We aren't going to really get a picture of this until the 2002 statistics come out. The WTC attack was near the end of 2001, and we really need to see more numbers to get the real trend.

The report, unfiltered through the media, can be found here. (large Acrobat download--load onto your disk then read it.) I haven't read it yet, although I note that twice as many Jews suffered religion-based hate crimes as Muslims.

I think the numbers begin to approach more reasonable levels once you remove the categories of "intimidation" and "property damage" from the hate crime category where they seems a little out of place with murder, rape and assault. Don't know the exact definitions, but intimidation might cover everything from real threats down to name-calling. Property damage could probably be anything from burning down a house to spraying offensive graffiti on a wall.

Put it in perspective, too.

According to the press, three Muslims were murdered in America in 2001, (although the tables in the report list the number as zero--haven't figured that out yet) for hate reasons, and ten people overall, which in a nation with a multiple-ethnic population of over a quarter of a billion people is pretty goddam good. A dozen Palestinians can beat this record in an afternoon.