July 15, 2004

The Council on American-Islamic Relations\’ (CAIR) new report titled, \”Unpatriotic Acts,\” warns that acts of hate against Muslims in the United States skyrocketed in 2003. At face value, the numbers are grim: CAIR notes a 70 percent increase in \”reports of harassment, violence and discriminatory treatment\” against Muslims in the United States between 2002 (602 acts) and 2003 (1,019 acts). That also represents a 300 percent increase between the years 2000 and 2003.

Those numbers, however, do not entirely speak for themselves. Tracking hate is a complex process; statistics may be influenced by outside variables. That\’s especially true since the CAIR report also includes noncriminal acts of discrimination, sometimes called \”hate incidents.\” CAIR is not alone in using this methodology: Some groups tracking anti-Semitism do the exact same thing.