In 2018, Joseph Messina walked outside his house and saw a racial slur spray-painted on his South Philadelphia home. “SNITCHIN A** DIE CRACKER” was what the hate-filled message read. He was 12 years old at the time. It’s the kind of horrifying situation that you never forget. It’s also the kind of situation that has come to dominate hate crimes in Philadelphia. Despite little, if any, media coverage, data show Messina was part of the racial group most victimized by hate crimes in Philadelphia: white people.
Last year, while researching the Messina incident, I contacted the Office of Public Affairs of the Philadelphia Police Department to request statistics about the city’s hate crimes. According to its data, white people were more often the victims of hate crimes than any other racial group each year between 2017 and 2020. Interestingly, the report itself was sloppy. The office even sent a revised report two weeks later, allegedly because of a typo. However, this report contained different totals. Even so, in each version, white people were the most victimized group.
In the first report, from March 31, 2021, the Philadelphia Police Department reported that in 2017, 23 hate crime victims were white, 10 were black, two were Asian, two were Latino, and zero were American Indian/Pacific Islander. In 2018, the breakdown was 23 white, 15 black, one Asian, five Latino, and zero American Indian/Pacific Islander. In 2019, it was 17 white, 13 black, three Asian, zero Latino, and zero American Indian/Pacific Islander. And in 2020, it was 20 white, 16 black, seven Asian, one American Indian/Pacific Islander, and zero Latino.
But on April 14, 2021, the department emailed me a new report with a peculiar change in some information. While for 2017, everything remained the same, in 2018, there was a substantial change in the data that was a statistical aberration. In this version, three victims were white, 11 were black, one was Asian, five were Latino, and zero were American Indian/Pacific Islander. In 2019, the figures changed again. During that year, there were now 14 white hate crime victims, 13 who were black, three Asian, zero Latino, and zero American Indian/Pacific Islander. In 2020, the new data revealed that 14 were white, 11 black, six Asian, one American Indian/Pacific Islander, and zero Latino.
Furthermore, consider the city’s demographics. In an attempt to discredit the number of white victims, some might argue that there are more white victims because there are more white people in the country. But, while that holds for the country as a whole, it is not the case in Philadelphia.
According to the census, white people are a minority in the city — 41.4% of the city’s population is black, while 39.3% is white. And while it may be shocking to discover that white people are the majority of hate crime victims in the city, the disparity is even more significant when adjusting for their share of Philadelphia’s population.
But where is the outrage? Do hate crimes suddenly not matter when the victims are white?
Any crime committed against anyone because of their race is unquestionably disgusting and horrific and should not be tolerated. However, the entire truth needs to be told about them. Hate crimes happen against white people, and such incidents are not publicized with the same vigor as when the victim is not white, even though the crime is just as horrific. Liberals, Democrats, and other left-wingers need to stop pretending that they are not.
Racial equality should not be this difficult. Treat everyone with dignity and respect regardless of their race and ensure everyone has equal opportunity. And, stop exploiting hate crimes against nonwhite people for political gain. All hate crimes are wrong and deserve the same amount of scrutiny, regardless of the victim’s race.
* Article from: The Washington Examiner
