ORIGIN STORY
Concerned by reports of the steady rise in incidents of hate and bias in Houston, especially incidents against African-American, Jewish, Muslim and LGBTQ communities, a group of over 30 community stakeholders came together in early 2017 to develop a coordinated community-wide plan to reduce incidents of bias and hate.
Over the past two years, the group organized itself as the Houston Coalition Against Hate (HCAH) and has worked toward strengthening connections between organizations working in this space, facilitating the exchange of information, skills and experience, and establishing partnerships with law enforcement agencies and other institutions, so that Houston can improve its systems to effectively prevent and reduce incidents of hate.
Key activities of HCAH in 2017 have included: mapping of resources that communities access to address incidents of hate and bias; training to develop a common understanding of bias, hate, and intersectionality of issues; meeting with Police Chief Art Acevedo to discuss law enforcement’s response to incidents of hate; and collaboration with the Department of Justice (DOJ), local law enforcement, and community leaders, about incidents of hate and bias in the Muslim, Arab and South Asian communities, including a meeting with DOJ officials and a community forum at the Arab American Cultural Center.
OUR PURPOSE
The Houston Coalition Against Hate (HCAH) is a network of community-based organizations, institutions and leaders in Houston, TX that have come together to collectively address incidents of bias, hate, discrimination and violence against Houstonians because of their religion, race, ethnicity, gender, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression and immigration status.
Generations of American Indians have been Native and connected to the stolen land now known as the Texas Gulf Coast. Among them are the Atakapa-Ishak, Karankawa, Mariame, and Akokisa tribes. We honor their elders, past and present, as well as the Indigenous people from many nations who live and work in this region today. May this acknowledgement be a humble first step in the undoing of Indigenous erasure, providing accurate historical context while serving as a reminder to current non-native inhabitants, as we strive toward peace, reconciliation, and justice.