The Bartholomew County Area Branch of the NAACP has organized a public rally at noon Saturday at the City Hall steps to garner support for amending the Indiana’s new hate crimes measure that goes into effect July 1.
The local chapter wants to see gender, gender identity and age explicitly added to the law during the next legislative session in January. Supporters of the new law say that’s inferred because the language refers to Indiana’s bias crimes reporting statute.
Olisa Humes, chapter president, said she understands that many see the NAACP as an organization chiefly for blacks.
“But our job is to defend the civil rights of all people,” Humes said.
For more on this story, see Wednesday’s Republic.
