The FBI's annual hate crime report is out and some of the trends are troubling. Hate crimes against property are down. Hate crimes against people are up to what the FBI calls a 16-year high.
Shawn Pinkerton has called Dallas home for more than 30 years. He feels good about living openly as a gay man.
"I've had wonderful experiences. I have wonderful friends," he says.
He also understands why he might be a target.
"As a gay man, as a member of the LGBTQ community I'm aware that I need to have maybe an extra layer of caution," said Pinkerton. "I would love to see my friends and hang out with them, but I also want to stay alive."
His instincts are valid. Hate crimes are becoming increasingly violent. Hate crimes against property are down from 42 percent in 2017 to 35 percent in 2018. Hate crimes against people are up from 55 percent in 2017 to 61 percent in 2018.
"You're angry that this is still happening. Anger that it happens ever, but that it continues to happen," said Pinkerton.
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Of the tip five types of hate crimes in 2018, race and ethnicity take the number one spot.
Nationally, black people are still the most frequently targeted in reported hate crimes. Broken down by motivation for hate crimes, 27 percent are anti-black and 10 percent anti-gay male.
In Dallas, tough, we saw something interesting in 2017.
As of 2017, anti-gay male was the most frequent hate crime by bias type with 12. Anti-Black bias type was reported at two in Dallas. And one reported in the category of anti-race/ethnicity.
However these numbers do not include the rash of crimes against transgender women, most of them black, in Dallas over the summer
For Pinkerton, the numbers alone are enough to make him a little more cautious.
"As the numbers tell me that I'm in a targeted community I feel an extra need to have a sense of community."
Nationally, of the hate crimes committed against people because of their sexual orientation, 60 percent of those were against gay men.
In Texas just 127 of the 1,028 participating agencies submitted incident reports. As for hate crime incidents, the FBI says Texas is among the top five states in 2018.
We've reached out to the FBI to request Dallas' 2018 numbers on reported hate crimes.
