The African-American Coalition of Indianapolis and members of the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus said at a Feb. 15 press conference the current hate crimes bills in the Indiana General Assembly don’t go far enough to protect some classes of Hoosiers, and they’re worried about the possibility of yet another setback in this legislative session.
The AACI — a collaboration of local businesses and organizations — called for a hate crimes bill that would protect individuals based on perceived or actual color, age, disability, national origin, ethnicity, race, religion, gender identity, sex and sexual orientation. The Recorder and sister publication Indiana Minority Business Magazine are among the organizations calling for hate crimes legislation.
“We need to do it this year,” said state Rep. Gregory Porter, an IBLC member. “I don’t think we can wait any longer. If we do, we’ll never get back to this point.”
Indiana is one of five states without a hate crimes law. The debate is a perpetual one, with some arguing proposals aren’t strong enough, while others say a hate crimes law isn’t needed at all.
Senate Bill 12, a “bias-motivated crimes” bill authored by Sens. Mike Bohacek and Ron Atling, is getting the most attention right now. Its protections included race, gender and sexual orientation, but the Senate amended the bill Feb. 19 to take out classes of protected people and replaced it with language that says judges can consider bias more generally. It was the latest example of legislators struggling to pass a hate crimes bill. In 2017, a hate crimes bill was pulled from consideration after lawmakers presented amendments that would have essentially made the measure useless.
Marshawn Wolley, AACI’s policy director and an occasional Recorder columnist, said he has “some concerns” with current hate crimes legislation, but that he and others will remain persistent.
“We’re not trying to implement a law that’s going to change anybody’s heart because that’s not really the purpose of hate crimes legislation,” Wolley said. “What it does is it says you can’t attack a community with impunity, that you can’t just violate people’s sense of safety and people’s sense of security without having the full weight of the state government or local government come after you.”
Indiana does seem feasibly close to passing hate crimes legislation, especially since a Carmel synagogue had swastikas painted on it last year. In his State of the State speech in January, Gov. Eric Holcomb showed his support for a hate crimes law, saying “it’s time for us to move off that list” of states without such a law. An Indy Chamber poll of 600 registered voters in December found 84 percent of Democrats, 75 percent of independents and 63 percent of Republicans support a hate crimes law.
Contact staff writer Tyler Fenwick at 317-762-7853. Follow him on Twitter @Ty_Fenwick.
State Rep. Gregory Porter, a member of the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus, told reporters Feb. 15 what he and other local Black leaders want to see in a hate crimes bill. (Photo/Tyler Fenwick)
