Chicago hate crimes spike, especially anti-Jewish incidents, report says; ordinance targets fliers

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The Chicago Commission on Human Relations' first annual hate crime and hate incident report, hate crimes in the city have spike in the past few years.

Fliers, graffiti and the defacement of Chicago landmarks are among the kinds of crimes and incidents reported. The report found in 2021 there were 109 incidents, 205 in 2022, 303 in 2023 and, as of June 15, 124 reported so far in 2024.

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"Despite these increases, only a fraction of hate crimes are reported. The reasons for this are complex," said CCHR Commissioner Nancy Andrade.

Recently, the war between Hamas and Israel has driven a sharp increase and antisemitism and Islamophobic hate incidents. So far this year, there have been 50 anti-Jewish hate crimes compared to 19 anti-Black and 18 anti-gay crimes.

"We need our leadership to take a clear and unequivocal stand to protect the Jewish population of Chicago," said 50th Ward Ald. Deborah Silverstein.

Silverstien, the city council's only Jewish alderperson, said her community has been begging Mayor Brandon Johnson's administration to take antisemitism seriously.

"We have watched the city turn a blind eye to illegal encampments, inflammatory social media posts and unsanctioned walkouts at our public school," she said.

Alderwoman Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez has been accused of posting some of those inflammatory posts. She is an ally of Mayor Johnson's, and chair of the Human Relations Committee. In a statement, Johnson said the city stands united against hate in all forms.

In the meantime, the commission endorsed 43rd Ward Ald. Timmy Knudsen's ordinance that fines people or groups responsible for hate fliers.

"We know these organized hate groups try to stay one hair within the law when we move the law further it can deter future incidents of this happening," Knudsen said.

Because his ordinance is the commission's number one recommendation, Ald. Knudsen hopes to gain more support and get the measure passed in committee and full city council in July.