Hate crimes in the great state of California have seen an 11.2 percent spike per a report released Monday, July 3 by the state's Justice Department.

In a state considered to be one of the most liberal in the Union, black people have been subjected to violent hate crimes more than other groups in the state.

According to the report, race-related hate crimes exploded to 21.3 percent in 2016 with 251 hate-related “events” and 333 “offenses” were against African-Americans. The only group that comes close to the terror black people had face is Latinos who had 83 events reported and 114 separate offenses.  

Many have attributed to the spike in hate crimes to the rise of white nationalism during the 2016 presidential election and then-Republican candidate Donald Trump's popularity among white supremacy groups.  

“We’re out there encouraging people to report crimes they normally wouldn’t be willing to report,” said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Det. Christopher Keeling, a hate crimes investigator. “The vast majority of what we’re seeing is vandalism, like a swastika here or there, or people making a blanket statement about hating a certain group of people, but we can’t directly link that to the election. If there is nothing saying this is related to the election, how can you attribute it to that?”

But the data is reflective of another shocking revelation about California. The state has the most active hate groups in the nation, with 79, followed by red state Florida with 63 and major red state Texas with 55. 

So, what is going on in California?