Oregonians Are Reporting More Hate and Bias Crimes Than Anyone in U.S.

Oregon made news this morning for achieving another No. 1 national ranking. But it's nothing to celebrate.

Reporters with BuzzFeed news discovered that the state, "founded as a white haven," now leads the nation in hate crimes documented in a new data-gathering project from the investigative non-profit journalism website ProPublica, along with a consortium of news organizations, civil rights groups and universities.

As BuzzFeed reports:

BuzzFeed, which dedicated three reporters to the lengthy story, examined 44 incidents reported to the Documenting Hate project between November 8, 2016, and March 3 of this year. Of 18 reports followed up by the BuzzFeed team, "none involved a criminal act more serious than graffiti." But they were disturbing nonetheless. Among those incidents:

Anecdotal reports such as these are the best short-term measure of hate crimes available. As demonstrated by one recent incident in Portland, involving self-professed Nazis making trouble at a local bar, not every act of hate speech or vandalism results in a police report. And hate crime statistics from law enforcement reports compiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation are released only on an annual basis.

BuzzFeed did try get in touch with Jimmy Marr, a notorious Oregon white supremacist who was involved in the recent beer hall standoff in Portland. As the website reported, "Marr's current voicemail recording prompts callers: 'Hi, leave us a message and tell us what you're doing to fight white genocide.'"

ProPublica encourages submissions to its Documenting Hate project, though it cautions these reports will not be forwarded on to police.