Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and the Los Angeles Civil + Human Rights and Equity Department hosted a vigil at L.A.’s First AME Church on Monday, May 23, standing alongside Black and AAPI leaders in response to this month’s deadly, hate-inspired attacks in Buffalo and Laguna Woods.
“In Los Angeles there is no room for hate and we denounce the plague of racism and violence that has taken so many lives,” said Garcetti. “We come together in sorrow and anger, but also with purpose — to commit to fighting back with the love and belonging that define our City of Angels.”
Rev. J. Edgar Boyd speaks during a vigil at L.A.’s First AME Church on Monday, May 23. (Photo: Screenshot from First AME Church livecast)
The department’s executive director Capri Maddox spoke, saying, “These deadly attacks were not isolated incidents. Hate crimes and racially motivated violence against many communities is rising in the U.S., including right here in Los Angeles. We need to stand together and make it known that when they come for one of us, they come for all of us.”
The gathered group lit a candle for each of the 11 victims killed during the two shootings: 10 in Buffalo on May 14 and one in Laguna Woods on May 15.
Los Angeles Civil + Human Rights and Equity Department Executive Director Capri Maddox speaks during a vigil at L.A.’s First AME Church on Monday, May 23. (Photo: Screenshot, livecast from First AME Church)
Speaking of the loved ones of those killed in the shootings, Bishop John Taylor of the Episcopal Dioceses of Los Angeles declared: “We will weep with them. If we keep a place in our hearts for them, we will work harder to redeem their suffering, by decisive and just actions.”
Killed in the Laguna Woods shooting was 52-year-old Dr. John Cheng of Aliso Viejo, who authorities say charged the gunman inside the Geneva Presbyterian Church on El Toro Road, saving the lives of congregants at a luncheon honoring a returning pastor. Thanks to Cheng’s efforts, other parishioners were able to tackle the gunman, ultimately hog-tying him with an electrical cord.
Authorities have said that the accused gunman, David Wenwei Chou, was motivated to carry out the shooting due to a longstanding grievance against Taiwan over tensions with China. Chou, a Taiwanese immigrant, lived in Las Vegas, but targeted the congregation in Laguna Woods on Sunday afternoon for reasons that are still under investigation.
That shooting came one day after a supermarket in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Buffalo was targeted by a heavily armed shooter who killed 10 people and wounded three others. Authorities arrested 18-year-old Payton Gendron in that crime, which they said was racially motivated. Eleven of the 13 victims were Black.
Experts continue to decry the current spike in the number of hate-driven conflicts – from events as big and horrific as mass killings to as personally intimidating as name-calling – as nothing short of a national crime wave. In the most shocking incidents, residents have been targeted for mass murder because of their religion, ethnicity or race.
Aziza Hasan, executive director of NewGround: A Muslim Jewish Partnership For Change, speaks during a vigil at L.A.’s First AME Church on Monday, May 23. (Photo: Screenshot, livecast from First AME Church)
The two most notable hate crimes committed this month – the killings of 10 Black Americans in Buffalo and the killing of one Taiwanese American man in Orange County – hint at the increasingly random nature of hate as a catalyst for violent crime.
“What happened in Laguna Woods is part of a bigger story right now,” Brian Levin, who teaches criminal justice at Cal State San Bernardino and runs the independent Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, said last week. “It’s everywhere.”
“This is a manifestation of the ugliest part of humanity in our country today,” Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes said last week. “At some point, we have to put aside our differences and focus on our similarities.”
Some experts suggest that a new wave of hate is growing, propelled by the dark corners of the internet and the nation’s increasingly divisive political climate. Hate crime in the nation’s 10 biggest cities surged 24% during the first quarter of this year when compared with the first quarter of 2021, according to data collected by Levin’s group, the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino.
Bishop John Taylor of the Episcopal Dioceses of Los Angeles speaks during a vigil at L.A.’s First AME Church on Monday, May 23. (Photo: Screenshot, livecast from First AME Church)
This year’s early jump comes after a 39% increase, year-over-year reported in 2021 — and that rise came after a 13% jump in 2020. In the first two years of the pandemic, hate crime in big cities soared by 54%. A crime that 20 years ago was rarely reported – a physical or verbal assault aimed at a person because of their race, ethnicity, gender, religion or sexual orientation – has become closer to routine.
Related Articles
Laguna Woods church shooting adds to history of hate, but hope isn’t lost
Leaders call for unity at vigil following deadly shooting at Laguna Woods church
Anti-Semitic incidents rise 27% in California in 2021 and are nearly triple what they were in 2015
Group reports record tally of antisemitic incidents in 2021
The current hate crime wave mostly holds to historic norms – FBI data shows Black Americans continue to be targeted for hate-driven violence, typically by White Americans, more than any other group.
The data does suggest one big shift from historic norms, however: a huge increase in violence aimed at Asian Americans. FBI data shows anti-Asian hate crimes nationally more than tripled over the past two years.
The Los Angeles Civil + Human Rights and Equity Department launched an anti-hate campaign in 2021 aimed at spreading the word about how to report hate crimes and incidents.
The campaign encourages people who see or experience a hate crime or hate incident to report it to the Los Angeles Police Department or to an LA County Crisis Care Coordinator by calling 2-1-1 or 3-1-1 for hate incidents. Crimes in progress should be reported to 9-1-1.
Among other attendees at the vigil were Councilmen Curren Price and Paul Koretz, Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore, First AME Church Pastor Rev. J. Edgar Boyd, Rev. Najuma Smith-Pollard, the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles Deacon Daniel Tamm, Rev. Sam Shin of the Korean American Christian Coalition, Executive Director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Los Angeles Connie Chung Joe, Bishop of Los Angeles Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles John Harvey Taylor, Executive Director of Intelect-Love-Mercy Foundation Umar Hakim Dey, Executive Director of Muslim-Jewish NewGround Aziza Hasan and representatives from Women Against Gun Violence.
City News Service contributed to this report