How California is bringing racism and hate crimes to light

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Last updated on January 15, 2023 by BVN

McKenzie Jackson | California Black Media

Officials and advocates across California are devoting resources to highlighting that racism and racial intolerance impact public health — major factors, they say, behind the substantial increase in crimes of hate and hate incidents in the Golden State.

In Stop the Hate, a 2021 report focused on hate crimes in Los Angeles County, researchers reached several telling findings that match trends reported across the state.

Among the findings that stood out in the LA County report were: Black Californians are still the most affected by hate crimes; hate crimes are significantly under-reported to law enforcement (up to 50%); and they violate human rights as defined by 177 nations around the world in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Although African Americans in Los Angeles County make up just 9% of the population, they accounted for 46% of hate crime victims in 2021, according to the Stop the Hate report.

Statewide in 2021, Black Californians made up a disproportionate 44% of documented hate crime victims, though African Americans make up about 6% of the state’s population, according to statistics released by the California Attorney General Rob Bontas’ office in June.

Public health crisis

The Los Angeles County study was conducted by the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Rights and its research was conducted in an area encompassing central and south Los Angeles, the Valley neighborhoods of San Fernando, West Hollywood and Hollywood.

In neighboring Orange County (OC), officials joined a growing chorus of other Golden State cities and counties that have declared racism a public health crisis.

At its Dec. 6 public meeting, the Orange County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved an Orange County Board of Supervisors resolution declaring racism and inequality a public health crisis.

The resolution is based on the premise that systemic racism drives persistent discriminatory policies and evidence cited in numerous studies linking racism to negative health outcomes. In it, OC’s Board of Overseers committed to fostering an inclusive, racially-focused government organization aware of injustice through robust training and ongoing education to broaden understanding of the how racial discrimination affects individuals and communities most affected by inequality.

What we do know is this: racism is a serious public health threat that directly affects the well-being of millions of Americans, Walensky said. “Racism is not just the discrimination against a group because of the color of their skin or their race or ethnicity, but the structural barriers that impact racial and ethnic groups differently to influence the place where a person lives, where they work, where their children play, and where they worship and gather in community.

Orange County Council on Human Relations Director of Operations Don Han applauded the Southern California County Councils’ decision. It meant we really wanted to end the hate, said Han, whose nonprofit aims to fight discrimination in Southern California County. This is our goal.

Han said there is evidence that systematic racism has existed in Orange County — which is 70% white like most of the United States, for generations.

Over the past two years, the cities of Coachella, Goleta, Long Beach and Los Angeles and counties such as Monterey, Riverside, Sacramento, San Diego and Santa Barbara have passed resolutions categorizing racism as a public health distress.

The Oakland City Council called racism a public health crisis in June and vowed to work to advance racial equity. At the time, Seema Rupani of the Oakland City Prosecutors Office, said the government had a responsibility to address the health problem caused by racism.

Structural racism has existed for centuries and it has always impacted communities of color here, but during the pandemic, inequalities have become more pronounced, she said. They were growing. They were becoming increasingly exposed, especially with COVID, housing, homelessness and economic disparities and there was only a responsibility to recognize what was happening and take action to address it.

The Oaklands resolution provided $350,000 in the city budget for data analytics and consulting services to help the city and its race and equity department improve systems improvements collecting and processing data to track performance and equity progress, reads the board resolution.

OC supervisors did not attach a dollar amount to what the county will do to address discrimination, but said they would support diversity and inclusion as an essential component of service delivery. health and social services for underserved populations, including the appropriate allocation of resources to personnel. training and popular education.

Social consequences

More than 200 government agencies in 37 states have adopted statements regarding the impact of racism on public health. The director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, has called racism a danger to public health in 2021.

She highlighted the impact of the pandemic on communities of color in terms of the number of cases, deaths and social consequences.

What we do know is this: racism is a serious public health threat that directly affects the well-being of millions of Americans, Walensky said. “Racism is not just the discrimination against a group because of the color of their skin or their race or ethnicity, but the structural barriers that impact racial and ethnic groups differently to influence the place where a person lives, where they work, where their children play, and where they worship and gather in community.

In Orange County, hate crimes and related incidents increased 165% in 2021, up from 5% years ago, according to the Relations Council’s 2021 Orange County Hate Crime Report. humans from OC.

Black people were the target of 24 reported hate incidents and 16 hate crimes in 2021, while there were 153 hate incidents and 10 hate crimes committed against people in Asia/Pacific.

Han explained how systematic racism can be traced to slavery — citing, for example, the U.S. government never honoring Union General William T. Sherman’s promise to grant formerly enslaved black people land after their release. He added that people who don’t understand the story fear what the OC resolution could mean legally.

There are a number of people who are lacking in knowledge about this and they are going wild, Han said. But they do not represent the majority of the county. The resolution meant that we really wanted to end the hate. We see a bright light at the end of the tunnel.

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