Oregon Coalition Against Hate Crime

Fighting hate by networking resources

Tag: Lane County

Successful hate crime forum held in Eugene — March 15, 2018

Community Members panel at the Community Forum on Hate Crimes, Knight Law Center, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon. Panel members included (l ro r) Viriam S. Khalsa, Sikh community, Evelyn Salinas, Centro Latino Americano Rabbi Ruhi Sophia Motzkin-Rubenstein, Temple Beth Israel, and Max Skorodinsky, Trans*Ponder

Successful hate crime forum held in Eugene

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

 

 

CAHC reconnects with Lane County — November 13, 2017

CAHC reconnects with Lane County

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November 13, 2017

The Coalition Against Hate Crime is a state-wide organization with partners across Oregon. We’ve pledged to strengthen our ties with groups outside our Portland base. After a rise in hate crimes and activity in the Lane County, we decided to hold our November meeting in Eugene.

Hate, bias incidents are on the rise in Eugene

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There was great attendance at the November 9 meeting at the Health and Human Services Building. Attendees included representatives from the University of Oregon Police Department, UO-ASU, FBI, US Attorney’s Office (Eugene), Eugene Police Department, City of Eugene Human Rights and Neighborhood Involvement, Trans*Ponder,  Lane County Human Rights, The No Hate Zone,  Emily’s Fund, The Jewish Federation, Lane County Administration, and the Department of Justice Community Relations Services.

Among the topics discussed were the effectiveness Eugene’s very thoughtful protocol for responding to hate crimes and incidents. There are also now plans to organize a hate crime forum in Lane County in early 2018, similar to our Portland forum on August 12. The DOJ/CRS will again be facilitating the event.

We greatly appreciate the commitment of our partners across the state. This spring we will be looking to host a meeting in the Ashland/Medford area.

How We Respond to Hate — August 27, 2017

How We Respond to Hate

/Randy Blazak/1 Comment

August 26, 2017

On August 12, the Coalition Against Hate Crime, with the assistance  of the Department of Justice – Community Relations Service, held a free forum, entitled How We Respond to Hate. The forum, hosted at the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education, had a capacity audience. The original motive for the forum was to help the city heal and respond to the May 26 Max train attack, but the events occurring in Charlottesville, Virginia that weekend were on everyone’s mind. Much networking was done and there was good coverage from the local media:

Portland leaders discuss hate crimes

The forum was made possible thanks to a generous grant from Emily’s Fund and with help from the Genocide Studies Project at Portland State. Emily’s Fund also made available “HATE NOT IN OUR TOWN” yard signs that participants took home. The day was built on three important panels, with the participation of committed community leaders.

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Welcome and Introduction 12:30 – 12:45 pm:

Randy Blazak, Coalition Against Hate Crime

Law Panel

Law and Law Enforcement Panel: 12:50 – 1:45 pm

Responses to hate from local and federal law enforcement agencies

Moderated by Knight Sor, DOJ/Community Relations Service

Caryn Ackerman, Special Agent, Federal Bureau of Investigation – Oregon

Hannah Horsley, U.S. Attorney’s Office

Jeff Sharp, Portland Police Bureau Bias Crime Detective

Sheriff Pat Garrett, Washington County

Jeffery Howes, Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office

Community panel

Community Voices Panel 1:50- 2:45 pm

Perspectives from communities that have been the target of hate

Moderated by Harpreet Singh Mokha, DOJ/Community Relations Service

Gurpreet Kaur Singh, representing the Sikh community

Seemab Hussaini and Zakir Khan of CAIR-OR, representing the Muslim community

Steve Wasserstrom, Reed College, representing the Jewish community

Reid Vanderburgh, PFLAG, representing the LGBTQ community

Resource Panel

Resource Panel 2:50 – 3:45 pm

Preventing and responding to hate

Moderated by Amanda Byron from Portland State’s Conflict Resolution Department

Hillary Bernstein, Anti-Defamation League

Rachel Cunliffe Portland State Conflict Resolution

Shweta Moorthy, Portland United Against Hate

Chase Jones, Department of Homeland Security

Harleen  Kaur, Sikh Coalition

Wrap Up and Networking 3:45 – 4:00 pm

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Hate continues to be a problem in our state. On August 20th, as motorists from around the region drove north on Interstate 5 to view the solar eclipse, many were greeted by banners hung by neo-Nazis from bridges in the Eugene-Albany area. Our rapid response team (i. e., Jeff Gottfried) delivered nearly 200 yard signs to churches, temples, and synagogues in the area, letting neighbors know that hate has no place in Lane County.

As we try to make sense of the events in Charlottesville (Read Randy Blazak response to the situation here: Charlottesville: America’s fork in the road), and our president’s mixed messages about racism, we redouble our efforts around this issue. We are working on a plan to better distribute the “HATE NOT IN OUR TOWN” signs to communities across the state. We are also partnering with the Portland Urban League to build towards a 2018 event to mark the 30th anniversary of the murder of Mulugeta Seraw by racist skinheads in Southeast Portland. We encourage you to be a part of our efforts.