LA County sees spike in reported hate crimes against Latinos, blacks

Hate crimes against black victims reported in Los Angeles County rose 15 percent last year after a significant decline the previous year, while crimes targeting Latinos rose 16 percent, according to a new report.

The number of total hate crimes reported in Los Angeles County rose 5 percent in 2017 to 508, according to the report released Thursday by the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations. It was the fourth consecutive year of increases following years of declines.

Since 2013, when reported hate crimes reached a 24-year low, there has been a 32 percent rise in reported hate crimes, said Robin Toma, executive director of the Commission at a press conference in downtown Los Angeles.

The overall increase is “cause for great concern,” he said.

An uptick in white nationalism, a number of high profile hate crimes in the national headlines, and greater media attention on acts of hate that fall short of criminal activity have contributed to the perception that hatred is on the rise across the nation, the 2017 Hate Crime Report noted.

Most of the increase in anti-Latino crimes is due to a 58 percent spike in reported hate crimes targeting Mexicans, which Toma described as “very disturbing.” There were 52 of these hate crimes last year, up from 33 the previous year.

One of those crimes cited in the report occurred on July 21, 2017 when two Latina sisters dropped off their children at their South Los Angeles high school for a field trip when a black woman told them “You (expletive) Mexicans, you should go back to your country!… I know Trump is going to build a wall to keep all your (two expletives) out of here.”

The suspect then spat on one of the victims. The victim then took a picture of the suspect with her cell phone. The suspect lunged at her and pushed her sister, scratching her arm and face, according to the report.

Meanwhile, African Americans continue to be disproportionately affected. While they make up about 9 percent of Los Angeles County residents, they consist of about half of racial hate crime victims reported there.

Pastor Ed Robinson of Hope Christ Community Church, an African American pastor of a largely black church in Compton, said the statistics did not surprise him in light of events happening across the country.

“It’s kind of sad that people are still not understanding each other and thusly there are people that have these old thoughts, old perspectives, and they are not reaching out to get to know each other, ” Robinson said, adding that his community has been targeted since ancient times.

Nearly half of anti-black hate crimes reported last year were committed by Latinos, while whites were the perpetrators in 43 percent of these crimes. However, it was the second consecutive year in which the percentage of white suspects grew and Latino suspects declined in these crimes.

Similarly, half of anti-Latino crimes reported last year were committed by African-Americans followed by 44 percent of whites.  It was also the second year in a row that white suspects increased, while black suspects declined.

While the precise cause of this is unknown, “we know that white supremacist groups are growing in number, we know that white supremacist ideology and alt-right ideology and organizational representation and prominence has grown,” Toma said after the news conference. “All of that can be contributing factors.”

After a 67 percent increase in white supremacist crimes in 2016, they declined 11 percent last year, the report found. They still constitute about one in five hate crimes committed, however.

Anti-Latino crimes grew for a third year in a row and they were the most likely of any racial or ethnic group to be the victims of a violent racially-motivated crime, according to the report.

Hate crimes targeting whites decreased from 27 incidents in 2016 to 13 incidents last year. Hate crimes targeting Chinese decreased from 8 to 5.

Meanwhile, the number of  anti-transgender crimes reached 33 last year, the highest number ever reported. The vast majority of these crimes, 94 percent, were violent.

Among them was a black transgender woman who was walking to a fast food restaurant in North Hollywood on Jan. 11, 2017 when two white males blocked the sidewalk, told her they didn’t want “your kind” in the building and punched her repeatedly, according to the report.

Toma said it was not clear whether the rate was due to the result of growing anti-transgender hatred or transgender empowerment in the form of increased reporting.

Similar to past years, religious crimes reported in 2017 represented 20 percent of all hate crimes with 72 percent of those being anti-Jewish.

Among them was the spraying on a wall in the San Fernando Valley community of Van Nuys of “Hitler did nothing wrong” in May, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

Accounting for population, the highest rate of reported hate crimes last year was in the Metro area, which includes Hollywood and downtown Los Angeles, followed by the West region, which includes Beverly Hills, Culver City and several affluent beach communities.

Los Angeles Police Department Chief Michel Moore, who called the increases a “troubling trend,” said he would like to see all leaders in the nation move the country forward on common ground.

“We stand at a time of harshness, of binary decisions and vilification too often,” he said.