MEDIA ADVISORY

**FOR IMMEDIATE DISTRIBUTION**

CAIR-Chicago Anticipates Hearing on Hate Crimes and White Nationalism

(Chicago, IL 4/8/2019) -- The Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Chicago), today applauds the initiative of the United States House Judiciary Committee on its planned hearing on hate crimes and white nationalism.

The 2017 FBI hate crimes report, released late last year, shows a 17 percent increase in reported hate crimes. Of the more than 7,100 hate crimes reported last year, nearly three out of five were motivated by race and ethnicity. Hate crimes motivated by anti-religious bias increased by 23 percent. Jewish and Muslim individuals were the victims of 58.1 percent and 18.7 percent of religiously motivated hate crimes, respectively. 

2018 saw a surge in hate groups in the United States, with White Supremacy groups growing by 50%, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. White Supremacists groups in the United States and Canada killed at least 40 people last year. From September 12, 2001 to December 31, 2016, 62 of the 85 (74 percent) attacks in the U.S. by violent extremists were committed by far-right violent extremists (U.S Extremist Crime Database, Univ. of Maryland).

Sufyan Sohel, CAIR-Chicago’s Deputy Director & Counsel stated “White nationalism, white supremacy, far-right extremism, whatever you want to call it is the real threat and problem. We keep thinking the issue, the peril, is somewhere else, enacting Muslim Bans, building walls, locking up refugee and immigrant children at our borders. The real threat is here. We must collectively find a solution to address this growing danger and protect all of our communities. These hearings are a great first step. We hope and expect more will follow.”

The hearing is set to take place today, April 9th, 2019 at 10:00 AM EST.

CAIR-Chicago is the Chicago Chapter of America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Our mission is to defend civil rights, fight bigotry, and promote tolerance.

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CONTACT: CAIR-Chicago Executive Director Ahmed Rehab, 202-870-0166, arehab@cair.com; CAIR-Chicago Communications Coordinator Saadia Pervaiz, 312-212-1520, spervaiz@cair.com; CAIR-Chicago Communications Coordinator Asha Binbek, 312-212-1520, abinbek@cair.com