The following tabulated data shows the relative risks of different groups for hate crimes. Victim data comes from the PDF. Population data comes from the 2000 Census, the 2002 General Social Survey and a couple other places.
I realize that hate crimes are not identical with persecution, but I think the following general results demonstrate who can and can't legitimately complain of persecution in America. Obviously, all hate crimes are detestable, but the different rates show where the most serious problems are. I offer these data as a starting point for a conversation about persecution, what it means to you, and how you may perceive it in your own life.
| Group | % of Population | Number (millions) | Victims | Victims per million |
| USA | 100.0% | 293.0 | 9100 | 31.06 |
| Jewish | 1.7% | 5.0 | 1025 | 205.78 |
| Traffic deaths | 100.0% | 293.0 | 42,643 | 145.54 |
| Islamic | 0.5% | 1.5 | 171 | 116.72 |
| Black | 12.3% | 36.0 | 3150 | 87.41 |
| Homosexual/Bisexual | 10.0% | 29.3 | 1464 | 49.97 |
| Hispanic | 12.5% | 36.6 | 595 | 16.25 |
| Atheism/Agnostic* | 0.9% | 2.6 | 13 | 4.93 |
| White | 75.1% | 220.0 | 1006 | 4.57 |
| Elected to House | 100.0% | 293.0 | 435 | 1.48 |
| Catholic | 24.3% | 71.2 | 80 | 1.12 |
| Protestant | 52.8% | 154.7 | 54 | 0.35 |
| Atheism/Agnostic* | 13.7% | 40.1 | 13 | 0.32 |
| Death by Lightning | 100.0% | 293.0 | 73 | 0.25 |
| Heterosexual | 90.0% | 263.7 | 15 | 0.06 |
Lots of people (including me) think that the oft-quoted 10% is an overestimate of the homosexual population. People will argue all day about it. Just note that if the percent is smaller, then the rate of hate crimes goes up.
*The hate crimes category for atheism is Atheism/Agnostic/etc. In the General Social Survey, the percentage for religion "None" is 13.7%, but this is a little vague. Numbers for atheism and agnosticism from a different survey are .4% and .5% respectively. So I've put two rows for atheism/agnosticism.
Obviously, you can only be elected to the House of Representatives every other year. The lightning strike deaths are an average reported by the Weather Service.
