WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
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Area service providers in Bloomington signed a letter, supporting a state-wide push to pass hate crimes legislation, this morning.
Indiana is one of five states without state hate crimes laws. Any time a hate crime is suspected, federal agencies determine if the violation qualifies as a hate crime.
After a Carmel synagogue was vandalized with swastika and other Nazi graffiti last summer, Gov. Eric Holcomb directed the state’s legislature to bring him a bill that would add state hate crimes laws.
This morning, The City of Bloomington, The Bloomington Police Department, the Monroe County Branch of the NAACP, the Bloomington City Council, Congregation Beth Shalom, IU Bloomington’s LGBTQ+ Center, the City of Bloomington’s Community and Family Resources Department, and the City of Bloomington Human Rights Commission, and The Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce, signed a letter encouraging Sen. (R-Martinsville) Rodrick Bray to advance a bill in the state’s legislature. Sen. Bray is the chair of the Rules and Legislative Procedure Committee.
Bray’s district includes all of Morgan County, and parts of Putnam, Owen and Johnson counties.
City of Bloomington Human Rights Commission Director Barbara McKinney and Bloomington Communications Director Yael Ksander, talk about the city’s push for hate crimes legislation, in today’s feature report.
