On June 7, 1998, three males — two of them avowed white supremacists — lynched James Byrd Jr., a Black man, in Jasper, Texas. After beating him, they brutally and barbarically killed James by dragging him 3½ miles behind their truck, earlier than dropping his physique in entrance of an African-American church. Only a few months later, in October 1998, Matthew Shepard, a homosexual school scholar, was crushed, tortured, and left to die tied to a barbed-wire fence.

The 12 months earlier than James and Matthew had been murdered, laws to increase and strengthen the present federal hate crimes legislation had been proposed in Congress however didn’t cross. Nonetheless, the murders of James and Matthew, motivated by hatred, led to the eventual passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act (the HCPA) virtually 12 years later. The act prolonged present legislation to incorporate hate crimes primarily based on gender, sexual orientation, gender identification and incapacity, and strengthened the present federal hate crimes legislation.

For the reason that passage of the HCPA on the federal degree, Pennsylvania inexplicably has not enacted a complete hate crimes legislation that encompasses crimes primarily based on sexual orientation, gender, gender identification or incapacity, regardless of efforts to take action. Whereas a extra complete hate crimes legislation was proposed in Pennsylvania in 2019 by state Rep. Dan Frankel and state Sen. Larry Farnese, the payments had been by no means taken up for a vote.

In that very same time, the variety of reported hate crimes in Pennsylvania has risen dramatically, up 98% from 2019 to 2020. And, as documented by the ADL, in 2021 Pennsylvania had the very best incidents of white supremacist propaganda distribution of any state within the nation, by a large margin.

Throughout the nation, in 2020, the variety of hate crime murders was larger than it has been since earlier than the HCPA was signed into legislation. Hate crimes in opposition to Black folks rose greater than 43% between 2019 and 2020 and in opposition to Asian Individuals and Pacific Islanders 61%. Antisemitic incidents rose to an all-time excessive in 2021, a 34% enhance over 2020. Hate crimes primarily based on gender identification rose 18% in 2019 and one other 19% in 2020. In Wyoming, the place Matthew Shepard was murdered, hate crimes had been up 260% between 2019 and 2020.

We all know that hate isn’t confined to only one group. The tragic racially motivated killing of harmless buyers in Buffalo was foretold by a writing that attacked each Black folks and Jews. White supremacists overtly strike out not solely in opposition to folks of shade, but in addition in opposition to members of the gender queer neighborhood.

It’s clear, now greater than ever, that it’s time to tackle Pennsylvania’s weak legal guidelines in opposition to hate. This isn’t a dialogue of coverage, however of fundamental humanity. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has a motto: Advantage, Liberty, and Independence. These phrases ring hole if lots of our fellow residents reside in fixed worry of the rising drawback of hate crimes being dedicated in opposition to them in an surroundings the place their chosen authorities refuses to enact legal guidelines to guard their lives. We are able to do higher, we must always do higher, and we should do higher to push again in opposition to the rising menace of white supremacy and hatred. The Pennsylvania Legislature should act.

James Elam, IV and Shoshana Schiller are co-chairs of the Black-Jewish Alliance of the ADL. James Elam, IV is the managing accomplice of Elamental, a multidisciplinary company specializing in expertise, media, sports activities and social motion. Shoshana Schiller is an environmental lawyer within the Philadelphia