A new alert system named in honor of a 14-year-old Black teen murdered in 1955 will notify Maryland leaders and activists of racially motivated crimes.
Carl Snowden with the Caucus of African-American Leaders recently announced the Emmett Till Alerts system, which will notify people who opt-in about racially motivated crimes.
“The FBI director has said the greatest domestic terrorist threat to the nation is white supremacists," Snowden said.
The privately funded software works similarly to an Amber Alert for abducted children.
The system was named after Till, who was abducted, tortured, and lynched almost 70 years ago.
Two white men were acquitted of his killing.
The caucus will send the texts and emails through the software.
They identified a need at a time to better alert the Black community to racially motivated attacks after several recent targeted crimes.
“We had a vandal come and write racial epithet on our church door. They did it twice," Kingdom Celebration Center Bishop Antonio Palmer said.
AlertMedia powers the Emmett Till Alert system.
The software company does business with thousands of customers across the globe, providing two-way communication for everything from severe weather to active shooters.
Any sort of event that could impact employee safety or disrupt business.
“What the caucus is doing is kind of unique," said Sara Pratley, VP of Global Intelligence with AlertMedia.
Pratley believes the Emmett Till system will allow the community to quickly connect possible related hate incidents and elevate what is often under-reported or unreported attacks.
“I’m a big believer that knowledge is power. I think the system may also inspire people within their communities to report more instances that are happening to them and around them," Pratley said.