Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, on Feb. 23, convened a summit at the James L. Thompson Center with nearly two dozen representatives from advocacy groups to discuss how the state will address hate crimes and discrimination in the years ahead.
"All of us are concerned ...and very troubled by the actions taken by the new [presidential] administration," said Madigan in her opening remarks, explaining that recent upticks in hate crimes motivated her office to reach out to advocates for various constituencies.
Among those present were officials from Equality Illinois, Lambda Legal, Center on Halsted, Illinois Safe Schools Allowance, Chicago Urban League, Chinese Mutual Aid, Arab American Family Services, Jewish United Fund/Jewish Community Relations Council, Transformative Justice Law Project of Illinois, Latino Policy Forum and Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.
Madigan outlined steps that she'd taken in the wake of the Trump administration's travel-ban and stepped-up immigration enforcement. Her office filed three amicus briefs in various states, in litigation challenging the travel ban, and she also issued a letter to Gov. Bruce Rauner asking him not to allow Illinois law enforcement officials to be deputized by federal immigration authorities.
Madigan also said that a bill introduced in the Illinois House, HB 3711, would strengthen hate-crime enforcements and prosecutions by giving victims an easier means by which to bring a civil suit.
Monica James of Transformative Justice Law Project of Illinois discussed the previous day's reversal by the Trump administration of guidelines protecting transgender students in situations where they are seeking public accommodations in school, noting that quite frequently the law fails to protect trans persons.
"The laws meant to protect us are often turned against us," she added, noting that sometimes, when a trans person has notified authorities of a crime, that person is ignored or even arrested themselves.
Many panelists said that underreporting of hate crimes is a significant problem for both authorities and service-providers. Victims often don't know when an attack falls into a hate crime category, or just might be too afraid to come forward.
Center on Halsted Chief Operating Officer Kim Fountain said that many people within the Center's clientele base "have a distrust of 'systems.' We have too many reports of people who have been denied services or otherwise victimized."
Nareman Taha, cofounder of Arab American Family Services, also said that many of her organization's clients have not been coming to their offices, and thus going without resources and services, out of "fear and anxiety" of being targeted by either the government or anti-Muslim elements.
Fountain said that the Center's staff had recently taken part in a training to address active shooter situations, since hateful rhetoric "creates a milieu that lends itself to more egregious acts of violence."
She added, "It scared a lot of our staff, but we had to do it."
Chicago Commission on Human Rights ( CCHR ) Commissioner Mona Noriega explained the importance of understanding how different communities intersect, because investigating and determining a hate crime can be complicated when a victim belongs to more than one minority demographic. She noted, for example, that trans women of color are statistically at high risk of being hate crime victims.
Anthony Galloway, director of education and outreach for Equality Illinois, added that, not only do members of the LGBT community intersect with other groups, hate crimes against those groups often signal future aggression towards the community.
"When hate crimes target other groups, the LGBTQ community knows that they are not far behind," Galloway said.
There was some consolation in that many of the organizations were prepared to help members of their constituencies report hate crimes or otherwise seek legal redress. Noriega said that CCHR officials can assist individuals who think the may be the victim of a hate crime, and can even accompany someone to a police station when they file a complaint. Madigan said that individuals could similarly phone the Attorney General's office for assistance.
"Please know that we are here as a resource," Madigan said.