Assembly Select Committee on Racism, Hate, and Xenophobia

Testing. Testing. Alright. We're about to get started. We'll wait, for DCO to give us a heads up on when we can get going. We're good to go. Alright. Get going. We're good to go? Alright.

Well, we're going to call the Select Committee on Racism, Hate, and Xenophobia to order. I want to thank the members of the committee, and we'll also be joined by Assembly Member Zbur. He's on his way for their willingness to engage in this very important and persistent issue that continues to plague our state and our nation.

As we convene today, we must also remember that tomorrow, March 21, is marked as the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, a day that commemorates the Sharpeville massacre in 1960 when police in Sharpeville opened fire on a peaceful protest against apartheid that killed 69 people. This day is dedicated to reflecting on the fight against racism and the injustices faced by marginalized communities.

Let us remember that racism is a public health crisis that must be addressed with more vigor and urgency. We must continue to build anti racist, anti hate, and anti xenophobic institutions in our state. We must improve training and build community based infrastructure. This year's theme for the International Day is the is voices for action against racism. So it is appropriate that we hold this committee meeting today.

Unfortunately, racism and hate continues to persist in overt and subtle ways, not unlike 1960. It is woven in the very fabric of our society, manifesting as systemic discrimination and injustices that persist despite our progress. The current federal administration has exacerbated these issues by stoking the flames of division and hostility for political gain. This unfortunate reality shows us that xenophobic rhetoric can feel dangerous attitudes and actions against historically oppressed populations.

This reminds us of our collective responsibility to take a stand against hate in all of its forms.

Over the last five years, the state of California has experienced the highest rates of hate and discrimination in our state's history. In LA County, it has been reported that hate crimes last year were the second highest number of cases ever recorded. Following the highest number of hate crimes the year prior, every day, we see one of our protected classes being targeted. But we must make it clear. That attack on one of us is an attack on all of us.

We must have each other's. Criminalizes, targets, attacks, erases, and dehumanizes our brothers and sisters, whoever they may be, humanity can be heard. And this is what today is all about. Uplifting the voices of protected classes and proclaiming solidarity as we face a common enemy, and finding ways that we can strengthen our anti racist, anti hate, and anti xenophobic infrastructure.

So I want to thank the panelists for the for their participation and let them know that we see you, we hear you, and we have your back every step of the way.

At this hearing, we will hear from LA County leaders to understand the state of racism, hate, and xenophobia, and recommendations on how the state of California can support them in their efforts to fight against it. Once all of the panels are complete, we will then have public comment. At this time, I'll give a chance for any of our select committee members to say a few words. Just

very briefly, I think I wanna thank doctor Jackson for for convening the select committee, for including me in the select committee. It is critically important for the people of my district, the 69th Assembly District, which is one of the most diverse districts in the state of California. And this is more than simply pain. This is more than simply justice. This is impacting our economy in a massive way.

This is impacting the ability of the State of California to go forward on so many of its endeavors. I spent the morning, as a matter of fact, going through internal survey that we're doing through our budget committee on figuring out places either to add revenues or make cuts in such a difficult time. And so much of that stems from a true fight with the federal government on funding, things that are lawfully funded to the state of California that have racial implications attached to them.

Things like health and human services for our immigrant population, Latino population, things about loan programs for folks that are lower socioeconomic levels or black and brown people in our communities that have lasting impacts on our ability to move forward on these things. And so, this is critically important, foundationally important for how our state progresses as a whole.

So it's important that we address what's right in front of us and I thank Doctor. Jackson for convening us. Thank you.

Thank you Assemblyman Lowenthal and thank you for your unwavering efforts on these fights on issues of discrimination and hate. I want to now, introduce our first panel, and who will set the tone for us, for the day. We have the LA County Human Rights Commission as well as the LA County Sheriff's Department, and we wanna thank them so very much, for their willingness to participate, and their, deep knowledge on these issues that to share with us.

And so first, I will ask the, Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations, Please executive director, please introduce yourself.

Thank you, chair. First, I wanted to say thank you to both of you for your leadership and and convening this opportunity for us to talk about this very critical topic for our state and our county. My name is Robin Toma. My pronouns are he and him. And as you mentioned, I'm executive director of the county's Human Relations Commission.

I wanna refer you to I believe we have my slides available. So I'm gonna go ahead and ask that those be called up, but I'll just go ahead and move forward while as they're getting set up. Perfect. Oh, thank you. So the first thing I wanted to just briefly say is that, this report, that, that I'm gonna be talking about is a result of over 3,000 reports that have been received from a 119 agencies.

And that includes all of the police departments in LA County as well as the sheriff's department and, as well as community organizations, educational institutions. And these findings we use for our data driven, anti hate strategies, which includes setting up the LA versus hate program, which is really a system of response, of data and support to victims of hate, Includes our signs of solidarity campaign and other things which you'll see a little bit at towards the end. Okay. Yes. Okay.

So and just briefly, it's all based on state penal code sections that define hate crime. So it means it covers disability, gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, sexual orientation. And if we also collect, hate incident data, which isn't collected by all law enforcement agencies, but we feel is critically important. The sheriff's department, LAPD, and others do collect it, and we collect it in order to really get the bit the best picture of hate that we can that for LA County. We geocode all of our data.

So here's a map of our county, and you can see dots representing all the hate crimes in 2024 that are placed in the county. It's challenging to see from this distance and this size. But, to give you a sense of what it what it's telling us, we know that the largest number of hate crimes take place in the or took place in the metro service planning area, which stretches from West Hollywood to Boyle Heights and followed by San Fernando Valley, where we are now.

And so that's, an advantage of that we have is by having a geocoded, we're able to even drill down to the ZIP code level and know how many, kinds of hate crimes are happening, in each ZIP code, in LA County. The areas that that are dark are places where really there's very little population.

The Santa Monica Mountains area and the parts of the North Desert. I'll also note here that hate crimes, as I'm sure you know, study after study has shown how severely underreported they are. And so that's something that we just wanna make sure that we're aware of as we talk about these numbers. You know, this is, such an important, chart to show you because it gives you the sense of where we are, over the many years that we've, done the hate crime report.

And this only starts from 1995.

We've been doing it for forty years. But you can see that we have reached levels never before seen. If you look at the far right, we are just less than 1% less than 2023, which it was the highest level ever by far. Yes?

We're gonna stop you from questions from time to time. Okay. Sure.

I'd like you to address very briefly, is that attributable to an actual rise in hate or a rise in reporting?

That's an excellent question. And, I will tell you that it's both. Because there's no question that, looking at the data, where it comes from, that LA versus hate in 211 LA, our system of of reporting and collection, has actually become the third largest source of reports of hate crime for our county, exceeding all of the, 43 other city police departments, as well as educational institutions and community based organizations. But we also know that that is not the whole story.

Because if you compare it to other jurisdictions during the same time that don't have an LA versus hate or two one one, they have also shown increases.

So we are certain that this is not just a reflection of better reporting, but actually more hate crimes that are, that were are happening in our communities. And I just note, of course, that you're probably aware that the state of California's report showed a 7% increase in hate crime in 2024. So, another, and and that data does not, collect anything beyond law enforcement agencies as I understand it.

So that would, not reflect the number of reports that come to us and come from community based organizations and other sources. I wanna also mention here that the third largest total in our history is 2001, which is, of course, the result of the September.

Correct? And so that is the third largest in our history, but that stood for 20 almost over twenty years until 2023. So racial crimes always constitute the most common motivation, and that includes race, ethnicity, and national origin. It's about half of all our hate crimes. And in 2024, the the most recent report, it was the highest count ever, that we have had in LA County.

Anti black hate crime, Anti African American hate crime makes up 51% of racial hate crime. And that is the highest total ever reported, 345 crimes. It increased 6%, and the anti black hate crime is consistently the largest targeted group of reported hate crimes in our annual reports.

And how much what's the percentage of the African American population in LA County?

It's, around 9%. And so you've

got represent 9% of the population, but represents 51% of all the hate crimes.

Correct. I also brought a an example of that to share, but I don't think that we have the time to do this. But I just wanna tell you they're very disturbing. They're very important to read to understand what we're talking about and not just imagine what they could be. So this is actually in our report, which I will provide to you on page 27.

And I'll be referring to other actual cases of hate crimes reported during this year that are in the report.

I think it would be appropriate to go through it.

Okay. So this is a reported hate crime in Long Beach on December 15. A black female victim was driving and stopped at a left turn lane when a white female suspect approached and began to honk at the victim. After turning left, the suspect turned left as well and drove up next to the victim's vehicle and yelled n word, my family owned you. You slave.

You black n word. At this time, the victim noticed that the suspect had a firearm. The victim then switched lanes and began to drive behind the suspect. The suspect stopped and reached for an object, which was then reported to be a handgun, and began to point at the victim. The victim reported that the suspect waved a gun towards her about eight times.

