I wonder if they consider that Jew hating rhetoric from UCLA or USC professors? Do they consider the “kill the Jews” protestors? Are they including the words of Whoopi Goldberg in her hate of Israel? How about most of the anchors for MSNBC and CNN, do they count as hate crimes?
My guess is that few hate crimes against the Jews are reported—because many of them come from the media, LA City Council members and other local elected officials. This report is supposed to make some feel good and others relieved that their actions have gone uncompliained about.
‘Unprecedented’ number of hate crimes reported in LA County, report says
By Frank Stoltze, LA1st, 12/11/24 https://laist.com/news/hate-crime-report-la-county?utm_medium=email&utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Weber%20is%20open%20to%20fixing%20slow%20CA%20election%20results&utm_campaign=WhatMatters
Los Angeles County recorded the largest number of reported hate crimes in its history last year — 1,350 — a 45% increase over the previous year, according to a county commission.
In announcing its annual hate crime report Wednesday, authorities with the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations called the numbers “unprecedented,” noting that while they appear to reflect a marked increase in hate crime activity, they also show that people are more willing to report these kinds of crime than they were in the past.
“We are succeeding, in a certain way, of getting people to report hate,” said Robin Toma, executive director of the commission, at a news conference. He added later that the latest report is “one of the most complete, the most accurate that we’ve ever produced.”
The higher numbers shown in the report follow three years of double-digit increases, Toma said. He also said there had been “no significant decline in hate crimes” since 2014.
“Hate crimes don’t just target individuals, they harm the entire community,” L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said at the news conference. “They are an attack on the very fabric of who we are and the shared values that do unite us.”
Key findings
About half of all the hate crimes reported in L.A. County were identified as racially motivated. The second largest category included those motivated by religion, according to the report. The others were focused on sexual orientation and gender bias.
Racial hate crimes rose 18% in 2023 compared to the previous year, from 547 to more than 640.
‘Unprecedented’ number of hate crimes reported in LA County, report says
Religious hate crimes increased 90% during the same time frame. According to the report, 1 in 5 hate crimes in Los Angeles County last year targeted someone because of their real or perceived religious beliefs.
Sexual orientation crimes rose 48%, making up 18% of all the hate crimes reported in the county. And gender-motivated crimes, including anti-transgender crimes, had a 142% increase, the largest among the categories. There were 121 reported gender-motivated crimes in 2023, according to the report.
Reaction to the report
Several L.A. County elected officials and other community leaders on Wednesday attended the news conference, where the commission shared the contents of the report. The commission has issued its hate crime report every year since 1980.
In addition to Barger, other county supervisors who attended the event had similar reactions to the findings. Supervisor Hilda Solis called it “a sobering wakeup;” Supervisor Janice Hahn said it was “grim.”
Sheriff Robert Luna said the number of hate crimes identified in the report was “troubling” and “unacceptable.”
“I promise you as the sheriff of this county that we are going to respond,” he said.
Newly elected District Attorney Nathan Hochman praised the report for documenting hate crimes, but noted it failed to include the number of prosecutions and consequences for people convicted of hate crimes. He urged its authors to include that in next year’s report.
More on the numbers
The last year the number of reported hate crimes in L.A. County reached a high was in 2001, the year of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. That year there were 1,031 reported hate crimes, according to the commission.
Among the 1,350 hate crimes reported last year, the most common criminal offense reported was vandalism (30%), followed by simple assault (28%), acts of intimidation (20%) and aggravated assault (15%), according to the recent report.
There were six attempted homicides, including a Latino male victim riding the bus in Jefferson Park who was stabbed by a Black male suspect shouting “F— Mexicans.” In another Koreatown incident, a Latina trans woman was repeatedly stabbed by a man in her home as he used derogatory slurs such as “you’re just a man in a dress” and “you’re not a real woman.”
Racially-motivated hate crimes remain the largest category year over year, county authorities said. In 2023, as in previous years, Blacks were grossly overrepresented as targets. They constituted 49% of racial hate crime victims last year, but made up about 9% of the county’s population. The 320 anti-Black crimes noted in the latest report was the highest number ever recorded.
The report featured several anecdotes about the hate-motivated violence that occurred in 2023. In one that occurred in San Pedro, a white male suspect shouted “F— you n—” and threw a glass bottle at a Black woman MTA bus driver who was taking her break next to her bus. In another, a Black male suspect yelled a racial epithet at an Asian man waiting at a train station in Azusa and told him to “go back to China.”
Anti-Asian crimes, after dipping the year prior, increased 31% to 80 victims in 2023. Anti-Latino/a crimes rose 19% to 144.
Like other categories of crimes, those motivated by white supremacy rose sharply. In 2023, there were 209 crimes with evidence of White supremacist ideology compared to 140 the previous year — a 49% increase. They comprised 15% of all reported hate crimes.
In other findings:
- Transgender people were increasingly targeted in 2023. There were 99 anti-transgender crimes — representing a 125% increase and the largest number ever documented. Nearly all were violent, according to the report.
- Anti-Jewish hate crimes saw a huge increase as well — 91% to 242 — the highest number ever recorded.
- As in previous years, the largest number of hate crimes occurred in public places (39%), followed by residences (21%) businesses (18%), schools (10%) and religious sites and/or organizations (6%).
- Since 2016, the commission has been tracking reported hate crimes that take place on public transportation, bus stops and Metro stations. These crimes increased 81% in 2023 to 67. Jewish people were the most frequently targeted in these attacks followed by African Americans and people who identify as LGBTQ.
- Crimes in which there was specific language regarding conflict in the Middle East sharply increased from two to 64 and accounted for 5% of all hate crimes.
Speaking during the news conference, Toma said he worried the often vitriolic rhetoric of President-elect Donald Trump would embolden people to commit hate crimes — especially against immigrants.
“We know that the new federal administration has announced the targeting of undocumented immigrants and based on past experience, such public pronouncements result in encouraging many to treat those they perceive as undocumented immigrants as legitimate targets of hate,” Toma said.
