Nov 28, 2015 3 min read

To borrow a line from the Bob Dylan song “Desolation Row,” we’re no longer selling postcards from the hanging.

Astonishingly, to 2015 sensibilities, the lynchings of African-Americans in the Deep South and Midwest in the early part of the last century were once commemorated through these grisly slices of commerce. We can rejoice, a century later, that such items would be viewed with repugnance by most reasonable people.

But hate crimes, even if they are not as visible or horrific as lynchings, are still with us. That’s the bad news. The good news, however, is the number of hate crimes being committed in the United States is declining, according to data recently released by the FBI.

The FBI reported there were 5,462 hate crimes committed in the United States in 2014, even though it’s suspected the number is probably bigger, since there has to be a preponderance of evidence indicating a crime was substantially motivated by prejudice in order for it to be part of the FBI’s tabulations.

However, when looked at over the span of decade, the number of hate crimes apparently dipped. In 2004, the FBI reported 7,642 hate crimes.

This represents a drop of about 28 percent, and affirmation that slowly – and often stubbornly – we are becoming a more tolerant, open-minded society.

Crimes against African-Americans fell to 1,621 in 2014, compared with 1,856 the previous year. Crimes against Jews, gay, lesbian and transgendered people, and Latinos, saw similar declines.

Unfortunately, Muslims were targeted at about the same rate as the year before, perhaps not a surprising development given the prominence of ISIS in the headlines and other acts of violence perpetrated by Islamic extremists in the Middle East and Europe.

And we worry those numbers could end up increasing in the year ahead in the aftermath of the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris and the venomous rhetoric spewed by the likes of Donald Trump, Ben Carson and other political figures in recent weeks. A distressting article in The New York Times last week detailed the fear Muslims who live in New York City have felt in recent weeks that they could end up being victimized solely because of their religious faith.

The article reported, “The safety tips, concise and chilling, have been passed from friend to Muslim friend on social media, by imams to their congregations, by Islamic groups to their members, by parents to their members, by parents to their children heading off to school: When in the subway, stand away from the platform edge, preferably with your back against a wall. Walk in groups after dark. Stay alert at all times.”

Yet, this has not prevented some Muslims in one of America’s most diverse and tolerant cities from being spit on, insulted and assaulted.

Americans in all walks of life should be outraged. No one should have to live in fear in America because of who they are or the religious traditions they follow.

Still, we can nevertheless be glad there are apparently fewer hate crimes happening overall in this country.

We shouldn’t rest, though, until all such crimes are as much a part of our history as those appalling lynching postcards.