Hate Crimes

With hate crimes rising across Illinois in the last five years, lawmakers are considering a bill that would allow people to sue if they receive threatening flyers on private property due to protected identity characteristics.

Hate leafleting has become an increasingly common means for extremist groups to espouse hateful messages and intimidate marginalized communities, the Anti-Defamation League says.

Gov. JB Pritzker and other state leaders announced the system Wednesday, which had a soft launch in April.

A six-week investigation failed to identify four people who reportedly assaulted an ISU student while uttering homophobic slurs. The case is now closed.

ISU police say a student was confronted by four suspects early Saturday morning near the Bone Student Center. The suspects reportedly knocked the student off his scooter, started punching him in the face, and referred to the student with terms police described as homophobic and offensive.

Prosecutors say Gary Shelton, 56, targeted the car in a parking lot at a hotel where he was staying because the vehicle had the message "Black Lives Matter" on the back window.

“In some ways, we think that we live in Illinois and somehow we’re immune to this,” said David Goldenberg, the Midwest director of the Anti-Defamation League that issued the “Hate in the Prairie State” report.

Bloomington-Normal groups and institutions are decrying the shootings at an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs over the weekend and calling for change in national culture and laws.

Since the 9/11 attacks, xenophobia and violence have increased against Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim, and South Asian individuals within the United States. In the Bloomington-Normal community, this has made an impact on many.

As the number of COVID-related deaths increased, Asian Americans have felt negative attitudes increasing toward them as well.False narratives and former…