In places like LA County, hate crimes have been increasing instead of decreasing. The Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations released its annual LA County Hate Crime Report last month on December 7. The report shows hate crimes in LA County grew 23% from 641 in 2020 to 786 in 2021. This is the highest number recorded since 2002. The report revealed that Latinos are the second-largest group of hate crime victims.
Author Archives: Brenda Fernanda Verano
Brenda Fernanda Verano is a journalist born in Mexico and raised in South Central, LA. Verano is a two-time award winner in the California College Media Association Awards. At CALÓ News, she covers social justice, health care, and education. She is alumni from California State University, Dominguez Hills, and former Editor in Chief of the campus newspaper, the Bulletin. Outside of journalism, she enjoys gardening and poetry. If you have questions, concerns or corrections related to this story, please contact brenda@latinomedia.org.
Posted inJustice
Valentine’s Day rally held to protect LA County’s incarcerated youth
On February 14, members of an active social justice coalition showed up in numbers at the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors meeting to demand “love” and “care” for the approximately 350 incarcerated youth in the detention camps and juvenile halls operated by the LA County Probation Department. The Los Angeles Youth Uprising (LAYUP) is a group of 16 or so social justice organizations working collaboratively to dismantle or reform the county’s juvenile justice system, which they classify as “racist” and would prefer that city leaders divert city resources toward holistic models of youth development.
Posted inJustice
ANTI-HATE SERIES: LA’s Civil + Human Rights and Equity Department
The city government is relying on one particular department and its leader to focus on maintaining and strengthening the city’s diversity, equity and accountability, the Civil + Human Rights and Equity Department. You can call it the LA Civil Rights (department) for short; and its main goals are to reduce bias, hate crimes and injustices. Capri Maddox was named as the Executive Director of LA Civil Rights in June 2020. “If there is a government start-up, it is us,” Maddox told CALÓ NEWS. “We are new, but we are here to serve all of what LA is. We have a very diverse staff. We want to represent the diversity of Los Angeles.”
Posted inJustice
EYVIN HERNANDEZ, LA lawyer wrongfully detained, family holds vigil
Eyvin Hernandez was wrongfully detained in Venezuela last March. He is currently being held in a maximum-security military prison in Caracas, Venezuela. his family and colleagues are asking for President Bidens’ help to bring him back home.
Posted inJustice
Anti-Hate Project: LA County Hate Crime Report shows violence is on the rise
The Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations released its annual LA County Hate Crime Report last month on December 7. As the new year begins, the high level of hate crimes portrayed in the report brings heavy concern about the state of the city. The report shows the number of hate crimes in LA County has reached the highest number in the last 19 years. Reported hate crimes in LA County grew 23% from 641 in 2020 to 786 in 2021. This is the largest number recorded since 2002. The Latino community was also a prime target in 2021. They were the second-largest group of victims.
Posted inJustice
EYVIN HERNANDEZ, LA lawyer wrongfully detained in Venezuela
For the Hernandez family, there was one loved one missing at this year’s holiday table. Eyvin Hernandez, 44, a beloved son, father and brother, was wrongfully detained in Venezuela in March 2022. His return home is obstructed by the current legal situation he faces in the South American country. Hernandez can face up to 16 years in prison after being charged with criminal association and conspiracy by the Venezuelan government. Today, Hernandez is being held in DGCIM, a maximum security military prison and one of the most notorious prisons in Cataratas, Venezuela.
Posted inNews
EL NAYARIT, former Echo Park eatery, hub for undocumented, queer Latinos
In 1922, Natalia Barraza immigrated to the United States alone. In 1922, Natalia Barraza immigrated to the United States alone. She had grown up in Tecuala, a small town in Nayarit, Mexico. Although she immigrated not being able to write, read, or speak English, Barraza opened up El Nayarit, a Mexican restaurant formerly located in the Echo Park community Los Angeles. With time, the restaurant became a well-established community hub for immigrants, the LGBTQ community, and women.
Posted inImmigration
COLUMN: My undocumented father went back to Mexico, making holidays so hard
It has been a little more than a month since I had to say my goodbyes to my father, who left the United States for his hometown in Queretaro, Mexico. The last time I hugged him was on a late-November evening as he entered my cousin’s truck, the car that would take him to the Tijuana airport. “God bless you mija, take care of yourself, and do not be eating too much salt,” he told me as he was getting ready to board the truck. I held his hand and told him not to worry about me. He gave me his blessing and told me that he loved me. What followed was the longest hug I have ever received in my life.
Posted inGovernment
Kevin de León’s physical fight at holiday event reignites calls for his resignation
Ongoing efforts to push de León out of office in LA turned into a physical confrontation on Friday, December 9, at a toy giveaway and Christmas tree lighting event in Lincoln Heights. While de León says he was assaulted, others say he was the aggressor. As police launch an investigation, community leaders continue to call for his resignation.
Posted inGovernment
LA METRO revises fare hike proposal, Latinos call for free transportation
On Dec. 1, Henriquez and other community leaders and organizations such as Strategic Actions for a Just Economy (SAJE), Alliance for Community Transit-LA (ACT-LA) and Community Power Collective (CPC) gathered outside of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro) headquarters, to demand universal fareless transit in LA. Oscar Zarate, director of Building Equity and Transit at SAJE, said fareless transit is something obtainable and feasible. “The next steps are pretty clear,” Zarate told CALÓ NEWS.
Posted inOpinion
COLUMN: My undocumented father went back to Mexico, took my heart
Ever since I left my hometown in Queretaro, Mexico, building a place that feels like home in the U.S. has been an ongoing task. Today, the idea of home feels even further away because my father, an immigrant who spent almost two decades in the U.S., will be returning to Mexico. He bought a one-way ticket, not knowing that part of my heart will also be boarding the plane with him. Like him, I’m also undocumented, therefore leaving the U.S. legally, or traveling in and out of the country, is not an option for me. I will soon say goodbye to him, not knowing when I will see him again.
Posted inHealth
National Diabetes Month: Program offers community care for Latino youth
November is National Diabetes Month, a time when communities across the United States bring attention to this chronic and long-lasting health condition. Diabetes affects the way one’s body turns food into energy and, until this day, although it can be treated and controlled, there is no fundamental cure for it. One of the communities most affected by diabetes is Latinos. U.S. adults overall have a 40% chance of developing Type 2 diabetes over their lifetime. Latino adults have more than a 50% chance of being diabetic and are more likely to develop it at a younger age.