Talk Radio – August 30, 2022: Confronting Hate in America: The Emmett Till Alert System – Call In 1-800-450-7876

August 30, 2022, “Confronting Hate in America: The Emmett Till Alert System”

Join President and Founder Barbara R. Arnwine, Esq. along with Co-Host and Chair Board, Daryl D. Jones, Esq., Every Tuesday from 12:00pm to 1:00pm

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On the Igniting Change Radio Show on Tuesday, August 30th, 2022, entitled “Confronting Hate in America: The Emmett Till Alert System”, Radio Show Co-Hosts and Transformative Justice Coalition (TJC) Co-Leaders Attorneys Barbara Arnwine and Daryl Jones will be joined by guests Carl Snowden and Prof. Ernest J. Quarles Esq., with possible guest Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr. They will discuss  the new “Emmett Till Emergency Alert System” which is a Maryland program designed to alert the African American community of hate crimes that are occurring. TJC is one of the national organizations supporting this innovative and critical effort to quickly identify hate crimes in order to effectively address them. Sunday, August 28th, was the 67th Anniversary of the racially-motivated murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till in Mississippi. In honor of his legacy and to address the enduring danger of hate crimes in the U.S., Maryland leaders were inspired to establish this unprecedented alert system.

These are the issues we will cover during this show.

SHOW DESCRIPTION AND BACKGROUND

“In August 2021, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released Hate Crime Statistics 2020, an annual compilation of bias-motivated incidents in the United States. Though the number of reporting agencies decreased by 452 since 2019, the overall number of reported incidents increased by 949, contributing to a total of 8,263 hate crime incidents against 11,126 victims in 2020. While annual law enforcement agency participation may fluctuate, the statistics indicate that hate crimes remain a concern for communities across the country.

According to this year’s data, 62% of victims were targeted because of the offenders’ bias toward race/ethnicity/ancestry, which continues to be the largest bias motivation category. Participating agencies reported 5,227 race/ethnicity/ancestry-based incidents in 2020, a 32% increase from 2019. Anti-Black or African American hate crimes continue to be the largest bias incident victim category, with 2,871 incidents in 2020, a 49% increase since 2019. Additionally, there were 279 anti-Asian incidents reported in 2020, a 77% increase since 2019. The other largest categories of hate crimes include anti-Hispanic or Latino incidents, with 517, and anti-White incidents, with 869 in total.”

“Following a spike in hate crimes and other incidents targeting minorities and their places of worship, a new alert system led by civil rights leaders in Maryland has gone live. The new system is called Emmett Till Alerts, and it was announced [on August 22nd] inside a church that’s been attacked twice this summer by someone who left racist graffiti on the outside of the building…These alerts, similar to the Amber Alert system, will focus on hate crimes. ‘Every member of the Maryland Legislative Black Caucus… will be advised whenever there’s a hate crime anywhere in the state of Maryland,’ Snowden said. Other Black elected leaders around the state will also be invited to join the network of alerts, as will leaders in national civil rights organizations and Black clergy leaders. For now, it’s invite-only, but Snowden said he expects the system will be expanded in the future. Unlike Amber Alerts, these alerts are by invite only — for now, at least.”

Since its unveiling, the Emmett Till Alerts System has been widely featured by CNN, BET, Essence, NPR, and other national and local news outlets. The Emmett Till Alerts System is named in honor of the 14-year-old Black teen who was murdered in 1955, after a White woman, Carolyn Bryant Donham, falsley claimed Till whistled at her. “It will act as a warning system, notifying 167 Black state officials, national civil rights organizations, clergy members and other leaders when any credible acts of racism or hate occur in Maryland. ‘Not all hate crimes are investigated. Not all hate crimes are reported, for a variety of reasons,’ said Carl Snowden of the Caucus of African American Leaders at a news conference on Monday announcing the new system. ‘What we are going to do is make sure every hate crime that we’re made aware of goes out on this alert system.’…According to NPR, the new system will have three alert levels: low, medium, and high, with a ‘high’ alert indicating a high likelihood of violence or fatalities.”

“The announcement comes following a slew of racist incidents in the state over the last year. Three Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the state were targets of bomb threats. In July, racist graffiti was found on the church doors of Kingdom Celebration Center in Anne Arundel County.”

“A Duke University women’s volleyball player was called racist slurs and threatened during a match against Brigham Young University in Utah on Friday, resulting in a fan being banned from sporting events, according to the student, her family and the school. Rachel Richardson, a Black starter on Duke’s team, was called the n-word ‘every time she served,’ and was threatened by ‘a white male that told her to watch her back going to the team bus,’ her godmother Lesa Pamplin said on social media.A police officer had to be placed by the Duke team’s bench as a result of the alleged harassment, Pamplin said.” “Rachel Richardson,…does not think officials and the BYU coaching staff acted quickly enough to stop the heckling. The sophomore said she and her other African American teammates were heckled by some fans through the entire match and had to play through it despite feeling uncomfortable. Richardson even called her father crying after the incident.”

“The warning system went live more than six months after the FBI announced that a Joint Terrorism Task Forces started investigating racially motivated bomb threats at multiple Historically Black Colleges and Universities nationwide.Since then, the FBI has not announced any arrests or identified suspects. HBCU leaders, who say the domestic terrorism threats disrupted campuses and created a sense of fear, want to see results.”

“The Emmett Till Alert system is a step in the right direction for our community to govern itself and to heal itself,’ Apostle Antonio Palmer told CBS News. ‘We’ve come to the conclusion that Anne Arundel County is in no way exempt from this country’s tolerance of hate crimes against the African American community.’

Daryl Jones of the Transformative Justice Coalition told CBS News that the Emmett Till Alert system can serve Black communities nationwide. ‘This is a model system for all of America,’ he stated.”