Oregon Coalition Against Hate Crime

March 15, 2018

On Saturday, March 10 in Eugene, the Coalition Against Hate Crimes co-sponsored its second hate crime forum, Our Communities’ Experiences, Challenges, and Resources, with the support of the Department of Justice Community Relations Service. The forum was held at the Knight Law Center on the campus of the University of Oregon. Before the forum began, the city of Eugene released its report on hate crimes and incidents in the city, showing a marked increase in bias activity over the previous year.

2017 Hate and Bias Report available here: https://www.eugene-or.gov/DocumentCenter/View/39256

The forum was opened by CAHC chair Randy Blazak, to a full audience of community members that included local law enforcement representatives, and then proceeded through three informative panels (law enforcement, community resources, and community voices), each incorporating audience dialogue.

The goal of the forum was to both educate residents of Lane County and the surrounding area about the resources available to respond to hate in our community and to create networks and agenda items to build community capacity to reduce the impact of bias incidents and crimes.

Special thanks go to Mo Young of Lane County, Katie Babits of the City of Eugene, and Knight Sor, of the Department of Justice Community Relations Service. Photos by Rich Iwasaki.

Panel #1: Law enforcement (moderator – Knight Sor, U.S. Department of Justice)

Panelists ( l to r): Patty Perlow, Lane County District Attorney, Ryan Dwyer, FBI, Gavin Bruce, U.S. Attorney’s Office,  and Lt. David M. Natt, Eugene Police Department.

Panel #2: Community Resources (moderator – Harpreet S. Mokha, U.S. Department of Justice)

Panelists ( l to r): David Tam, Asian Pacific Islander Community Action Team, Katie Babits, City of Eugene Office of Human Rights and Neighborhood Involvement, Margot Helphand, Jewish Federation of Lane County, Brittany Judson, Community Alliance of Lane County, Back to Back program coordinator, Knight Sor, DOJ-CRS.

Panel #3: Community members (moderator – Randy Blazak, Oregon Coalition Against Hate Crimes)

Panelists ( l to r): Viriam S. Khalsa, Sikh community, Evelyn Salinas, Centro Latino Americano, Rabbi Ruhi Sophia Motzkin-Rubenstein, Temple Beth Israel, Max Skorodinsky, Trans*Ponder.