Responding to what the Baltimore Jewish Council is calling a startling rise in hate crime across the country, Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh joined community leaders and others affected by this growing problem.
The Anti-Defamation League said the number of anti-Semitic incidents are up across the country and that includes a doubling of incidents at colleges and universities.
Overall, 39 states and Washington, D.C. have reported assaults acts of vandalism, harassment, threats and other events that could be considered a hate crime.
Dozens gathered Wednesday at the Jewish Community Center in Park Heights to address this issue in a forum called “Combatting hate crime.”
Frosh, who started a hate crimes hotline, reports an uptick in hate crimes and the defacing of property, like schools and synagogues in Maryland. This comes at the same time after a rash of bomb threats being reported to JCCs in recent months.
The ADL said other minority groups, not just Jewish Americans, are affected by this problem.
“People who hate are more emboldened to express that hate,” Doron Ezickson, with the ADL, said. “The actual number of incidents may be a product of more reporting, no question, but more hate expressions need to be countered.”
There is also an increase in online harassment that the ADL said they see every hour on social media. It is so widespread that it is difficult to quantify, the ADL said.
The ADL said that for every hate incident reported to authorities, there is likely another that goes unreported.