Just imagine how terrifying that was. Anti Latino hate crimes also are part of our report, and they were the second largest targeted group of racial ethnic hate crimes. Even though there was a slight decrease of 1%, the 143 crimes were the second highest that we've ever seen reported in our county. And relevant to this topic of xenophobia, anti Mexican slurs were employed in 48% of these hate crimes. And then we have religious crimes.

Here, we know that, even though they dropped 13%, the number of anti Jewish hate crimes were the second highest, that we've ever seen in LA County, exceeded only by the previous year when it was record breaking. It's also important to point out that 80% of religious hate crimes target Jews, which is consistent with past years. Also, reports of anti Muslim hate crime also reached its highest level ever in our county, along with reports of anti Scientology hate crimes.

Did you say 80%?

Yes. Anti LGBT hate crimes dropped slightly in 2024, but we're still the second largest total ever. Just as it was for hate crimes targeting gay men, who always comprise the bulk of sexual orientation hate crimes. Here is another sample case that is included in the report on page 31. Would you like me to to take the time to walk through this? Okay.

On January 13 in Lancaster, while a white female victim was attending a meeting and was speaking with another individual, a white female suspect appeared and looked at the victim menacingly. The suspect began to call the victim homophobic slurs, including dyke and queer. The suspect then lunged at the victim as she was exiting the room, scratching the victim's neck as the suspect attempted to wrap her arms around the victim's neck.

The victim stated that the suspect followed close behind her and continued to call her queer and stated, go eat some I won't even repeat that. And you effing died.

And, unfortunately, these are, you know, an example of the the the kind of intensity of the crimes that are experienced. Anti transgender hate crimes. The transgender community experienced a record breaking 102 hate crimes targeting them. On average, that's nearly two every week. And 95% of these crimes were violent, which is the highest among all the major targeted groups.

It's also important to note that hate crimes that hate crimes reported in this category, 35 targeted women and 15 targeted non binary individuals, what was, which was the highest levels that we've ever seen of those types of hate crime. School related hate crimes. Reported hate crimes at schools increased 6% to a

147, the highest that we've ever seen in the history of our report. Most of them, 65%, were motivated by race, ethnicity, or national origin, followed by religion, 21%, and sexual orientation, 12%, and gender, 2%. This is a category that we've been tracking for some time, which is hate crimes reported with specific language about conflict in The Middle East. They increased sharply 27% to 81, which was the highest total ever for our county.

The groups targeted in this category were Palestinians at 30% of the total, Jews at 27% of the total, Israelis at 20% of the total.

Middle Easterners at 17%, and Muslims at 4%. Uniquely, we've also tracked gang related hate crimes, which is the dark blue or purple sliver, which dropped 75% in 2024. That is actually a bright spot in these findings. White supremacist ideology related hate crimes, which is the orange segment, declined as well. But white supremacist hate crimes still remain about 10% of all the hate crimes reported in our county.

And just to give you a sense, Jewish persons were the most frequently targeted group in these types of white supremacist related hate crimes, followed by African Americans and Latinos, and attacks on lesbian, gay males, bisexuals, and LGBT non specified decreased 6% to 3% in this category.

And just to give you a sense, Jewish persons were the most frequently targeted group in these types of white supremacist related hate crimes, followed by African Americans and Latinos, and attacks on lesbian, gay males, bisexuals, and LGBT non specified decreased 6% to 3% in this category.

So our answer to this alarming state of racism, hate, and xenophobia is LA versus hate, a system that we've built that directly helps hate crime victims. I'm gonna provide you additional, written information about it. 8,599 referrals for support services like legal aid, housing support, and more, have been, counted since we, began it in 2019. Hate can be reported by phone, online, and soon we'll be launching a third way of reporting hate, via text messaging, which we believe is a first.

What about excuse me. What about social social media?

So social media is included in the tracking of hate crime. But in terms of reporting via social media, there's not a a method of doing that.

Yeah. I I I'm very interested, mister chair On the correlation between the rise in hate crimes and hate speech, which is protected and specifically as it relates to social media if they're, you know, the correlation potential causation.

Yes. We we too are interested in in following that up because we know that the number of hate crimes reported that are occur on electronic media, you know, the Internet is way below what one would expect given our own personal experiences of of seeing the the slurs and the kinds of racism and xenophobia and homophobia that we see online.

There's actually a project being moved forward to look at whether social media racism and and other forms of hate can be tracked in a way that will help to give us an indicator of where hate is brewing in addition to, you know, the data that we already have. So, very important.

I would like for you to follow-up with my office on that, because especially, you know, we are in the process. I also chair the subcommittee on human services that has the, California versus hate, funding, and it is up for renewal.

And it will be the perfect time to let us know the type of additional resources that may be necessary that, the initial funding did not cover to be able to do the type of tracking in terms of social media and those type of things, that might be helpful. And so please make sure you, touch base with my office on that. Absolutely.

So if I can I wanna make sure I'm answering the questions that were prepared to for us in advance? And so I think I've covered several of them in terms of the most targeted groups in LA County being African Americans, the LGBTQ plus community, the Jewish community, and the Latino community. But the list is really long of the hate crime victims that are minorities in terms of ethnicities, nationalities, religion, sexual orientation, and gender and ability.

The list of hate crime victims is as diverse as the population in LA County. And and we haven't touched on that, but that's something that I don't wanna to to go unmentioned.

As you know, we are seeing the greatest number of reported hate crimes you've ever seen in our history, and that is very important to recognize when we're talking about where where we should be as government. I know that the county government is invested in in making sure that we have funding for our anti hate system, LA versus hate, in our programs. And I was asked to mention if there are any particular points that I wanted the legislature to pay attention to.

And so I will just point out, which I think is probably something that many of you are aware of, is that because of the state of our national politics as well as the wars abroad, we know that what happens abroad, even if it's very far away, because we have such a diverse population and, and many who come from, other countries, is felt in our county. And we've seen that not just, imagined, but we see it in our data.

The potential impact of major events such as the widening war against Iran and by The US and Israel, in our experience, has a strong potential to lead to increased hate violence in our county and state. And this is evident in some of the hate crime data I shared today, where some of the increases in terms of Middle East conflict related hate crime, there's no question linked to the Hamas Israeli war and other Middle East conflicts.

So, I do wanna say that the states stop the hate programs in California versus hate. They've been key partners in our, work to build critically needed networks and systems, which I think is such an important point. A prevention response and capacity building.

Because this takes time. The work is very challenging in terms of being able to support our community's capacity to work with us to respond effectively to hate.

And, we've actually drilled down into certain ZIP codes where we are working directly with, that ZIP code, those neighbor, neighborhoods, and their main institutions and leaders to figure out how we can really ramp up the support, to not just act in solidarity, but show our solidarity and respond effectively and quickly to any hate act that happens and work on prevention strategies, which are so critical. So I just wanna end by saying California needs to stay at the forefront of fighting hate.

I've, I've been to many international and national events, and I know that California is seen as that kind of leader, as well as LA County.

So, I think what California has invested in the past several years is so important to continue investing in. We understand the budget's very challenging. But despite it all, I just don't want it to be sidelined or to lose the progress that we've made in building the infrastructure and systems we need.

Yes. First of all, I I thought your report is excellent. I just wanna say Thank you. Appreciate it. I would love to stay in touch and to gather data, very specific data for specific needs as we as we move through the legislature.

But I do have a question. Most of the data seems to be geared towards the victims. Are you also capturing data on the perpetrators who are committing these hate crimes? Do we see any patterns of change? Do we see a rise in crimes being perpetrated by one protected class towards another?

What are you seeing on that front?

Yes. So we do capture all of that data, you know, of when the hate crime is a vandalism, those will less likely have the the suspect data. But in the cases of all the face to face hate crimes, we do capture the data. The gender, the race, if it's, you know, identified, the age group as well.

And so what's interesting is we have seen over time that one time, the 18 to 24 year olds were the largest, group from which perpetrators came in there, and by a large male, overwhelmingly.

Although we have seen some some shift slightly in that regard. But now it's become the older generation that is the most common of 25 to 40. And so that's an interesting shift. But it's also at the time when we actually were concerned about minors and the large role they were playing oversized role in perpetration of felony hate crimes, I'm happy to say that that has been a steady decline over the years. So that's, I think, a very positive thing.

In terms of the identities of of suspects, that that depends on the kind of hate crime that we're talking about. And so in racial hate crime, there's a lot of crisscrossing in terms of different racial groups targeting other racial or ethnic groups. In terms of sexual orientation, it tends to be that the largest plurality, not the majority always, but the plurality of those who target sexual orientation minorities tend to be people of the same racial or ethnic group.

