A new alert system in Maryland named in honor of Emmett Till aims to bring awareness to acts of hate.

Recent acts of hate in Maryland led to the creation of the Emmett Till Alert System, which will act as a warning system if credible threats are made.

Three Historically Black Colleges and Universities in Maryland were targeted by bomb threats. A man with a cinder block attacked two Korean business owners in Baltimore. Vandals wrote messages of hate on the doors of a Gambrills church.

“We’ve come to the conclusion that Anne Arundel County is in no way exempt from this country’s tolerance of hate crimes against the African American community,” Bishop Antonio Palmer, with the Kingdom Celebration Center in Gambrills, said at a news conference held Monday afternoon for the launch of the alert system.

Civil rights activist Carl Snowden told 11 News the alert system will create more awareness and notify people of threats.

“The idea here is to have an alert system that allows the entire community to know what is happening,” Snowden said. “If they get an Emmett Till alert, it’s very serious and they should take the necessary steps to protect themselves and their family.”

If there’s an act of hate reported, a team of people will determine if an alert should go out.

“The one thing you can assume is that whatever goes out on this alert system is that it’s been vetted,” Snowden said. “We see so many incidents of history repeat itself. We have to be proactive.”

The Caucus of African American Leaders said the alerts will save lives.

“America’s greater stronghold of racism continues to rear its ugly head. While our country plays in the muddy playground of the Jan. 6 debacle, the Black community still suffers from the aftermath of slavery, Jim Crow, redlining, mass incarceration and similar systemic issues,” Palmer said.

Video below: Officials announce the launch of the Emmett Till Alert System

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AlertMedia is behind the system and will use its resources to issue alerts through text messages and emails. Officials said there will be three levels of alerts for specific acts of hate.

“Once they’re able to identify the incidents, they’ll really be able to rally and raise that awareness and communicate with different community leaders, activists and politicians,” said Sara Pratley, AlertMedia’s vice president of global intelligence. “According to the FBI, hate crimes are on the rise across the entirety of the United States, according to the most recent data, and it seems like a trend that will continue to see.”

The system is named for Till, whose lynching helped galvanize the civil rights movement in America. Snowden used Dr. Marin Luther King Jr.’s own words to describe how important it is to keep the movement alive, saying: “Today, our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake to adjust to new ideas to remain vigilant and to fight the challenge of change.”

“This Emmett Till Alert System is a brilliant idea. The NAACP is behind it 100%,” said the Rev. Rickey Nelson Jones, on behalf of the Anne Arundel County branch of the NAACP. “We are always pushing America to be better than she has become.”

“This is a model system for all of America. I could imagine that if the Emmett Till security alert system was in place, that (Andrew) Goodman, (James) Chaney and (Michael) Schwerner would have had the opportunity to be located,” said Daryl Jones, co-leader and board chair of the Transformative Justice Coalition. “The Transformative Justice Coalition is proud to stand here and support the Emmett Till security alert system, a system that should be implemented all across America.”

To start, the alerts will go to Black lawmakers, civil rights activists, the media and other approved outlets.