“In the past few weeks, there have been 11 hate-related incidents reported in Missouri. These acts of harassment, which have been aimed at minorities, focus on race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and gender. In these cases, harassment includes both physical and verbal assault/intimidation and is occurring most frequently in K-12 schools, businesses, and universities. In St. Louis, African American students were told to sit in the back of the bus and one minority student was attacked with a hot glue gun. In Kansas City, a man reported that a noose and swastika were spray painted on his car. At the University of Central Missouri, peaceful protestors were confronted with firecrackers. Such reports are not unique to our state, as the Southern Poverty Law Center reports more than 800 of these hate-related incidents in the same time period. We can all agree that harassment and violence have a negative effect on the social fabric of our nation, but what is often overlooked is the impact that this behavior has on our collective health.”