And then, I think that the what we see is that and for example, in the anti trans hate crime, there's a large number of of trans Latinas, probably the plurality of those victims. And that might in part be because of the fact that we have been, receiving a lot of additional, data from, the community.

And so that gives us a better sense, and I think that we're still, you know, in in progress in terms of getting full reporting, of course, for everyone, but particularly the trans community, which experienced, I think, a lot of challenges in going to the police. Fundamentally, you know, being feeling misgendered and and disrespected in different ways. So and there's more, in the report as well. I don't think we have time to cover.

Thank you very much. Let's move on to LA County Sheriff's Department. You wanna introduce yourself?

Good morning, mister chairman. Good morning, committee members. My name is Anne Tremblay. I'm a constitutional policing advisor for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. It's my privilege to be here on behalf of Sheriff Robert Luna, as well as the 17 plus thousand members of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

So I think mister Toma, as he always does, has given us a really terrific overview. And I do want you all to know that we really appreciate the partnership that we have with his office, with our county colleagues, as well as with, the many organizations you're gonna be hearing from today.

That's essential to addressing, the issue of hate crimes and hate incidents in our county, is those partnerships because certainly, law enforcement plays a role, plays an important role if we can identify suspects and bring them to justice. But we need these partnerships to do several things, and one of those is to increase the reporting to law enforcement of hate crimes and hate incidents. I think as mister Thomas said, right, we see these these statistics across our county.

I will say the Sheriff's Department obviously doesn't cover the whole county. We cover the unincorporated areas and I think 42 of the 88 cities in the county. So a substantial amount And while our numbers, our absolute numbers are lower, we do see some similar trends with regard to hate crimes and hate incidents. So just for an example, unlike the report which is 2024, I do have some 2025 information for you.

So we had a total reported to the sheriff's department, a total of a 171 hate crimes and hate incidents.

That was 92 hate crimes and 79 reported hate incidents. The top three targets of both the hate crimes and hate incidents were African Americans, Latino, Latinas, and then Jewish persons. We did see an increase in twenty twenty five of crimes against Latinos and Latinos in the immigrant community, which sadly was probably expected in light of the circumstances and the national events that came to bear on Southern California in particular last year.

And so I think what's really helpful with this broader information that comes in reports as well as the hate incident reporting that we do as well as for example, the Los Angeles Police Department. Both those data sets can give the department, information and intelligence of, with regard to how to be more proactive.

So we're not just responding to calls or reports that come in of a particular crime but this type of information even if it isn't criminal, if it is hate speech or somebody leaving leaflets or that sort of thing that allows our deputies, our patrol stations to be more proactive on patrol to be looking out because we know that sometimes particularly those hate incidents can be precursors to actual hate crimes or violence.

And so it gives our deputies and our patrol stations in the areas where those events occur The opportunity to better deeper connect with the community, to be proactive in their policing, and to also engage potential locations that might become victims to think about their security, their building security, their site security and how the department can help make sure that those locations, for example, places of worship are safe particularly on say holidays or dates of significance, right?

So we will sometimes heighten proactive patrol in areas because of that or because of national or international events. The department will proactively engage and do that both in terms of patrol and, the community policing efforts, but also via the department's social media to let folks know that the department's there and available and can be responsive.

And I think that's, one of the things that, I'd like to to sort of, you know, just really maybe have a call to action to one of the challenges for our department and all of law enforcement is, encouraging and getting those deeper connections with the community so they will trust us to report all of the hate crimes and hate incidents because we know there's under reporting. Yes?

Do you do you consider gang activity that's cross different ethnic groups to be hate?

They're not documented as a hate crime unless it meets the statutory definition. If there were within a gang crime, evidence that meets the statutory definition that it was motivated, or there was evidence like the words used, some of the examples that mister Toma gave, those are the type of evidence that you would need to in addition to perhaps charging an assault by or against a gang member or somebody who's been identified as gang involved. You would need that additional evidence to also charge a hate crime.

Right? So that's the that's actually, you know, can be often the challenge we want people to report, but with also the understanding is that we do have, you know, a high statutory bar in some in some instances with regard to actually charging the hate crime.

That doesn't mean the underlying underlying crime even if if we could not prove or get the district attorney to file charges on a hate crime that the crime itself couldn't be charged like an assault, like the road rage type incident that was described earlier. And obviously, we work very hard within the department to educate our deputies. We have hate crime coordinators at all 28 of our patrol stations.

We have two department wide hate crime coordinators because this understanding what type of evidence you need to properly investigate these crimes and to get them filed as hate crimes requires us to do that kind of training and support of our deputies and our detectives so that they can gather the necessary evidence to effectively prosecute the crimes.

But of course, even if we are unable to prosecute, a case, we do, train and work with our deputies to understand they still need to be responsive to the community, to provide resources and connections to LA versus hate or all the other community based resources that exist.

So that even if it's a hate incident or a crime where we weren't able to identify a suspect that that victims and survivors of these crimes and incidents gets get the necessary support. So do you have any other questions for me? Yes.

So first of all, I just wanted to apologize for being late and wanted to thank our the chair of the select committee for convening us today. And welcome to the fifty first Assembly District. You're in the middle of it. It runs from starts in Universal City, runs through Griffith Park, and runs out through Santa Monica. And so wanna welcome everyone to the 51st Assembly District today.

Also wanted to thank our chair for really being one of the key leaders on fighting hate, for against all marginalized communities and communities that are subject to hate and have been particularly grateful for his work, rep both as a member of the LGBTQ caucus with the LGBTQ plus community, as well as the Jewish community.

I have the privilege of representing a district that I believe is the has the largest percentage of both LGBTQ plus residents in the state, and also the largest Jewish community as a percentage basis of any assembly district in the state. And so I've been particularly focused on making sure that those two communities which are under such threat together with immigrants in general, I think or that their needs are are addressed.

And so I just wanna thank thank the chair for convening us today because I think it's an important topic. I had two quick questions and for either of you.

The first side, we're actually primarily for the sheriff's department, but the other one for both is that as ICE has become more prominent in our communities, really coming into communities and creating great amounts of fear. I'm wondering how that's changed your engagement with the community as law enforcement.

We had a couple had it not in a couple had an incident back at the Abbey, which is in my district, where we had sheriff come into the do a raid on the at the bar, and it was the subject of a lot of fear and controversy about how that was handled. I think in part because of the way that the sheriff's department were dressed. People didn't know whether they were local law enforcement or whether they were ICE and heard a lot about it.

I just want to thank the sheriff's department. I actually inquired about it afterwards and got some good explanations. But just wondering how that overlay of ICE being out here really terrorizing communities has resulted in any whether it's resulted in any changes in the way you're engaging to make sure that people understand what you're doing, how you're doing it, that you are local law enforcement and not ICE because it wasn't clear in that case. And so that's the first question and I'll have one more.

Okay. Yes. Certainly and I I unfortunately I can't speak to that specific incident. I'm not familiar with it. So I I hope you did get the information and and that you needed.

And I can certainly if you have additional questions be a conduit to help getting those answers. Yeah, it's that the events of last year, the presence of ICE and the immigration enforcement has had a significant impact on the community and on the way the department does business. We are seeing folks being reluctant or unwilling to report all kinds of crime, not just hate crimes or hate incidents there. That is a concern.

Just as we're spending, Sheriff Luna has made a commitment to increasing trust and being more focused on community policing and community oriented policing.

We have this setback based on the immigration incidents enforcement. So it is a challenge. It's something that I think the department has tried to take head on by both the day to day interactions as well as using social media to explain the department's position including post to explain what the department's uniform looks like.

We have very specific policies about what people can wear and require that their, what they're wearing identifies them, their name, or their name or badge number, as well as always having their identity as a member of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. So that is, and that is consistent with state law and that is consistent with our policy and that's something we take very seriously.

So I think, you know, like all things, when there's times of crisis and challenge in law enforcement, you need to have already had been building trust and relationships, right? Because the time of crisis can be a very difficult time to do that. And so the department's working hard to, had been working hard before last year to increase that trust and that relationship and that transparency about what we do and how we do it.

And our commitment to that continues and we know it's needed to your point, needed even more now. So it's a priority for the sheriff and it's something that gets talked about regularly.

And for example, we recently, the sheriff recently convened a leadership conference for all captains and above within the department. And one of the primary discussions which included our county council as well as one of my colleagues was specifically about immigration issues and enforcement to educate the leadership of our department about what the current state of California law is and what what the sheriff expects in terms of of our response to the communities we serve.

Thank you. And the second question I had was really about really protecting places of worship. There was a sort of a high profile protest at the Wilshire Boulevard Synagogue that was horrendous in terms of what happened. You know, had a number of protesters outside the synagogue who were engaging in costing synagogue and a basically a school that the synagogue runs. Hate speech engaged at the on the sidewalk outside the synagogue.

