Almost four in ten Latinos report being called a racial slur in the past year

About four in ten Latinos report being called a racial slur over the past year, according to a survey reported by Axios on Wednesday.

The figure is lower than Blacks, almost half of whom gave that answer, but higher than Asian Americans, about 33% of which reported enduring situations of the kind.

The figure comes from a broader study about racism perceived and experienced by Asian Americans in the U.S. but includes relevant figures for Latinos as well, among them that a quarter of all American respondents think hate has increased toward this group. A third say it has increased toward Asian Americans and 42% to Black Americans.

However, when members of the different demographics were asked if they believed there's more hate toward them at the moment, figures were much higher. 41% of Latinos agreed with the premise, the number climbing to 61% for Asian Americans and to 73% for Black Americans.

Looking at cases when discrimination turned into actual crime, an investigation by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University showed an uptick in hate crimes against Latinos in 2022.

Concretely, the figure saw a 2.8% increase compared to 2021. The year prior had seen a 41% spike, but that could largely be explained by lockdowns imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to the center's experts, increases in crimes against Latinos were more frequent in cities in the Midwest or East, with drops in the Southwest. They said that spikes can also be seen when certain news about Latinos presented become a topic of the national news cycle.

"It happened, for example, when there was extensive media coverage of the migrant caravans traveling north from Central America," the researchers told NBC. Another factor, they said, is the proliferation of conspiracy theories that stigmatize minorities and promote hatred of these communities, Latinos among them.

According to another study from the National Institute of Justice, anti-immigrant sentiment has been the biggest driver of Latino victimization in recent years.

The figure, however, is lower than one from a recent FBI report for the year, which showed that anti-Hispanic or Latino hate crimes increased by 6% in 2022 compared to the previous year.

According to the data that was submitted, there were 738 reports of hate crimes committed against Latinos in 2022, when the figure in 2021 was 694.

A breakdown of the figures show that the reported crimes consisted of intimidation, simple assault, aggravated assault, destruction of property and robbery. The majority of the offenders were non-Hispanics, according to the data.