1989 The Committee establishes the Project to Combat Bias Violence which provides assistance in civil and criminal court to victims of hate crime. In the Project's first case, an all white jury awards $475,000 in damages to an African American man who was the victim of a hate crime in Bridgeport. This is the first civil action in which damages are awarded under the Illinois Hate Crimes Act.
1995 In Ramos v. Kraft, a vicious 10-year campaign of harassment and hate crime ends when a settlement that includes an agreement by the Krafts to sell their house and move is negotiated. The settlement garners international media attention, bringing much needed attention to the breadth of hate crime in the United States.
2001 The Project to Combat Bias Violence initiates an outreach campaign to the Chicago area Arab and Muslim population in the wake of September 11th backlash crimes. The Project presents information on hate crimes, harassment, discrimination, racial profiling, and unreasonable interrogations at presentations convened by the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago, Muslim Bar Association, Muslim Americans for Civil Rights and Legal Defense, the Mosque Foundation, the Cook County State's Attorney's Office, Northwestern University Law School, Center for New Community, the Illinois Center for Violence Prevention, Governor's Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes, and federal civil rights officials.
2004 In three separate hate crime cases, African American plaintiffs are awarded nearly $1.5 million in compensatory and punitive damages for racially motivated attacks that occurred in 2000. Antonio Ray was threatened with hanging and beaten by four white men while another held his girlfriend Jennifer Klans. Richard Burrell was forced to flee a restaurant because of racial slurs and death threats and was beaten by one of the restaurant patrons. Ronald Ross was driving a CTA bus when two men blocked the bus with their car and, screaming racial epithets, kicked in the bus door and windows, in attempt to enter the bus and attack Ross.