HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — This week at Alabama A&M University, the school tackled a tough topic and that is "hate crimes". The Department of Justice made a stop there to inform students on how to identify, report and prevent it.
AAMU students, local law enforcement, and the DOJ gathered Wednesday afternoon in Alabama A&M's Clyde Foster Auditorium in order to really break down topics surrounding hate crimes. This initiative is known as "United Against Hate," and it began back in 2022.
These hate crimes could involve assault or harassment that's motivated by bias against things like race, religion, or sexual orientation.
Alabama A&M Chief of Police Montrez Payton said, "It's just drilling down deeper into some discrimination and hate practices that are going on in our communities that affect us each and every day."
Charles Boyce, a freshman at AAMU, added that he feels like, "A lot of hate can be stopped if you just have conversations with people and really just learn them. Because at the end of the day, we're all human."
This open dialogue involved learning more about these kinds of crimes and how to report them.
Chloe Carter, an AAMU student who studies political science, expressed, "If you see something, you should say something, record it, help the next person out, you never know what it will do for them."
These conversations also bridge the gap between these students and law enforcement.
Chase Harris, a sophomore at AAMU, shared it's important that, "We can unite and be able to gain a better understanding on how to trust law enforcement to help us with these issues, because we can't do everything ourselves."
"They can get my perspective. I can get theirs and we can work towards those things and really have healthy conversations and a safe space to collaborate and see what we can do to better support our communities," Payton said.
And during the discussions the students brainstormed ways they can be leaders in the community.
"I feel supported. I love hearing other people's stories about what they went through and just how they were able to overcome it and get stronger from that," Boyce said.
Harris shared he hopes to see unity in the future, "Being able to love somebody, knowing their background, knowing their identity and knowing what they represent and being able to just come together because everybody has a powerful gift that they can use in this world."
The FBI gathered hate crimes data in 2022 from law enforcement agencies across the country and found more than 11,000 cases of hate crimes were motivated by bias against race, religion, or sexual orientation.
Since the beginning of the initiative, the DOJ has hosted more than 50 "United Against Hate" events across the country.