People came into the synagogue and started screaming and scaring the people who are running it and the kids in the synagogue. Just clearly an issue that I think that the Jewish community is facing not necessarily alone, but it is a really big problem that I've seen growing over the course of the last couple of years. Just wondering, I know there's some legislation that's being considered related to bubble zones.

And I guess I'm wondering if either of you can sort of let us know that one of our colleagues is advancing now. And I was wondering if there's anything we should be keeping in mind in terms of the tools you need to protect places of worship in California as that legislation moves forward.

Yeah. Thought it was on. Okay. Yes. Thank you for that question. And I do think it is critically important to when there are places that repeatedly experience harassment because of what it stands for in the case of houses of worship, that, you know, that should be considered about how we can do create protections that are going to be ongoing. Because I do think that, you know, in many cases, we we do collect hate instances I mentioned, and we think that's really important.

And we respond to that by making sure we mobilize people who are supportive of the communities being targeted. But I also know that, you know, law enforcement has, in times past, sometimes they set up patrol vehicles nearby or sent a presence to deter any kind of illegal activity. But I think in the end, I know that this is something that the Scientology church has has experienced as well and and came to us.

But the same idea of documenting it so that you can get restraining orders, that's something that we've assisted folks in doing. And so that you can't you're not, you know, only limited to whether it's a criminal action. And when you can get help from law enforcement, you can actually, get, civil restraining orders. And sometimes, those are effective at deterring, if there's a particular group of people who are repeatedly targeting a certain place.

But I do think that that those legislation that considers creating safe zones that already sort of allow don't require people to go through a court action order to get a restraining order, sometimes is needed to address repeated targeting and harassment of communities and particularly houses of worship.

I let me just add one other thing to what you were, raising earlier because I just wanna say that the other point I'd make about how the federal immigration enforcement has affected the reporting of hate crime. I think that it's been terribly damaging to the ability for law enforcement to have a relationship with communities. It also underlines the importance of having non policing alternatives of reporting hate. Because as you as you're implying, you know, there isn't that necessarily recognition of the difference.

And in this kind of situation, people don't wanna take chances. Because if it's at all possible that they are working together, even if they're not carrying the same badge, people are shying away from it. And so in an effort to make sure we don't we give options for people experiencing hate, that's really important to fund those centers of reporting that are not law enforcement identified. And that's why Elliot versus I think has been very successful because of that. That's what it represents.

Miss Tremblay, do you have any additional information you would like to share?

No. Not at this time, but always available to provide you any additional information you might need that could be helpful with regard to the sheriff's department's jurisdiction and our efforts. And I wanna thank you for inviting Sheriff Luna and allowing me to be here on his behalf. So thank you.

Well, certainly, like to thank you for, your participation, and, ensuring that I wanna thank the sheriff for ensuring that, the department was represented. You know, this select committee has, introduced three three bills. One of them is in relation to our conversation with California's commission on hate that talks about how sometimes what we know that it's hate crimes is underreported. But also, it indicates that there may be some need for additional training of law enforcement to know what questions to ask, what things to look for.

Would you what is your assessment on that recommendation on identifying or improving law enforcement training?

Absolutely. I think that's always essential, especially when you have a specialized crime like this that requires a deeper understanding and a specialized understanding both of the statutes, but the cultural sensitivity needed to investigate and address the crimes and the investigative tools like you said, what what's most effective? What are the best practices? Always always important and necessary, especially for, crimes like hate crimes.

Also, mister Toma, the other thing that the commission on hate shared with us is the direct correlation between hate speech and dehumanizing speech of elected officials and other leaders or people who they see as leaders and their rhetoric and during the rise of hate crimes on a that particular group that that it may be focused on. Would you agree with that assessment?

I would. We have seen that historically in it's sometimes not a one to one. For example, just because someone's not elected in a given year doesn't mean there's gonna be a huge bump up in that year depending on what was said and what was done. But there's no question that words matter. The the, messages from leadership matter.

And in particular, I would say that the way we've, wanted to make sure that people are not delinking, not hate necessarily hate speech, but just demeaning treatment of other groups, in a way that might be policy oriented even, that that is important as well.

And so we actually engaged in a campaign to put out posters to remind people that elections matter, that your vote affects hate, and that by the way you vote, it can affect the amount of racism and homophobia and xenophobia, etcetera, that we're experiencing. And so we actually have posters that that do that, and I I raise it with the secretary of state, Weber to say that, you know, that's something that we think is, an important message.

And I know we're working directly with our county registrar recorder to, also, share that, that signage and those messages in their social media, etcetera. So that's, I think, an important way to address the recognition that leadership that may be talking about something that appears to be policy oriented, sends a message about the way other people are seen, are valued, or disvalued, or the way that, you know, people are being targeted for exclusion, or simply suspicion.

So all of those aspects matter when it comes to impact on hate incidents, and certainly hate hate crime, and even hate violence. If I can just add one thing because I think it's really important point that assembly member Lowenthal asked about that I didn't mention. You asked about perpetrators.

I wanna point out that not just LA County, but throughout the state, there are hundreds of people identified as having committed hate crimes, oftentimes in misdemeanors, but sometimes serious ones that end up because of the type of crime it is, because the misdemeanor, they simply it's not addressed. It's either plea bargain doubt or, you know, it's something that doesn't result in jail time.

And so there's literally nothing that happens, to those individuals. So what we propose is there be a diversion project so that when we do know somebody has committed an act of hate, a hate crime, that we have an actually a way to engage with them, to understand where it comes from, but also to provide them an educational experience or an experience that is transformational, including counseling, that can challenge them about where they are and understand also where it comes from.

And that's, I think, not only a great source of knowledge about understanding where hate is coming from, but also a way to actually start to affect those who are carrying out what might be a low level active hate in one instance, and it may become much greater if it's unaddressed over time. So we've worked with the sheriff's department, but particularly with the

I'm gonna ask staff to write that recommendation down because I think see, now you you you just you just started something. You about to you about to get some legislators throwing around some bills pretty soon.

Go ahead. You'd you'd have to look at it in today's financial climate as something that would have to be cost neutral. So you would have to have enhanced penalties that somebody could do a diversion in lieu of something else and either have to pay for it or think of it in a cost neutral way, almost like driving school, traffic school, that type of thing. Too much expense around diversion would be problematic in just today's financial climate.

But I bet you there are things that could be done along the lines that you're talking about that could be cost neutral.

Yes. We actually and I'm not just talking about this theoretically. We actually have been working with the DA's office going back several years to create such a program. It was started one called REACH that the DA's office started that we have joined in to really try to build that into the most robust program it can be. I do think I recognize your point about the cost because there is a cost to it.

But I do think that it's it's worth, you know, thinking about how we can look for ways of of neutralizing or reducing that cost because it's just such a it's such a miss, a big miss, you know, for for our our work.

And, you know, I think also obviously, we've been losing a whole lot of our, iconic civil rights leaders who really dedicated their lives to nonviolence. And a part of what they would say and the reason why they wanted to, they said that nonviolence is the best way. And in their opinion, the only real way is because it also promotes healing and healing on both sides because hate and racism and xenophobia is a sickness.

And so how do you also help the perpetrator to heal and to root out that sickness within their own soul? And so I I think there is value in what you're saying in terms of you call it diversion.

We can call it many other different things. But I think that at the end of the day, how do we make sure that as they, are being held accountable, there also is a place for them to make sure that they're healing and they're coming out of that accountability in a better place of of restoring their own humanity in the process.

Thank you so much for that. Because I'll tell you that a big part of what we have learned doing this work on Nelly versus Hate is that healing is a critical component. And sometimes if you don't heal, that person who was a victim becomes a perpetrator, right, in in seeking revenge for what occurred. But I also wanna point out that we're we recognize the power of nonviolence.

We're actually developing a training on nonviolent direct action for our partners, community partners because we recognize that it is such an important, method and and approach to, responding to what we're facing, these days.

Many communities are facing. And, I think that it's also, you know, really important element of of any kind of a work with perpetrators of of hate as well.

Absolutely. Any other questions, colleagues, at this time? Questions or comments? Seeing none, we wanna thank this panel very much for kicking us off and grounding us in in this important work. Thank you so much for your time.

Next, we're gonna bring up our next, round of panelists from our, our local, advocates. And so if you are on the second panel, please come on up.

So this is the time where this is the time where we ensure that we hear the voices of those who are affected by the data that we've been that we've seen. And it is our hope that as you are also talking about the needs and the pain of your own community, that you also take the time out to talk about the need for being allies at the same time. Right?

This is, an opportunity to ensure that we also remind all of us, that, what happens to one, They're they're usually practicing on one so they can do it to the rest of us. And we continue to see that throughout our history, and certainly, we have seen this throughout this federal administration. So first, I would like to well, the first one kicking it off will be the League of United Latin American Citizens. You wanna introduce yourself?

