In recognition of the fifth anniversary of the passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., Hate Crimes Prevention Act, the School of Community Affairs at Wichita State is teaming up with the United States Attorney's Office, District of Kansas to bring U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom to the Wichita State University campus. The free event takes place at 1 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 29, in Hubbard Hall, Room 209.

Grissom will talk about how the Hate Crimes Act marked a new milestone in the pursuit of equal justice and building a nation in which everyone is free to live and love as they see fit.

In June, 1998, James Byrd, Jr., accepted a ride home from three men who instead beat him, chained him to the back of their truck, dragged him more than a mile – and worse – all because he was African American. In October of the same year, University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard also accepted a ride home. Instead, because he was gay, Shepard was robbed, pistol-whipped, tortured into a coma and left tied to a fence – he died a week later in the hospital.

In 2009, President Barak Obama passed the Hate Crime Prevention Act in response to the brutal murders, making it a federal crime to injure anyone because of the their actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.