Far fewer were committed by other racial groups. But hate-crime numbers are notoriously difficult to pin down. For example, the FBI statistics cover only about 80 percent of the US population. And, because local jurisdictions do the actual reporting, definitions can vary widely. For example, Arizona in 1998 reported 322 hate crimes, but slightly more populous Mississippi reported only three, and Iowa none.
Most observers agree that minorities suffer more hate crimes than they report.
At least one right-wing group, the New Century Foundation, argues that whites do too. Many crime experts think they should. Several factors, such as joblessness and alienation, feed racism among some whites. The sense now is that there are so many enemies out there that the only one to trust is ourselves. In an opinion column printed this week in this newspaper, Mr. Hutchinson took black leaders to task for not taking a strong stand against the shooting spree in Wilkinsburg.