Thank you, mister chair and members of the committee. My name is Jose Barrera. I'm the national vice president for the League of United Latin American Citizens, otherwise known as LULAC. Oldest and largest Latino civil rights organization in this country. Our community is experiencing a rise in fear that goes beyond just isolated incidents.

It's systemic. It's felt very deeply. And we're seeing increase in hate incidents, particularly targeting immigrants, Latinos, and those perceived as actual status, we are losing funding for critical infrastructure, such as education, housing, food assistance, and health care for our communities, forcing state and local municipalities to make deep impacting cuts to these, to our communities. The climate is fueled by misinformation, political rhetoric that dehumanizes our community, And there's a normalization of xenophobia in public discourse. It shows up in schools.

It shows up in workplaces and in everyday life where people feel less safe to speak their language, expressing their culture and just simply existing. At the same time, many families are afraid to report hate crimes, or seek help due to fear of retaliation or immigration consequences, and that silence allows harm to continue if it's unaddressed. What we need is solidarity from our allies. That means standing with us publicly and consistently, not just in moments of crisis, but in everyday policy making and community engagement.

Allies can help amplify accurate information, challenge harmful narratives, and support cultural competent outreach.

We need bold actions that can fund our schools, that can fund our hospitals, and our institutions that help everyday life become easier. We also need investment in grassroots organizations that are trusted in our communities. Groups like LULAC, Chirla, and the panelists here on the ground are doing the work everyday, but we need resources to expand legal services, education, mental health, support, and rapid response efforts that when that can address when those incidents occur. And importantly, we need cross community solidarity.

Hate targeting one group today can quickly spread to others.

Our strength is in standing together. Critical role in policy and in the tone. First, strengthen the and fund hate crime reporting systems, ensuring that they're accessible in multiple languages and are culturally competent. People must feel safe and supported when coming forward. Second, invest in prevention education in our schools that promotes inclusion, accurate history, and cultural understanding.

Early education is one of the most powerful tools we have to combat hate. Investment in our health care system will also help prevent critical care from collapsing. Third, we need to expand and for community based organizations to provide direct services to act as trusted messengers. Trust is built on the local level, And ensure that Californians regardless of immigration status can access basic needs such as education and health care without fear. Policies that separate local services from federal immigration enforcement are essential to build trust.

And lastly, we need bold legislate a bold legislature that can take on key issues in just a position to what the federal government is doing and the actions that they are impacting. If any state can protect its residents, it's California. So we are very concerned about the policies and the rhetoric that's coming out here from our federal government and impacting our communities of colors. We have seen how language from national leadership discrimination.

Policies that have separate families, restrict access to asylum, or roll back civil protections that create lasting harm, not just legally, but socially and psychologically.

The attacks on birthright citizenship, attacks on voting rights and legislation that are harmful to everyone, not just here in LA County, but the country as a whole. We have seen that policies such as the passing of HR one, which happened last year, cut major funding to what California values most, which is our health and our education. And now, there's an attempt to pass the save act which would impose additional barriers to voting rights for qualified citizens.

Even beyond these specific policies, the broader impact has a chilling effect where communities feel less safe, less visible, and less protected. And as a state that has often stood as we have often stood as a firewall against those harms.

And we encourage continued leadership for that role protecting our civil rights, investing in inclusion, and setting a standard for the rest of the country. In closing, LULAC believes that every person deserves dignity, safety, and the opportunity to thrive. We look forward to working in partnership with this committee and the legislature to ensure that California remains a place where diversity is not just tolerated, but protected and celebrated. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Next, we'll hear from the Jewish Federation.

Thank you so much, Assembly member, doctor Jackson, Assembly member, Assembly member, Loewenthal. We appreciate being included at the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles in today's, excuse me, important hearing. I'm Joanna Mendelsohn. I'm the senior vice president of community engagement for the federation where we work to build meaningful relationships between the Los Angeles Jewish community and our neighbors to uplift this city. We appreciate the committee's attention on the challenges facing our community.

The data points and paints a deeply troubling picture. According to the FBI's twenty twenty four hate crimes report, Jews remain the most targeted religious group in The United States, accounting for 69% of all religiously based hate crimes. Here in California, where Jews comprise just 3% of our state's population, we are victims of 15% of reported hate crimes statewide, according to the California Department of Justice.

And as Robin Toma pointed out, even more starkly here in LA County, Jews accounted for approximately 80% of all religiously motivated hate crimes. These figures are not abstract.

They reflect a lived reality that has intensified significantly year over year. Following 10/07/2023 when the terrorist organization Hamas carried out a horrific and unprovoked attack against Israel, As we see every time there's a crisis in The Middle East, we witnessed here in Los Angeles and throughout California and the nation a sharp and at times lethal rise in antisemitism. Sadly, you look just last week in Michigan where a terrorist drove a car packed with explosives into one of the largest reform synagogues in the country.

Inside that building was a 106 children. It's a miracle that other than the perpetrator, no one else was killed.

But without the robust security measures in place, this could have resulted in yet another devastating mass casualty attack. Here in Los Angeles, home to the second largest Jewish community in the nation, the reports coming into our community security initiative just last year went up 74%, and most of them were primarily motivated by hate. As assembly members Boar referenced, in December 2025, an event at the Wilshire Boulevard Temple bringing together Korean Americans and Jewish American communities was disrupted by protesters.

Attendees who are present were harassed, anti Semitic slurs shouted, smoke bombs ignited, and property damaged. And a similar incident happened at Adas Torah just eighteen months prior.

So in response to the rise of incidents, Jewish institutions have been forced to take an extraordinary security to take on extraordinary security measures. Across the country, Jewish organizations spend more than $765,000,000 annually on security expenses and unprecedented unsustainable burden. Synagogues by necessity are installing metal detectors, bulletproof glass, bollards to defend against vehicle ramming and must hire armed guards. Community should have to bear the burden simply to gather safety. At the time, anti at the same time, antisemitism is rising in our educational spaces.

In k through 12 schools and on college campuses, Jewish students are facing harassment, exclusion, and bias, sometimes from both peers and educators. And too often, meaningful legislative solutions, grounded in multi pronged approaches, including establishing the safe worship zones while protecting free speech. Just today, it was posted assembly member Bauer Kayehan's bill AB two six six four. Increasing funding for nonprofit security grants, enabling communities to protect themselves without diverting resources from their core missions.

Strengthening holocaust and genocide education while ensuring the teachers are equipped to teach these subjects effectively.

Implementing AB 715 a crucial measure addressing anti semitism in our kthrough 12 schools. Thanks to the courageous and effective leadership of assembly members Boer and Addis, as well as the legislators Jewish caucus who unanimously passed it. Community is vibrant here in Los Angeles, it represents only 2.4% of The United States's population, underscoring the disproportionate vulnerability many feel today.

We continue to be grateful for our allies here and across the world. Allies here and across California, including our elected leaders. But we implore you, as you've done, and we encourage you to continue. Continue to speaking out immediately, clearly, and unequivocally, when antisemitism and all forms of hate emerge. Help lower the proverbial tension and temperature and contribute to healing our strained political discourse.

This includes using thoughtful, responsible language and actions, not trigger words, that cause and fuel harm harmful narratives or intensify an already heightened climate of antisemitism. And continue as you're doing to lead decisively to combat hate in all its forms. We remain committed to working alongside you to ensure that every community here in California can live openly and freely, safely from fear and hatred. Thank you for your serious consideration of these matters and for your commitment to ensuring the safety and vitality of the Jewish community.

Thank you very much. Now we will hear from the NAACP.

Oh, you looked at me. My name is Daryl Goode. I'm today, I'm here representing this California State Conference. I'm also the Santa Monica Venice branch president, which is your area. And my wife is a judge, and people in general say I should be nice at this presentation.

But we but we have to be truthful in terms of the way things are impacting our communities. So that in 1908 there was a something called massacre, something called slaughter or riot. Hundreds of black folks were killed in Springfield, Illinois were were killed in Springfield, Illinois. The genesis of 1909 was the NAACP in New York. And as some of you may know and those who don't, it was a multicultural board.

African Americans, Native Italian it was a collective group to address the atrocities that were going at the time. Rape of black men and women and children and Native Americans and others, and being hung because you're Jewish. That was common at the time. So that we came there as a coalition. So you fast forward, and we still are in a position being a community organizations, we have 55 branches in the state of California.

We've got 15 branches in Los Angeles County. I'm the area director for LA County, and we deal with issues. And and the language is important. Even now, I'm speaking to you in the language of colonizers. I'm sure you know what that means.

So and and so that we have to because of cultural, we're coming from our culture and and to the language of colonizers. And that's just unique here. What if I travel, I travel all around. You're in Indonesia, they speak about the colonizers. Where are you going after?

