Delawareans join national 'United Against Hate' initiative for dialogue

Despite Delaware’s relatively lower incidence of hate crimes compared to other regions, Tiana Sampson, an assistant U.S. attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s office, underscores the imperative of continued vigilance. She emphasized that even in the First State, there remains important work to be done to address and prevent such incidents.

“Hate crimes are on the rise. We want to improve reporting, and so these outreach events are to ensure that, number one, the community understands what a hate crime is and what it isn’t,” she said. “One of our main goals is to start building that trust and that dialogue with the community so that in the event that something happens they know where to turn and who to call.”

Recently, the office hosted a forum in Dover to discuss the issue and what’s being done.

Dover Police Officer Nathaniel Warren talked to the group about common hate crimes seen in Delaware.

“The most common forms of hate crimes occur in this order: persons, property and then society,” he said. “You can also see these vulnerable targets or groups that are being targeted through minority groups such as the Jewish, Muslim, Palestinian and Asian communities, as well as the LGBTQ+.”

Another panelist, Nicole Mozee, offered her first-hand insights as a former deputy attorney general at the Delaware Department of Justice, who now serves as an assistant professor at Wilmington University School of Law. She recounted investigating three cases of alleged hate crimes involving young people.

“Kids as young as 12 and 13 were writing targeted messages, setting a fire on the porch of an LGBTQ+ couple saying ‘your degenerate ways are not welcome here,’ putting that family in danger. Another at a high school here in Delaware, taking a black mannequin head, hanging it from a noose in a custodial closet of a black employee at the high school,” she said. “Another incident on social media, and unfortunately, it was a very targeted and threatening conversation towards an Asian American student in this particular chat that our office had to grapple with and figure out what to do.”