Governor Andrew Cuomo announced several actions on Sunday designed to protect civil rights and combat hate crimes.
Speaking at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City he directed the State Police to create a new hate crimes unit to investigate and offer help to other law enforcement agencies investigating potential hate crimes.
Cuomo said that “demonizing our differences injects a social poison” into the fabric of the country.
He also is pushing for legislation that expands the protections of the state human rights law to all students across the state. Currently, only private school students are protected by that law.
And Cuomo also wants to establish the nation’s first emergency public/private legal defense fund to ensure that all immigrants, regardless of their status, have access to representation.
