The UK and Sheffield have seen a worrying increase of hate crimes over the past five years.
A hate crime is a criminal offence that is motivated by hostility or prejudice, towards someone’s race, sexual orientation, religion, transgender identity and disability.
This graph demonstrates the total number of incidents recorded by South Yorkshire Police each year, however, many people have said that the true figure is likely to be much higher due to incidents not getting reported.
Lena-Soraya Bodiong, 19, said: “I was in the Moor area one evening, and a man was approaching me, trying to make advances on me. I was very dismissive, so he shouted the n-word at me and stormed off.”
The majority of hate crimes are racially motivated, and this covers both verbal and physical abuse because of someone’s race or ethnicity.
Léna said: “I was alone in a very unsafe area; it was really scary and disappointing. I first called my mum, and she was able to calm me down.”
The concerning rise in numbers has been attributed to major events in the past, for example terrorist attacks, counter protests to the Black Lives Matter movement, and more people spending their days online during lockdown where they may have been exposed to hateful content.
The main causes for someone to face hatred in Sheffield have been categorised on the graph below.
Hannah Auld, 22, said she had experienced homophobic hate crime when out in public, whether in clubs or in the street.
She said: “I’ve had my hair pulled, I’ve had guys come up and try to separate me from the person I’m with, being creepy and I’ve also had club staff acting strange.”
While the numbers about hate crimes do not cover micro-aggressions, many people from minority groups have argued that they can do more harm as they are much more common.
Hannah said: “Micro aggressions are so consistent its harder to get over. Overall, they end up making you feel quite dirty, like I’m doing something wrong.”
Both Léna and Hannah say that the most important thing is to be confident, and to never let someone else make you feel like less through micro-aggressions or verbal abuse.