(inspiring music) - The Community Partners Against Hate is working on a campaign to combat hate crimes in Utah and beyond.

And here to tell us more about what we can do is Jay Jacobson and Sim Gill from the United Jewish Federation of Utah.

Hi, gentlemen.

Welcome.

I'm gonna start with you, Jay.

So give us a little background on the coalition.

- Oh absolutely.

Almost everyone remembers the tragedy that occurred in Pittsburgh in 2018 when a group of Jews unknown to the shooter were killed, 11 of them praying at their synagogue.

That's a hate crime.

The community in Utah couldn't have been more supportive to our community and the leaders of minority groups and many elected officials were there.

And that was the genesis of a community partnership against hate.

We worked together to successfully pass the first hate crimes legislation that was passed in Utah after about 25 years of effort.

- Okay.

- And Sim, I want you to talk about the rise in hate crimes because it's up, even in Utah.

- Yes, unfortunately, it's been on the rise nationally.

And we are not immune from it as in Utah.

It's also on the rise in Utah as well, targeting race, religion, and orientation.

And so it covers that whole spectrum of behavior, which is just not acceptable.

- And you talk about the three victims.

- Right, in every hate crime, there are three victims.

Well, first victim is the person who's targeted and selected and the injury they suffer.

The second victim is the group or the class that the person may belong to, which sends a chilling effect of fear through that community.

And ultimately, the third victim is all of us in a community where these crimes occur.

And that's why we all have to sort of gather and rally for this.

- And just quickly, what could we do about it?

What do people do?

- I'll start with the community and Sim can help with how law enforcement helps.

If you witness a hate crime or a bias incident in progress, if you know the person who's offending, try to stop them.

That's your friend that shouldn't be doing what they're doing.

If you're afraid to intervene, see if you can identify who that person is.

If they're leaving in a car, get their license plate.

And then reporting is the next step.

- And the other thing you can do is report it so we can investigate it.

And if we can't investigate it, we can't solve it.

- Great, thank you so much for being here.

Thank you.

- Thank you.

- And if you'd like to know more about what you can do with hate crime, go to shalomutah.org.

That's shalomutah.org.

I'm Mary Dickson.

Thanks for watching Contact.

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