Dozens of Georgia companies are lining up behind a push to pass a state hate crimes law.
The Georgia Chamber of Commerce and Metro Atlanta Chamber launched a campaign on Monday to push legislators to pass such a state law when they reconvene in June.
The chambers unveiled a letter of support signed by the leaders of more than 60 companies including corporate titans Coca-Cola Co., Delta Air Lines, Home Depot and UPS.
“We write to urge you to support, approve and sign into law a comprehensive, specific and clear bill against hate crimes,” the CEOs wrote. “We must all stand strong and united against targeted violence and bigotry. Diversity extends to a wide range of issues from race and ethnicity, to gender, sexual orientation, religion and physical ability.”
The business groups had already urged passage of the measure after the killing of Ahmaud Arbery near Brunswick. In the Arbery case, a state investigator has testified that Travis McMichael shot Arbery three times in February and then uttered a racial slur as he stood over the dying man. But they’re intensifying the push following local and national protests over racial injustice following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