So we still have that language. So it's very important to us. So that and we look forward to working with all the groups. A lot of things that we've done has helped other groups in their social justice movement. In late sixties, I'm gonna date myself, when there's a issue between the Jewish community and the African American community, B'nai B'rith is an organization that reached out to help repair those challenges.

However, you know, language and perception of what America gives us perception of of African Americans is a challenge. We met with the council general at Israel about a year and a half, two years ago. We had a great meeting and we had expressed this individual that all of the intelligence, you know, those of you who know that, you don't really know who you're speaking to because we were there as the branch president of Santa Monica Vinas.

And I said, you've never seen a representation of us that is legitimate. And it bothered him.

So as we were leaving, he said, I've thought of one. And I said, what is that? And he said, blackish. That would be like me saying married children. So there is some perspective.

Those issues that are very germane that come up. In Santa Monica, we've got a issue because, the this gentleman is 105 years old. He brought a Park, Virginia Parks in Santa Monica that the white sharks at the time did not want that community was black and brown to have a park. And we I'm drawing blank of his name as judge. He died in a plane accident a few years ago.

He brought to us as a man who brought a construct to the community. Now we're in a fight with some of the Latinos in the community that feel the departure not be named after black person. We didn't support it because he's black. We supported it. He brought it to the community as a person.

And those are the challenges we're still having with the city. My point is given all that, our organization is still been forefront with Santa Monica Police Department when we're encouraging we're gonna be open to getting reports from our Latino residents so they can report crimes so they're not victimized. Our organization has still been in that forefront. You know? And perceptions are important.

When I there's I don't know why they reach out to NACP. They should be going to our state department. Australian consulate reached out, and they want to talk to us. And what can we help you do? They didn't realize we knew about the Aborigines.

Tell us how we can help you deal with them. So to the point, reverend Jesse Jackson several years ago indicated because of the legacy of our organization and all the historic nineteen sixteen nineteen forward, that legacy since the nineteen seventies is cost 350 plus black lives in the streets of United States. You know, not not to discount the contract thing when they were using drug sales in our communities to fund Operation CIA. Those legacies continue today.

So there's a reason I've got a violence with talk to sheriff Luna.

We talked to why we're focused on Compton, Watts. And, you know, community time mark is much different in most communities. But those communities live in fear because the prevalence that we're used to living with this and will outlive our our pain and, I guess, persistence isn't challenging. When the community sees a reparations bill go to it's up and spoke, it doesn't signal illegitimacy in terms of you know? And at state conference level and, and, you know, LA, you know, LA Counties are very political.

We are very less forgiving to our state conference. So those are the kind of things that are real. We have developed it, you know, and I just met her, but we have a relationship with Jim, Robert Luna. We have to have these relationships so that when things come up, we have problems. And I know there's a systemic culture as you saw a point in time today about LAC lost another lawsuit.

Because they don't interrupt the culture. We've got to do things when I the way I look today, when I look and I address a police officer, I walk up to him. Sometimes they assume because I'm older and I'm retired law enforcement. So I get them to speak, and I and I well, as we're talking, I tell them, you know, who I am or what I represent. But I want the dialogue.

I'm not gonna share with the chief or anything else, but we need to understand the culture that is providing. So you have migrants. One of our issues, we have migrants. I don't know. When after Africans start first came to this country, they didn't wanna talk to African Americans because they were told that we were not as good as they were.

What they didn't tell these new people coming in, they didn't tell the white people here they were different. So when they would start getting pulled over by police and all the other things, now we see each other say, hey. What's going on? Because they understand.

And so we even you know, although we've had a another issue in Santa Monica, we had a it's got a culture, got a culture, and and three faculty members who happen to be African American male had challenges with a person that has said they're LBGT.

They felt pressure or disrespected because they're African male. Couple years ago, we went in, intervened because that chair during the pandemic had given away his and and when you have a certificate program, you you guarantee your hours. So during the pandemic, this person gave his hours away to part time wife so they didn't lose their benefits. At the end of that period, he owed a $134,000 and a year away from retirement. We went in.

We showed it. You don't want us to get into this battle, you, between LGBT and NAACP. Having said that, because we understand challenges, we have a committee LGP in NACP now because we're open no matter what challenges we get from the different cultures. We know at the end of the day, we've all got to come together as human beings. The after the NCP, the movement was not about being black.

It was being respected as human beings, as men and women, and not have someone try to take your culture away. And in our culture, black scared the hell out of white America with James Brown. Then after that, all the great movies we had in the sixties went away. We had black exploitation. Language of the colonizers is a flip, what that means.

So if you think about someone says black man or black you don't know what that is. If you say a man, you or a woman, you know. And I'm not just not acknowledging the other definition we have today. But just in general, your humanity is taken away. So our positions at NACP, you look at our mission statement.

We've made it really short now, but we're open to everyone. We have we would but the challenge to the African American community, the black community, is still the same. We've we've got unions who African Americans are in the union, so feel they're being represented because they're black. As in even LA County, we have professional psychologists who are complaining down to the people who are making maintenance. And then it comes down to cultural, you know, African American or Latino.

We're talking about hate. There those things start to permeate. Those things create violence if it's not interrupted. And that's one of the things that we as the NCP, we're on top of National Association of Advancement of Colored People. And today, color meant plural.

You know? You know, it's it's all I may assume is black people call we call it color. There was time we were called color and worse, you know. However, colored people means plural, and that's where we are. So what we would hope to do is through the assembly and the other state organizations and local organizations works with the AACP to help us in our mission to make it a better community and safer.

And so that African Americans are a part of the equation and that we interrupt the language of hate and resistance and dismissiveness in our culture. And that's and that kinda says it all so that we can move forward because we cannot let other human beings be you know, we went to with the a meeting watched it not long ago after the observation of the six years since the Watts riot. The city councilman, everybody wanna get up after dark. It's not conscionable.

So we as an organization, we're a long way from this being resolved, of course, but we are looking for support from local and state until we get those reelection, maybe federal at some point.

But I appreciate being here, and and we are open to working with everyone at this table And we want because we've hit issues and we've come together, but together, we can make sure this is a better place. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Nick. We'll have Los Angeles LGBTQ Center.

Good morning, chair, members of the committee, and staff. My name is Joey Hernandez, and I use they and he pronouns. I proudly serve as the director of policy and community building for at the Los Angeles LGBT Center, which is the largest LGBTQ plus organization in the world.

I am also a non binary, queer, Latine child of immigrants who has seen firsthand the harsh realities too many of our community members face over the course of my life and in the last twenty years of advocating on behalf of this beautiful community. The reality is this.

Our community is under unprecedented attack, both politically and physically. First, we are facing extreme and escalating attacks from this federal administration, including efforts to dismantle civil rights protections, ban survivors fleeing violence from entering this country, target LGBTQ plus families, and erase transgender people from public life. These actions have a chilling effect on safety, health access, and community trust, especially for youth, immigrants, and trans people of color. As a social service provider with over 500,000 visits a year, we feel the impact every day.

Increased fear, increased violence, and increased demand for services.

Second, we are facing a crisis of hate violence. As our colleague from the Human Rights Commission referenced, the most recent LA County hate crime report shows deeply disturbing trends. Anti transgender hate crime saw the largest rise of any group and almost all were violent. Transgender women were the majority of victims and more than half of these attacks occurred in public spaces. Nationally, one in five reported hate crimes targeted LGBTQ plus people.

These numbers are about real people, Our neighbors, our staff, our clients being attacked simply for existing. We need allies to put the values of liberation, courage, and integrity into action. California must continue to be a bulwark against these attacks. And I've heard as I've heard from many of you, our laws and budgets are reflection of our values. We need the state to be proactive, protective, and bold.

Because rhetoric becomes policy and policy becomes violence. LGBTQ plus safety is a shared responsibility and our liberation is inseparable from racial justice, immigrant rights, reproductive freedom, and bodily autonomy. There are concrete steps the legislature can take right now in this session. First, we urge you to pass the $26,000,000 funding proposal for gender affirming care. The state only medical program will address the demand for these services that are that far exceeds capacity.

Gender affirming care funding supports life saving health care at a time when the federal government is working to dismantle that infrastructure of clinics across the country, including Children's Hospital of Los Angeles that closed their doors to hundreds of transgender patients. Second, we urge you to pass the $35,000,000 funding proposal for the LGBTQ community center fund. LGBTQ plus centers across the state are serving more people with fewer resources as federal grants and funds are increasingly attacked, rescinded, or politically targeted.

At the Los Angeles LGBT Center alone, we have had millions of dollars in federal grants terminated or threatened to be terminated. While we have brought a lawsuit challenging these attacks in court, the federal administration is unrelenting.

