CALDWELL, Idaho — The College of Idaho, Wassmuth Center for Human Rights, DOJ Community Relations Service and the FBI gathered in Caldwell today for a United Against Hate event at the college.
Several hundred community members attended.
"We wanted to bring the community together to have a conversation about creating a community where hate crimes don't even happen in the first place," U.S. Attorney Josh Hurwit said.
The purpose of the event was to educate Idahoans about hate crimes in the state; several speakers presented.
One of those speakers was Bezawit Kassaye, a College of Idaho student. She recited an original poem.
"I have a dream that I will not be assassinated from a place of hatred, just because of my looks and my dreams appearing too big for my skin, unrealistic for where I was born." Kassaye said.
Kassaye's poem was a pertinent part of the evening — highlighting how some minorities may feel living in Idaho.
"When we experience discrimination and hate, it's very easy to just divert into hating everybody else in return, it's very easy to just act the same way people treat you," she said.
FBI data shows hate crimes in Idaho are on the rise. In 2021, 42 hate crimes were reported. Most of those were motivated by race, ancestry or ethnicity.
That number is similar to 2020 statistics but double the number of hate crimes in 2019.
Just four days ago, Matthew Alan Lehigh was indicted with a federal hate crime for an alleged assault against members of the LGBTQ+ community in October 2022.
However, Hurwit said a lot of hate crimes go unreported.
"Historically, folks in marginalized communities, folks in minority communities, haven't had those strong connections with law enforcement, for good reason," he said. "Sometimes [that's] based on how law enforcement has treated them in the past."
The distrust of law enforcement is a factor in people not feeling comfortable enough to report a crime. The event tried to bridge that gap by encouraging people to report anything hateful that had been done to them.
"Even if something isn't necessarily prosecutable at the moment, it could lead to a larger investigation or pattern that we can identify in order to address the threat," Hurwit said.
People can report hate crimes through their local law enforcement agencies. Once that step is taken, the U.S. Attorney's Office encourages them to report to the FBI.
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