NAACP's Elkhart chapter is trying to find ways to expand Indiana's hate crime law
ELKHART, Ind – People from the Elkhart community attended a forum on Tuesday evening to discuss Indiana’s hate crime bill.
“This is one of many attempts around the state by the NAACP and other organizations to get the present hate crime bill amended,” NAACP Elkhart’s Chapter President Ron Davis said.
Previously Indiana was one of five states without hate crime legislation, until Senate Bill 198 was passed in April.
According to many groups including the Anti-Defamation League the current bill is not enough and needs to be amended to include more classes of people.
Elkhart’s 4th District Councilman Dwight Fish said he would like to see amendments made to the bill to strengthen it.
“This is a continuation of conversations groups around the state of Indiana in particular the NAACP have to further the conversation to bring new ideas and to revisit the hate crime bill SB198 and to get it back into the legislature for amendments,” Fish said.
The Elkhart chapter of the NAACP says they’re prepared to rally support for amendments expanding SB198.
“we’re doing an effort all over the state and as you can see we had other organizations that will be participating with us and we want to our goal is to have over 200,000 petitions to present in the general assembly,” Davis said.
The Elkhart chapter of the NAACP said they plan on holding more events like Tuesday’s to galvanize support for amendments to SB198.