“This report is grim. The hate crimes detailed in it are serious. Many of them are violent…. They shatter the sense of safety these individuals had and, in many cases, destroy it for their families and communities as well.”
—Supervisor Janice Hahn, Fourth District
They were overtaken by a man who said, “All you Jews should die. F—k you Jews. I’m going to kill all of you Jews.”
That summer, a Scientologist in Hollywood was accosted by a man who said, “This Scientology building should be burned to the ground. I’m going to burn it to the ground.” When the Scientologist pulled out his cell phone to record the incident, the man approached him and said, “Go ahead, record me, I’m gonna kill you…. I’m gonna kill Scientologists. I can’t wait to see that.”
In the fall, a Latino Christian pastor in San Pedro reported his church van had been set on fire by an unknown suspect. The van had been adorned with Bible verses.
It’s now safer to report hate crimes, making it easier for Angelenos to stand up against the cancer devouring their communities.
This year, yet again, Los Angeles County has outdone itself when it comes to hate crime. On December 11, the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations released its annual hate crime analysis. After three consecutive years of double-digit increases, the number of reported hate crimes in 2023 spiked by 45 percent, from 930 to 1,350, the highest figure since reporting began in 1980. The figure far surpasses even 2001, the year of 9/11, when 1,031 hate crimes were logged.
Hate—across the board—had itself a banner year in Los Angeles County:
- Anti-religious hate was up 90 percent, with a 91 percent spike against Jews, another highest ever.
- Anti-Asian hate was up 31 percent.
- Anti-Latino was up 19 percent.
- Anti-Black crimes dominated racial hate incidents at 49 percent of the total.
- White supremacist-related hate crimes were their highest ever at 209, comprising 15 percent of all hate crimes.
- Hate at school was up 46 percent, accounting for 10 percent of all hate crimes—and yes, those crimes targeted children. Over half of the crimes were motivated by race, ethnicity or national origin.
But lost in the avalanche of straight-up-and-vertical statistics is another figure—one that may portend the beginning of a shift in the public’s attitude about the normalization of hate in its own backyard.
That statistic is that more people are coming forward to report more hate crimes. Considering that a US Department of Justice study concluded that about half (54 percent) of hate crimes are not reported, that shift is an anomaly, but a welcome one.
You might ask: Why would anyone victimized not want to report it? According to a National Institute of Justice survey, reasons include a reluctance to engage with law enforcement, fear of reprisals, fear of deportation, fear of further victimization and lack of knowledge of what constitutes a hate crime.
But now, with the advent of the online LAvsHate.org reporting system, hate crime victims get an instant battery of free and confidential services. Since its inception in 2019, the website has received nearly 4,000 reports of hate, with over 700 received in the last year alone.
So it’s now safer to report hate crimes, making it easier for Angelenos to stand up against the cancer devouring their communities.
“Each number captured in the County’s Report on Hate Crimes represents a fellow resident who has the right to live, love, worship and be their authentic self without experiencing rhetoric and violence that disregards their humanity,” said Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell, Second District.
That number Supervisor Mitchell refers to may very likely go up as more are emboldened to come forward and report. But the more people who refuse to tolerate intolerance, the more those who perpetrate crimes of intolerance will be forced to slink back into the shadows—and the minority communities of LA County may finally reclaim their lives and feel at home at last.
As Fourth District Supervisor Janice Hahn said, “My message to every victim is that no matter what a hateful person said or did, you belong here in LA County. Whether you are Black, Asian, Latino, gay, trans, Jewish, or Muslim—you are welcome here in LA County, and the leaders of your government stand with you and stand against hate.”