This fund would ensure stability for essential services such as housing support, mental health care, youth programs, and violence prevention, while federal protections remain under assault. Third, we urge you to reauthorize the California versus hate program. This program is one of the most effective statewide tools for community based prevention, response, and healing. At the at the center, these funds directly support survivors of hate violence and help rebuild trust in systems that have historically harmed LGBTQ plus people.

In closing, despite the challenges we face, California has always been a beacon of hope for LGBTQ plus people across the country and the world.

With your partnership, we can continue building a state where trans and queer people are not only safe, but are healthy, equal, and complete. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Next, we'll have the Coalition of Humane Immigrant Rights Los Angeles.

And Assembly Members Lowenthal and Assembly Member Zipper, my name is Janette Sineepatine. I am the policy and advocacy director for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. I oversee all of CHIRLA's local, state, and federal policy work as well as our impact litigation team. Thank you for the invitation to be here alongside these incredible colleagues that have been doing tremendous work for all of our communities here in Los Angeles County. I'm here to speak about what is happening right now with our communities.

As many of my colleagues have mentioned, Immigrants right now are living a moment of fear and violence and terror as we are seeing unprecedented immigration enforcement in many places on our streets, in our churches, in places of businesses. And so, not only are California's immigrants being targeted for immigration enforcement, but obviously also targeted for hate crimes, hate speech, and hate acts.

And just for reference, hate act as a term to refer to any, event motivated by bias or prejudice, whether explicit or implicit, against a person or a group's actual or perceived identities that inflicts, individual or community harm. So as you can see, the rhetoric, the rhetoric surrounding immigration has really fueled the fire here in many places like California.

Conversations around border enforcement and drawing clear lines of who belongs in our country have all served to increase all three of these categories of hate targeting, especially for immigrants from various communities, including including our brothers and sisters from our the Asian American and Pacific Islander community, Muslim community, African immigrants, and members from, the LGBT community as well.

And for Latinos, that's the, multiple intersections of of of those communities as well. Additionally, just some quick stats. In 2024, we saw the largest number of reported hate crimes that were motivated by race, ethnicity, or national origin. They accounted for over 48% of all hate crimes. For anti Latino crimes, 38% contained anti immigrant language and anti immigrant slurs.

Things like, you know, wet back or go back to your country were used in many of these instances. Of these, 66% targeted Latinos, and of those, 65 specifically were anti Mexican. 15% targeted, Asians. UCLA Center for Health and Policy Research, which does this health survey every year called the California Health Interview Survey or KISS, the 2024 report, found that one in eleven Californians directly experienced hate in the past year.

One in seven Californians witnessed that hate act, and adolescents were nearly twice as likely as adults to directly experience hate in the past year as well.

One of the biggest concerns that we have, not only coming out of from the rhetoric coming out of the White House, that, as I mentioned, serves to fuel hate in our society and really causes deep harm to not only the individuals that are targeted, but also their families and our communities. These acts sow division and fear for many communities across California.

Immigrants are reluctant to report hate incidents due to fear of law enforcement and our government as well as concerns about language accessibility and fear about their own family members' immigration their own or their family members' immigration status.

Underreporting of hate crimes is still a concern for most individuals, and many prefer to seek help from other family members or trusted allies within their social circle or others, or others continue to live in fear, live to continue to live in fear in silence and never report these incidents to anyone. This is why funding for the state of California and local entities are so crucial to continue, to raise awareness, leverage resources, and create systems of reporting that are trusted within California's immigrant communities across the state.

It is critically important to continue to, fund programs like Stop Hate and Stop a a p AAPI Hate because these programs are directly, addressing the needs of the community, but also changing the landscape of trust to access services and support. Sir, Chirla has been fortunate enough to get some of this funding from, CDSS.

And as part of our initiative, we have been able to work with different coalitions in places like the Inland Empire, to work, not only, develop strategic, alliances in these regions, but really build networks of community based organizations, including LULAC and NAACP and the Civil Rights Institute of England, and Southern California and family assistance program where we connect community members directly with local officials and law enforcement to build community trust and ensure community safety is as centered in this fight against hate.

We also conduct anti hate forums. We are able to organize these forums throughout the Inland Empire, Claremont, Pomona, San Bernardino areas as well, to ensure that we are able to feature representatives from community organizations, again, local elect elected officials and law enforcement to continue to build trust and collaboration and stand up against hate.

I just wanted to give you a flavor of sort of also the work that Trilla does. We do have an immigration assistance line where folks are able to report hate incidents. We had one caller back in 2024 reach out to this line because her sister was in the middle of an an eviction process and the land the landlord threatened to call immigration on her. This young woman was very afraid and called her brother for advice.

And one of the things that we were able to do is through that call, she also asked for help with her immigration case and wanted to get the advice of an immigration provider as well.

So all even though this call came from Northern California, it's it was actually from Oakland and from The Bay Area. Shout out to the Bay Area. Through our network, we're able to still connect this caller, to, the anti hate network that we have here in California and provide her with all the referrals that she needed on that day.

So as you can see, the work that California has done, the amount of infrastructure that we have already built into our state, it's really important to continue to fund these program these programs. I do wanna just uplift one other thing really quickly.

One of the things that is really important in the the intersectional nature of hate crimes is also just understanding the immigration needs of individuals as well. Folks who are crime victims are eligible for, either a U visa, if you're a trafficking victim, a T visa, or maybe, maybe eligible for other protections under the Violence Against Women's Act.

And so it's really important that we, as we look at hate crimes, that we're also looking at policies that we are, uplifting for community members and and and letting them know what their rights are as well. And to that end, we do have a bill that, assembly member Alvarez is moving this year.

It's AB nineteen forty four, 44, which would would require law enforcement to provide information, for individuals, who are victims of of crimes and give them this information within fourteen days of of submitting or filing a police report.

But we also urge all of you here to continue to fund programs here in the state of California that ensure that these networks remain in place in the face of unprecedented number of attacks, make this a priority in our budget fight this year. We realize that this is a really tough budget year for Californians, but again, this is critically important to ensure that we have this infrastructure in place and that we don't lose it.

We wanna specifically request support for, the Stop Hate, budget proposal, which is requesting 100,000,000 in funding over the course of the next three years. And then just lastly, I'll just close. You know, really wanna thank you for holding this hearing today.

Many of our communities are facing, multiple crises here in LA. It's not only about immigration enforcement. We are facing an economic crisis as well. And and and some members of our community, are also victims of the wildfires.

And so in the wake of this landscape, the more than we could, build upon the infrastructure that we have in LA, the quicker that we're able to not only provide those wraparound services, but also provide really comprehensive services to individuals that are in re really vulnerable situations at this given moment in time and, the better equipped we are to provide those resources in in a timely fashion.

Thank you.

Thank you very much. You know, today is a day where many Muslims worldwide are celebrating Eid al Fitr, the festival of breaking the fast. This holiday marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan featuring communal morning prayers, special meals, charity, and family gatherings, which is why the Council of American Islamic Relations was unable to be with us today. And we sincerely apologize that we cannot find a date that we'll be able to accommodate them.

However, committee staff will be reading their statement for today to make sure that we have it in the record.

And so I'll ask, Latifa Alexander to read their statement.

Thank you to chairman Jackson and distinguished members of the select committee on racism, hate, and xenophobia for allowing Care California to submit a statement. The Council on American Islamic Relations is the nation's largest Muslim civil rights organization in the country, and we are grateful for this committee's work and the opportunity to place our community's concerns into the official record of this body.

We unfortunately could not attend the hearing in person as it coincides with today's Eid al Fitr holiday, a celebration marking the end of Islamic holy month of Ramadan. So for those of us observing today, Eid Mubarak. Today's remarks are grounded in data, real numbers documenting real harm to real Californians.

CARES 2025 annual civil rights report documented a record high of 8,683 complaints nationwide, the highest in the the organization's thirty year history. These are not hypothetical concerns. They are documented incidences incidents of discrimination, harassment, and government overreach affecting Muslim communities in workplaces, schools, government agencies, and public spaces across this country, including right here in California. The nature of the discrimination has also shifted in a disturbing direction.

For the second consecutive year, employment discrimination was the single most reported category, surpassing hate crimes, government overreach, and all other forms of bias.

Muslims are being fired, disciplined, passed over, and harassed at work, not for misconduct, but for their faith, their ethnicity, and increasingly, for their political speech. The report found that in 2025, the narrative that Islamic religions principles are inherently threatening an anti American became a driver of workplace discrimination targeting Muslim livelihoods. Let me say that plainly for the record. People are losing their jobs in California because of how they pray and what they believe. That is not a free society.

