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Tamice Spencer-Helms is a dynamic author, coach, speaker, trainer, and theo-activist... and we are SO lucky Tamice is contributing author to our new Children's Bible, God's Stories as Told by God's Children! thebiblefornormalpeople.com/kickstarter

This is not true. It has never been true. It is based partly on a misunderstanding FBI data and partly based on a widely perpetuated lie. A thread.

First of all, let’s get this out of the way, NO ONE deserves hate. It is wrong Yet, year in and year out, there are more anti-Black hate crimes than any other category. And according to the latest FBI data there, are nearly 3 times more anti-black crimes than anti-Jewish crimes.

But of course, there are SIX TIMES more Black American than Jewish Americans, so people just divide the number of hate crimes by the percentage of the population and Jewish Americans are more likely to experience hate crimes… Well, everyone except the FBI.

The FBI actually lists the victims of hate crimes by bias motivation. As you can see, it still looks as if Jewish people experience hate crimes at a higher rate even though 3x more people TARGET Black people. Still wrong Here’s why.

For instance, I covered the the white supremacist who committed the mass shooting in Buffalo. Two Of the 13 victims were white. So, although the shooter was motivated by anti Blackness, if you looked at FBI data, the white victims fall under the “anti-Black” hate crime category

2. That’s not what the FBI is counting . First of all, the FBI data is useful for measuring trends and the prevalence of hate crimes, it is not useful for counting victims. For instance about 1 out of 5 hate crime victims AREN’T EVEN PEOPLE.

They’re businesses, govt agencies, religious organization etc. The Bureau of Justice Statistics’ Victimization Survey actually does a better job of counting victims, but they classify most Jewish victims as white. Which brings us the the most important reason this is wrong

3. The FBI counts white victims No, seriously. First of all, you can’t just call 911 and tell the cops you’re a victim of a hate crime. In most states the decision to charge people with a hate crime is made by cops, local prosecutors or the federal government

There are a ton of of studies that show that cops and prosecutors are less likely to investigate, arrest or file hate crime charges when the crime is motivated by religious or anti-gay bias unless there’s a manifesto or an explicit confession .

Plus, most Black people live in former confederate states that are less likely to have hate crime laws or even send their data to the FBI

But here’s the thing: MOST hate crimes go unreported. Remember those 15,000 hate crimes the FBI listed? Well, when researchers reviewed the FBI dataset, they found the actual number is probably about 20x what the FBI counted Yes, I said TWENTY. npr.org/2023/01/01/114…

A few years ago, ANOTHER set of researchers tried to find out WHICH hate crimes were underreported by the victims They concluded that racially motivated hate crimes against non-white victims are the least likely to be reported. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20565008

Guess which ones were MOST LIKELY? Religious motivated crimes against whites are the most likely to be reported, investigated AND PROSECUTED This doesn’t means Jews don’t face hate & discrimination. We know they do. We just don’t know how often it happens or the rate it occurs

The notion that Jewish people are the most likely to be victims of a hate crime is patently absurd. There is not a single iota of evidence to back it up. It defies math, logic and every bit of actual research ever done.

WE KNOW Black people are the MOST FREQUENT targets of hate crimes. WE KNOW hate crimes against Black people are the least likely to be reported. We KNOW they’re the least likely to be prosecuted.

And if there’s one thing I know… It’s America

*correction: Cops are MORE LIKELY to investigate religious motivated hate crimes…

Thank you Jared Byas and Peter Enns and everyone at The Bible For Normal People's Opinions for a great interview with Tamice Spencer-Helms! Love the conversation and the idea of an infinite God beyond even our king-sized bed ideas. We must be willing to let experience expand our understanding. thebiblefornormalpeople.com/episode-38-tam…