Anti-Black hate crimes significantly increased according to the report issued on Nov. 29 by the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations.
Reported anti-Black crimes jumped a shocking 34% from 219 to 294. The 294 anti-Black crimes reported in 2022 were the second largest number ever recorded. Although African Americans only comprise about 9% of the county population, they constituted 53% of racial hate crime victims (up from 46%). Once again African Americans were grossly over-represented as victims of racial hate crime. All other racial and ethnic groups saw only slight increases or declined significantly.
The most frequent criminal offenses in anti-Black hate crimes were simple assault and vandalism (27% each), followed by aggravated assault (22%), and intimidation (18%). There were 3 cases of attempted murder, and 1 murder. In addition, 71% of anti-Black crimes were of a violent nature similar to the previous year. The distribution of criminal offenses was almost identical to the previous year, except for a 58% increase in cases of vandalism.
African Americans were attacked most frequently in public places (36%), followed by residences (23%), businesses (21%), and schools (17%). This represented an increase in anti-Black crimes occurring in schools from 10 to 49, but it should be remembered that schools were closed much of the previous year due to the pandemic.
For the second year in a row, Latino/as were the largest group of suspects in anti-Black crimes (52%), followed by Whites (43%). There was evidence that 25% of the Latino/a-on-Black crimes were committed by gang members, compared to 29% the previous year.
In addition, African Americans were also overrepresented as victims of sexual orientation and anti- transgender crimes.
Anti-Black crimes that contained evidence of white supremacist ideology rose from 20 to 30 and were 10% of the total.
2022 Actual Anti-Black Crimes in L.A. County
May 17, Marina Del Rey – A Black teenage boy received several threatening phone calls from an unknown male. The suspect referred to the victim by his first name and told him that he was going to kill him because he is Black. The suspect then called him on Facetime and showed him several firearms and said he was associated with the KKK. He also claimed that he was going to carry out a mass shooting specifically targeting Black. He said he had been inspired by the recent Buffalo, New York mass-shooting in which 10 African Americans were murdered.
June 10, Westlake – Three Black males were chatting in front of an apartment complex. Suddenly, a Latino member of the Witmer Street gang approached them and began harassing them. One of the victims stated that they weren’t gang members and the three proceeded to walk away to avoid trouble. The suspect yelled, “Why you Black Foos actin’ all hard? This is my hood!” The suspect then fired 5-6 times at the victims but missed.
June 27, Bellflower – A Black male victim was approached by a Latino suspect who was standing 10 feet away from him. The suspect pulled a semi-automatic firearm from the right-side of his waistband and pointed it at the victim. The victim ran in fear for his life and as he ran the suspect called him a “nigger”. The suspect attempted to hide the weapon behind an ATM in a store, but police officers were able to recover it and determined that it was a BB gun. They apprehended the suspect, who was under the influence of a controlled substance. The suspect was arrested for committing a hate crime, assault with a deadly weapon, and possession of methamphetamine.
Read the entire report at https://hrc.lacounty.gov/
