BENNINGTON — Who should people contact when they experience discrimination? How can complainants ensure their safety if they report a perpetrator who remains a member of their community? Who will hold the police accountable for bias-motivated behavior?
These were among the questions that members of the public brought up at the “Hate-Free Vermont Forum” held in Bennington on Wednesday. Around 70 people showed up in person and online to the event, which was organized to inform officials how they can better respond to discrimination, bias incidents and hate crimes.
The forum was designed as a platform for people to share their experiences and listen to others, rather than to argue or point fingers, said Tabitha Moore, former president of the Rutland Area NAACP, who co-moderated the event.
“Don’t make it about another person,” she said at the start of the two-hour event.
Participants on site included U.S. Attorney for Vermont Nicholas Kerest, Vermont Attorney General Susanne Young and Rutland Area NAACP President Mia Schultz. Bennington officials included Police Chief Paul Doucette, Town Manager Stuart Hurd and Selectboard Chair Jeannie Jenkins.
After an audience member spoke about being racially profiled by police, the civil rights experts on hand said policing the police is part of the job of the U.S. Department of Justice.
The department has brought cases against local police departments that have engaged in a pattern of racial profiling, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Jules Torti, citing law enforcement agencies in Baltimore, Chicago and Ferguson, Missouri.
“There are laws that protect folks from a pattern — a severe pattern — of racial profiling,” said Torti, civil division chief at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Vermont.
The Vermont Human Rights Commission also has the authority to investigate such incidents. This path could lead to a civil trial or out-of-court settlement, if the commission finds that discrimination occurred.
“You don’t need a pattern in practice. A single incident is enough,” said Vermont Assistant Attorney General Julio Thompson, director of his office’s civil rights unit.
The Attorney General’s Office — which serves as the clearinghouse for reports of bias incidents, discrimination and suspected hate crimes in Vermont — is advocating a “no wrong door” approach to receiving these reports.
The state’s Bias Incident Reporting System, launched in 2019, prescribes that various local, state and federal agencies work closely together. This means sharing information and looking for a broader range of support for victims of bias incidents, including referrals to community justice centers and victim services professionals.
“If you go to anyone, they should be willing to listen and get you in touch with the people who can help you, even if it’s not them,” Thompson said in an interview. “We’ll work with you to figure out what’s the right place.”
Some people, he said, are wary of reporting to the authorities because of previous brushes with the law. Others, the forum revealed, are worried about their safety if the perpetrator doesn’t get charged with a crime and remains free.
“What’s to stop them from repeating the offense?” an online attendee asked. “And why are victims often the ones who have to change their everyday pattern, to have a protective detail, instead of the perpetrator?”
Thompson said the state can help ensure the person’s safety by putting them in touch with local or state police and prosecuting attorneys. The state also has victim advocates who can help complainants file a relief from abuse order in court, come up with a safety plan and talk to employers about their present situation.
The law, Thompson said, protects complainants from losing their jobs if, for instance, they miss work because of a police or court appointment. “They won’t get fired while they’re trying to make sure that they and their families are safe,” he said.
The state human rights commission chair, Bor Yang, acknowledged the importance of having diversity in government offices as a way of responding to bias-motivated incidents. She underscored the need to hire members of marginalized communities, such as people with psychiatric disabilities and racial minorities.
“If you’ve never been discriminated against on the basis of your skin color, you’re also less likely to see it and definitely less likely to prosecute it,” she said. “We need new people in these positions.”
A similar forum was held in Rutland City in July, and another is being organized in northern Vermont before the end of the year.