In AAPI Equity Alliance’s role as the Los Angeles County Regional Lead for the Stop the Hate grant program, administered through the California Department of Social Services (CDSS), we felt strongly that it was critical to lay the right foundation in the first year of the program by acknowledging the long history of hate in Los Angeles.
AAPI Equity Alliance partnered with Everyday Impact Consulting to work with us in researching and drafting a report that attempted to understand “The State of Hate in Los Angeles”.
Background
Did you know that by the end of the 20th century, hate crime rates in Los Angeles were twice as high as the national average?
Historically, hate has been perpetuated against marginalized communities in Los Angeles, beginning with the displacement of the indigenous Gabrielino-Tongva peoples of the Los Angeles basin, to the illegal deportations between the 1840s and 1930s that deported nearly 2 million Mexican Americans from California; from the 1871 Chinese Massacre, in which 18 Chinese men were lynched, the largest mass lynching in U.S. history, to the Zoot Suit riots and the incarceration of Japanese-Americans during World War II; from the 1965 Watts Rebellion resulting in the deaths of 23 Black Americans at the hands of the Los Angeles Police Department and National Guard, and up through the 21st century with significant spikes post 9/11 and during the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite the strength in our incredible diversity, hate is not new to Los Angeles.
In order to prevent history from repeating itself, we must understand how it affects all our communities and its intersectionality. The report covers:
- A brief overview of the long history of hate in Los Angeles
- Causes and contributors to hate
- Strategies to prevent hate and mitigate the adverse outcomes of hate
- Continuing challenges in stemming the tide of hate
Partners
