Hate In Cherry Hill: 161 Bias Incidents Reported In Recent Years

CHERRY HILL, NJ — Reported bias incidents continue to become more common in Cherry Hill, mirroring a statewide trend.

Under state law, bias incidents include suspected or confirmed acts of bias intimidation motivated by a victim's race, gender, religion or other protected characteristics of identity. Offenses can include criminal acts and other forms of discrimination.

From 2019 through last year, 154 incidents of bias and hate were reported in Cherry Hill, including 53 cases last year. Seven bias incidents were reported in January.

Meanwhile, 2,211 bias incidents were reported to law enforcement agencies throughout the state in 2023, marking an increase for the seventh-straight year, according to the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General (OAG).

The rise in incidents partially stems from improvements in recordkeeping, along with better community outreach from police about their role in investigating suspected hate and bias. Since 2019, law enforcement agencies around New Jersey have been required to share all confirmed and suspected bias incidents with the state.

But the OAG believes other factors have contributed, including misinformation spread on social media, political divisiveness around the nation, and lingering backlash against the Black Lives Matter movement that inspired mass protests around the world in 2020.

"Sadly, rising numbers of reported bias incidents have been a national trend, and we are not immune," said Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin. "We are committed to doing everything within our power to curb that trend across our state."

On Thursday, the OAG launched a Bias Incident Dashboard, which includes data on cities and towns around the state. The dashboard reflects reported incidents from the beginning of 2019 through January of this year.

The data is designed to help New Jersey and its communities to combat hate and discrimination.

"By sharing this information broadly and consistently, we can more readily understand how bias impacts our communities and work to improve how we address the problem of bias together," said Dr. Kristin Golden, chief data officer of the state's Office of Justice Data.

Here's a look at the data in Cherry Hill.

Rising Numbers

The number of bias incidents reported in Cherry Hill continues to rise each year. Here are the annual totals:

• 2019: 11
• 2020: 15
• 2021: 28
• 2022: 47
• 2023: 53
• January 2024: seven

Most Common Motives

Black people were the most common victims in the township, accounting for nearly 43 percent of reported bias incidents with 69 in total. The Jewish community faced 43 incidents in that span, accounting for almost 27 percent of reported offenses.

A Range Of Motivations

Although anti-Black and antisemitic incidents were the most common, the state reported a wide range of targets for matters reported in Cherry Hill:

• anti-Arab: two reported incidents
• anti-Asian: 10
• anti-Black: 69
• anti-gay (male): 12
• anti-gender nonconforming: three
• anti-heterosexual: one
• anti-Hispanic or Latino: seven
• anti-Islamic (Muslim): four
• anti-Jewish: 43
• anti-lesbian: seven
• anti-LGBT (mixed group): five
• anti-male: one
• anti-mental disability: two
• anti-multiple races (group): two
• anti-multiple religions (group): one
• anti-other race/ethnicity/ancestry: six
• anti-physical disability: one
• anti-transgender: three
• anti-white: 11

School Incidents

Statewide, bias incidents in educational institutions continue to rise, becoming the most-common settings for reported cases over the past two years.

In Cherry Hill, there have been 22 reported bias incidents in K-12 schools since 2019, with anti-Blackness and antisemitism accounting for eight apiece.

For more data on reported bias incidents, see the state's dashboard.