KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Alarming new statistics show hate crimes are on the rise and the majority of those crimes targeted Black people in the U.S.

The FBI collected the information and released the hate crimes from 2021 in a report released in October 2022. The bureau said the report was incomplete because only about half of all police department in the country provided hate crime numbers to the FBI.

The agency worked to gather new data, and released a revised report last week. The new numbers show hate crimes increased by more than 11% in 2021.

The FBI’s report says most of the hate crimes are due to racial biases, with the majority of hate crimes being directed toward Blacks. Whites, gay men, Jews and Asians also reported hate crimes.

Most of the crimes were assault, followed by vandalism and intimidation, according to the FBI’s report.

In Missouri, the state reported 194 hate crimes. That number is the most ever, surpassing the previous record of 167 hate crimes reported in 1993.

When it comes to cities, the report shows Kansas City experienced more hate crimes in 2021 than any other city in Missouri.

  • Hate crimes reported by Kansas City-area cities (Missouri side)
    • Kansas City: 39 reports
    • Lee’s Summit: 10 reports
    • Independence: 9 reports
    • St. Louis: 9 reports
    • Blue Springs: 6 reports
  • Hate crimes reported by Kansas City-area cities (Kansas side)
    • Lenexa: 4 reports
    • Merriam: 4 reports
    • Overland Park: 4 reports
    • Kansas City, Kan.: Did not report statistics to FBI

Part of the reason for the jump is because hate crimes are being reported at a higher number.

In 2021, Congress passed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act. It requires all law enforcement agencies to report hate crimes. Now that it’s a requirement, more departments are reporting and keeping track of those crimes.

The report does not look into whether the actual number of hate crimes are increasing, or if they are just being reported to the FBI more often than in the past because of the new requirement.

Regardless, the numbers are troubling, especially when the number of hate crimes in Missouri is at its highest number in decades.

Another thing to consider, fewer Missouri police departments reported statistics to the FBI than in 2020. That means there were more hate crimes in fewer Missouri cities.