U.S. Attorney’s Office Meets With Faith Leaders To Promote The United Against Hate Initiative

SCRANTON - United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam announced that as part of the Department of Justice’s United Against Hate initiative to better counter hate crimes and hate incidents in the Middle District of Pennsylvania, he has met and will continue to meet with religious leaders to discuss their concerns about extremism and threats to their places of worship and their members. 

In December 2023, U.S Attorney Karam hosted two separate meetings in Scranton and in Harrisburg with local Jewish leaders to discuss their concerns about the recent uprise in antisemitic speech and incidents of hate.  At those meetings, subject matter experts from the United States Attorney’s Office; Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office; Federal Bureau of Investigations; Pennsylvania State Police; Dauphin, Cumberland, Lackawanna, and York County District Attorney’s Offices; Harrisburg, Scranton, and York Police Departments; and York Human Relations Commission attended and listened to the leaders’ safety concerns and encouraged them to report all hate incidents and crimes.  In February and March 2024, U.S. Attorney Karam had similar meetings with local Muslim, Islamic, and Arab Christian leaders to discuss the equally troubling uprise in threats to their members.   

“We continue to strengthen our partnerships with federal, state, and local law enforcement in conjunction with our stakeholders in the religious communities by holding these conversations to serve them better, said U.S. Attorney Karam.  “Hate-fueled violence and incidents will not be tolerated in our district, and we will continue to unite our stakeholders with the shared goal of reporting, preventing, disrupting, and prosecuting these crimes.”

The United Against Hate initiative seeks to strengthen collaborative relationships of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies with communities in order to build trust and encourage the reporting of hate crimes and hate incidents. 

Those who believe they are subject to hate crimes or incidents should contact local law enforcement and the FBI.  Members of the public may report possible civil rights violations at https://civilrights.justice.gov/report/. Anyone in the Middle District of Pennsylvania may also report civil rights violations to the Civil Rights coordinator of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania by calling 717-614-4911 or emailing usapam.civil.rights@usdoj.gov.

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