Incidents of hate and bias are on the rise again in Eugene, according to the city’s annual report. 2020 showed an increase of 13 percent since the previous year.
There were 93 reported incidents, both criminal and non-criminal. Race and ethnicity was one of the highest motivating factors with African Americans being the group most affected by crimes of physical violence and intimidation, as well as by non-criminal incidents. Eugene-Springfield NAACP’s Eric Richardson called for unity.
“Even though this report might go up and down, we’ve seen a steady march of the normalization of division, of drawing camps, and I think the one camp that we need to remind ourselves of is our greater camp, that was put forth with the Declaration of Independence and the idea that we have a greater purpose as a nation," he said during a press conference Thursday.
Cases were prominent in areas with large populations and businesses like downtown as well as around schools.
The full report can be found here.
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