Hate Crimes in Eugene, Oregon
Hate Crimes in Eugene, Oregon
There is a long history of white-supremacy in Eugene, Oregon, that is unparalleled and could still be related to minority access to jobs and employment opportunities today. In covering ongoing racial discrimination, the Daily Emerald states that “In 1923, the Klan boasted over 35,000 members in a state that had just over 783,000 people, which some historians estimate was the largest per capita of any state in the country”. That means that at one point, 22.37% of all residents of Oregon were members of the Klu Klux Klan. Those kinds of strong ties to discrimination don’t die out in 100 years, and perhaps that is why Eugene has one of the highest hate crimes in the nation. While it is estimated that 54% of hate crimes go unreported, Eugene was 14thin the U.S. for number of hate crimes reported, and 1stin the state of Oregon. Within Eugene, while central neighborhoods overall were the most impacted, the Bethel neighborhood had the most incidents in 2018 that could be classified as a hate crime. In breaking down the crimes themselves, the majority of violent crimes were committed against the black community, intimidation crimes against the LGBTQ+ community, and vandalism crimes against the Jewish community. It is worth noting that these crimes do not take into account data from crimes related to students at the University of Oregon. This type of high-crime rate must have some impact on jobs for minority communities in Oregon as they face discrimination at record levels, especially since these crimes appear to be on the rise.
https://www.eugene-or.gov/DocumentCenter/View/46324/2018-Hate-and-Bias-Report
https://www.eugene-or.gov/3643/Hate-and-Bias-Report
