good morning everybody good morning good morning thank you Kim for that introduction uh it's a little dated U thanks to the legislature and the governor our budget is now almost $30 million and we thank them for that uh recognition of the importance of the work of the Civil Rights Department in this state um also would Beed and thank all of you for being here today just a robust crowd we appreciate you and uh more specifically we want to Welcome All the Young Folks here a lot of teens and thank you so much for attending course these are our future social justice Advocates and we appreciate you being here this morning as can mention my name is John Johnson have the pleasure and privilege of serving as the executive director of Miss Department of Civil Rights first I want to express our deep gratitude for the work that you do uh day in and day out to com back the very incidents and issues that we gather today here to examine the theme of this conference is allyship and that construct of allies and alliances built of our deep connection to you the community and advoc organizations the academic voices the law enforcement agencies at every level is invaluable in this work these words from Long Ago by the poet John Don resonate today no man is an island we recognize that without our steadfast allies in this fight our communities and our state would be a much less welcoming and inclusive place for us all and without our partnership and collaboration making Headway against a surge of hate and bias would unlikely be successful sometimes events converge in ways that we can't anticipate just days before this conference convened we were alerted to at least three hate incidents that allegedly occurred on this very campus over the Labor Day weekend attacks based on sexual orientation gender identity race and anti-semitism the university is actively investigating these incidents and vows to find and hold accountable the individuals responsible as this sad news reveals it is hard to overstate the importance of this work hate and bias is an assd that left unchecked will slowly eat away the very fabric of our Collective Society allowing the forces of hate to tear it away all together when racial slurs become a regular part of speech when people are threatened and demeaned on the basis of sex race or religion when students in classrooms from kindergarten to grad school are subjected to hate speech harassment and even violence we cannot stand by and throw up our hands we value and honor you for stepping up to help Stitch back the threads that hold us all in communities e allyship and inclusion in this work vigilance is Paramount new threats and evolving Trends and both the preferred targets of hate and means of attack are coupled with ever expanding opportunities and platforms for real life and digital harassment hate and intimidation we have no choice but to meet anticipate the many mutations of hate we do what we can to to denounce it to legislate against it and to enforce the laws that we have at our disposal to put a stop to it I hope this Gathering and the insights we gain throughout this day take us a few steps further along the road to a more just and less hate filled Society I hope you enjoy this conference I hope you find it informative and productive and again I thank you for your attendance