Community holds Forum to Discuss Hate Crimes in Alabama

Hate crimes in Alabama. That was the topic of conversation at a round table discussion Tuesday evening in Montgomery.

Community members representing different minority groups came together to talk about the hate crime incidents they have experienced.
Muslim, Jewish, African American and LGBTQ communities were each represented.

One of the panelists represented worker and immigrant rights from Birmingham.

“We’ve also seen kids in school getting bullied just leading to a mental health crisis really in the Latino youth community in Birmingham. People who are having panic attacks who are thinking about suicide because they basically have been told that they and their families don’t belong here, that there government doesn’t want them here,” said Jessica Vosburgh with Adelante.

Legal Services Alabama are seeing an increase in the calls about hate crimes to their office.

“It’s definitely on the uptick. There is definitely a lot more hate speech. It seems to be a lot more permissive, and really it’s been out there for a long time. The one good thing about hate crime and hate speech, it’s brought it to the forefront. We’ve seen it. We haven’t dealt with it,” said Michael Forton, Legal Services Alabama.

There are other meetings planned for this week to meet with local and state officials about what can be done to combat hate crimes in Alabama.