anti-bias education in public schools at all levels.