200 turn out for National Constitution Center forum to learn how to respond to hate crimes
Nearly 200 people gathered Wednesday night at the National Constitution Center to hear law enforcement officials and antidiscrimination groups address how to respond to a recent increase in hate-inspired incidents.
Nearly 200 people gathered Wednesday night at the National Constitution Center to hear law enforcement officials and antidiscrimination groups address how to respond to a recent increase in hate-inspired incidents.
With the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump looming this week, his name was mentioned in connection with reports of alleged acts.
Rue Landau, executive director of the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations, cited one report of women getting harassed by men shouting: "This is Trump's America."
Marwan Kreidie, executive director of the Arab American Development Corp., made a connection between Trump's rhetoric and an incident last month in which someone left a severed pig's head at the door of a North Philadelphia mosque.
"Words against Muslims, words against other people in our community have consequences, and this is one of them, and it was a real damning incident," Kreidie said.
State Attorney General Josh Shapiro did not mention Trump by name, but he spoke about how people are worried about whether the government will protect their rights "in these uncertain times."
Nancy Baron-Baer, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, gave a presentation explaining the difference between hate crimes and hate-filled expression that is protected by the First Amendment. A hate crime requires an actual underlying crime, she said. For example, a swastika spray painted on Jewish institution has the underlying crime of vandalism.
Reggie Shuford, executive director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania, described an incident in Johnstown of a man driving a truck on Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a sign that read: "In loving memory of James Earl Ray."
Along with the message honoring King's assassin, the truck had a Confederate flag flying over the cab, a life-size doll with black mask in a hoodie slumped over the tailgate, and a stuffed animal hanging from by the neck by a rope.
"No matter how hateful the message this truck and all that it had on it conveyed, it may be protected and likely is protected by the First Amendment," Shuford said.
"But it doesn't mean it doesn't warrant a response," he added.
However, it is not an ordinary person's job to know or decide what is a hate crime, Barron-Baer said. If a person feels endangered, they should report it to the police and let them investigate.
"You don't have to be right," she said. "That's their job."
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