The Los Angeles County United Against Hate Week ends on Nov. 19 and is intended to urge local communities, neighborhoods, and cities to reject hate and bigotry and promote inclusion.
The annual event is part of LA vs. Hate – a project of the LA County Commission on Human Relations developed to unite communities against hate crimes and incidents and to report such acts to the county, according to a County of Los Angeles Board of Supervisors news release.
LA vs. Hate began in 2019 and launched the first cost-free, confidential, government hotline (via 211 LA) intended for reporting acts of hate and providing assistance to hate-crime survivors.
The United Against Hate Week emerged from a 2017 United Against Hate poster campaign, which itself was a community of color response to white supremacist rallies that were occuring in Berkeley and San Francisco. According to the United Against Hate Week official website, United Against Hate Week has spread to more than 200 communities and “is beginning to take off throughout California and in communities across the U.S.,” according to the press release.
County and city leaders like Robin Toma, Executive Director of the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations, Maria S. Salinas, President and CEO, of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and George Gascon, LA County District Attorney, and Holly Mitchell, Chair of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, District Two, among others, gathered Sunday at the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration in DTLA to kick off the annual United Against Hate Week.
The Los Angeles Blade reported that Mitchell talked about the upcoming LA County Hate Crime report and that she said the release of the commission’s annual report will confirm a “historic rise in hate crime across one of the most diverse counties in the country.”
“We can and must, my fellow Angelinos, be proactive,” Mitchell said. “United Against Hate Week provides opportunities for every resident to get involved, show our strength, and take a real stand against hate.”
Last year’s hate crime report by the California Department of Justice revealed that the number of hate crimes reported by state victims increased by 41.9%, from 1,536 in 2020 to 2,180 in 2021. The same report stated that hate crime events involving a racial bias overall increased by 33% in 2021. Anti-Latino events rose from 152 in 2020 to 197 in 2021, by a whopping 29.6%.
The United Against Hate Week includes virtual and in-person events. For a complete list of activities in L.A. County, visit www.LAvsHate.org.