Wyoming U.S. Attorneys continue hate crime education, try to strengthen local bonds

Sep. 23—CHEYENNE — The U.S. Attorney's Office for Wyoming is continuing discussions with Cheyenne community members about hate crimes, racial injustice and how to tailor the national United Against Hate program to Wyoming's minority groups.

At a seminar held Thursday evening, federal attorneys in the state said they were working to strengthen their commitment to underrepresented communities, and that they were not going away anytime soon.

"This is not a one-off," said Eric Heimann, assistant U.S. attorney and the main speaker at the event, who emphasized that many hate incident reports go to him, personally. "We're doing this again in Laramie in October. I'm serious, that email address lands on my desktop."

Thursday's meeting, attended by more than 90 people, was an attempt by members of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Wyoming to strengthen ties with local community groups. The event was sponsored by more than a dozen local nonprofits and government agencies. Many local officials, like Cheyenne Mayor Patrick Collins, Cheyenne Police Department Chief Mark Francisco, Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak and Ward 3 Councilor Richard Johnson, attended the event, as well.

Heimann gave special thanks to Pastor Stephen Latham, a leader in the Wyoming Independent Citizens Coalition and the NAACP.

"Pastor Latham deserves a heck of a lot of credit," Heimann said. "Without him, we wouldn't have made the connections that would have made this possible."

Latham also briefly addressed the crowd, telling the audience about some of the work the WICC had done with the mayor as a part of the United Against Hate task force.

Pastor Hilton McClendon, who's also involved with the WICC, told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle that the event was a success. He shared positive remarks about audience participation and Heimann himself, who McClendon said spent serious time meeting with WICC and other groups to build relationships with minority leaders in Cheyenne.

Many of the key people in the event, including some local groups, were involved in a similar talk at Laramie County Community College in April.

"I feel like it's really powerful to understand the differences in our community," Andrew Corbine, an attendee of Thursday's event, told the WTE. "Embracing diversity, embracing these differences between all of us in the community is super important. That's the only way to promote progress."

The goal of these seminars is to educate people in Wyoming about the rights of protected groups in the state, how people can report hate crimes and to start discussions about minority rights in the U.S.

Heimann, who led the seminar, tried to educate attendees on the complex distinction between hate crimes and hateful acts that are still legal. Early on in his presentation, he said he wanted to emphasize his relative lack of experience with the issues facing local minorities.

"As a straight, cis-gender white man," Heimann said, "I'm relatively safe."

Heimann introduced three discrete acts of hate: hate crimes, hate incidents and unlawful discrimination. He wanted to emphasize these distinctions to educate the audience about what types of incidents his office could help with.

He described hate crimes as already illegal acts perpetrated with bias or hateful motivation.

Hate incidents could be legal conduct, like verbal insults, conducted with a biased or hateful motivation. While hate incidents are not illegal, he said, they can still be evidence to prove that someone's criminal action had bias behind it.

Unlawful discrimination is the denial of opportunities, like jobs or housing, because of that person's membership in a certain group.

Heimann urged the public to report any acts of hate to the Wyoming U.S. Attorney's Office. He said that not all inquiries can or will be answered, but that they will be investigated and dealt with, if necessary.

Even if there isn't enough evidence to prosecute, he said it can be used as evidence for a hate crime in the future.

After discussing the differences between these subjects, and outlining how and where one can report hate crimes, Heimann opened up the discussion to local community members.

When questioned, Heimann acknowledged racial injustices perpetrated by the U.S. government, and said that his department had worked hard to reach out to local community leaders to draft the presentation in partnership with them.

Sarah Burlingame, head of Wyoming Equality and a former representative in the Wyoming Legislature, asked Heimann how he would react to the mistrust certain minority groups, like Indigenous people, would have of the federal government.

"(There's) lots of complex history," he said, while also making a personal commitment to help. "I'm not going to stand here and tell you that this talk will fix it. ... We have not, as federal law enforcement, always been there, on the right side of things."

Laramie County District Attorney Sylvia Hackl also spoke during the discussion. She wanted to remind people that Wyoming still had more to do at the state level to address hate crimes.

"It's important for you to know there is no hate crime law, under Wyoming law," she said. "... That's why you need to do the reporting to the U.S. Attorney's Office."

While much of the discussion centered around hate crime laws and what to do if a hate crime has happened, many people emphasized the need for communal organizing and public solidarity with minorities in Wyoming.

"We've been talking about hate crimes, but something starts before hate," one attendee said when Heimann asked for questions. "It's called discrimination. Discrimination breeds hate. You have to cut it off at the beginning."

Corbine, at the end of the seminar, reflected on what he thought needed to be done to allow Cheyenne to grow.

"If we keep pushing people away, we're just going to become a dying community, people who are grown around the idea of hate," Corbine said.

Samir Knox is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle's criminal justice and public safety reporter. He can be reached by email at sknox@wyomingnews.com or by phone at 307-633-3152. Follow him on Twitter at @bySamirKnox.