That is not the California we are supposed to be. Our research also documented something more systemic than individual incidences. Coordinated efforts by political actors and institutions to redefine the boundaries of protected religious and civic participation, advancing the idea that Muslim identity in pro Palestinian political speech placed people outside the normal protections of religious liberty and equal citizenship. As CARE's report concludes, 2025 became a climate in which Muslim civic participation carried heightened risk not seen since 09/11.

The targeting has been explicit at the state level in other parts of this country as we watch with alarm.

Texas and Florida governors have publicly claimed to ban Sharia, targeting Islamic centers, proposed mosque, Muslim burial practices, Islamic schools, and civil rights organizations like CARE itself. And in Congress, five bills aimed at banning Islam were introduced by sitting federal officials. Just last week, Tennessee representative Andy Ogles posted on x, quote, Muslims don't belong in American society, unquote. These are not fringe positions. They are policy proposals from people with rural power.

Here in California, we see the downstream effects. As this hearing takes place in LA, in 2025, we received a 140 intakes from people based in Los Angeles County alone. Of these intakes, 18% were related to employment discrimination, 14 were related to education discrimination, and 11% were related to hate crimes and incidents. One concrete California example is of a nurse at Marin Health Medical Center in Northern California who was forced to resign after she wore a free Palestine badge reel.

Her colleagues displayed Black Lives Matter and LGBTQ pins without incident.

She was singled out. Care California filed a formal complaint with the Civil Rights Department. In a similar case, a registered nurse at the outpatient surgery center of El La Jolla was terminated for displaying pro Palestinian stickers on her water bottle, a clear violation of California labor codes protecting employees from retire retaliation for political activities. These are not isolated of incidents, they are a pattern. And the threat reaches beyond workplaces into the fundamental rights of civic participation.

Mustafa Zaidan, a Palestinian American community organizer in LA, was placed on the FBI's no flight list with no notice, no due process, and no explanation shortly after he began organizing peaceful protests for Gaza. CARE California filed suit against the FBI in August 24. This is happening here in our communities to our neighbors. The government using surveillance infrastructure to punish people for exercising their first amendment rights. We address this committee not only to name the problems, but to call to action for those who stand alongside us.

California has historically led the nation on civil rights. This is a moment to lead again. First, strengthen hate crimes and bias incident reporting infrastructure and disaggregate data by religion, ethnicity, and national origin. California needs granular, reliable data, the kind care has been forced to collect ourselves because government systems failed to capture the full picture. A state that cannot see the harm cannot address it.

AB 91, known as the MENA Inclusion Act, was enacted just this past January, but already faces serious efforts to roll back this hard fought win. We urge this body to support the full implementation of AB 91 as it was originally passed. Second, invest in community based civil rights education. Fund organizations like CARE to conduct know your rights trainings in communities, schools, and workplaces. When people know their rights, they are better equipped to defend them in better position to report violations that inform policy.

Third, enact and enforce robust workplace anti discrimination protections that explicitly protect employees against retaliation for religious expression and political speech on matters of international concern. The pattern documented in CARE's report is clear. Muslims are being economically punished for their faith and their views. The law must close that gap. Fourth, prohibit California state and local enforcement from sharing surveillance data with federal authorities for purposes of immigration enforcement or political profiling without judicial authorization.

Surveillance without oversight erodes the trust of our communities that sorry, erodes the trust our communities need to participate safely in civic life. Fifth, ensure meaningful representation. Appoint Muslim Californians to boards, commissions, and task force. In 2025, CAIR tracked 38 electoral victories of Muslim candidates nationally, including a Muslim mayor elected in New York City and a Muslim lieutenant governor in Virginia. Our communities are ready to lead.

This legislature should ensure we have seats at every table where decisions about our lives are made. The current federal administration poses a profound threat to civil liberties by institutionalizing Islamophobia through the reinstatement of the Muslim ban, the use of immigrant immigration enforcement to suppress political speech, and the rollback of vital civil rights protections.

Furthermore, the administration's use of national security rhetoric to justify the religious and ethnic targeting of Muslim communities, including a new war with Iran, shifts the burden to states like California to defend these vulnerable populations. In closing, the data is clear. The record high of 8,683 civil rights complaints documented by CARE in 2025 is a measure of real harm to real people, employees, students, families, worshipers, and advocates in communities like ours across California.

CARA California thanks this committee for reach for creating space for our voices. We ask that this hearing be the beginning of a sustained legislative commitment, one backed by data, by resources, and by political courage. Thank you.

Thank you very much for that. Just two questions, and then we'll have some closing comments. The first one is, what can the state legislature do, to increase, trust and safety when it comes to dealing with issues of hate? And this is for anyone on the panel who would like to answer that question.

So one thing I think we should do just overall kinda see this through the lens of law enforcement, right, and thinking through how to engender that trust. And I think one thing we could do is look at the ways in which law enforcement is cooperating with immigration enforcement at this moment. Right? We do have SB 54 that clearly states law enforcement cannot cooperate with the federal government when the sole focus of the federal operation is immigration enforcement.

But there are other gaps where we see that local law enforcement is cooperating or helping federal federal enforcement to either suppress things like political speech, suppress our First Amendment rights.

And so, really thinking through, from that lens, where are the gaps that exist in law that that we could delineate and ensure? Because I think the state has a state interest, right, in ensuring that state residents can go to our local police and and trust them to report crimes, to serve as witnesses, or to have but to help in the collaboration of any investigation. And at this moment in time, with immigration enforcement, our communities are seeing all law enforcement as one and the same.

And so I think that's a more heightened state, interest that that we have overall. And instead of looking at these, policies as just an immigration issue or this is just about immigration and federal enforcement, it is really an issue about how we need to use our own state policing powers, to engender the trust of our community so that we can create public safety for everyone.

Because what's currently happening is it's eroding trust, and it's compromising all of our public safety. If Aye, as an immigrant, can't serve as a witness, my neighbor's gonna be in trouble. Right? Could could could seriously be harmed. And so we really need to start thinking about this more globally as a state as a as opposed to just an immigrant only issue.

I I believe that trust is built off of the foundation of safety and connection. Trust being able to proliferate from those as foundational concepts. And so when we're so often focused on survival, we are not able to connect with community. And so I think, one thing that would be incredibly helpful is the continued support of social services in the state of California.

If we don't have our basic needs met, then we're not gonna be able to have the energy or the capacity to be able to build trust or community.

And so that's why I continue to and thank you so much for the members of the LGBTQ Caucus of California to support the LGBTQ Community Center Fund proposal. And I would hope that that proposal advances forward in the legislature so that we can continue to build trust amongst not only our legislature and our state, but also with our LGBTQ community members that are that are struggling to survive.

Yes. Prop 36, we would love it as state legislators could provide funding for alternative sentencing. Prop 36 to the African American and Latino community has the potential of being three strikes on steroids. And at the end of the day, the funding will appear in the prison system or far exceed the rehab rehabilitative things we can do now. So I know there's a lack of funding.

It's leaving the judges in the quagmire that we've talked to. We talked to the law enforcement, and we're trying to get them they at least the leadership is supporting constitutional policing. But, you know, given culture, you know, our our citizens are still end up in that system. So we still need a way for them and then permanently, you know, once you get all these felonies and whatnot, like, property three strikes, it's challenging.

So in your funding, we're asking that you look at this for the alternative sentencing so that we can do better things.

Sheriff Luna, we brought issue to him. They weren't getting buses. He ordered 20 new buses to get people to the courthouse so that they could have a fair hearing and and not rush through the process. But with this, we want funding if if you have it. You have the opportunity to alternative sentencing.

It's critical because, you know, we have judges, you know, they're turning over. They've got public defenders become judges now. I mean so we're in the opportunity to maybe intervene rather than having this tremendous cost of prison incarceration that affects us. Thank you.

My recommendations come at no cost. Perhaps financial, but

You speak in our language.

I speak in your language. Sometimes it's so basic. Right? It's just it's this meeting here. It's elevating the concerns.

At some point, each of our communities that we're representing have been othered, othered by the system, othered by the legislation, othered by the climate, and figuring out ways in which you as leaders can show up. And you do a great job, and you've championed our issues. Continuing to do that. Continuing to speak out and make us feel heard.

Address things as you see them and make sure that it's not either or black or white, you know, picking sides that you are speaking directly about a concern of a community.

Jewish inclusion for, you know, making sure that of of all the different diverse communities out there, making sure that the Jewish community also is represented and heard. And and I think I can say the same for each of the organizations that spoke today that that we're all part of this kind of toxic soup. We're swimming we're swimming amongst this really, really, really toxic water right now. And together, we can only lift all of our our boats.

And so and also not only just speaking up, but showing up.

I think that is so important. Having you come and address and be and and be in community and speak to our community, it goes a very, very long way.

Thank you. And I I share some of the same sentiments as my colleagues here, especially, with Prop 36 and the injustices that could come from that. Unfortunately, my recommendations do come with funding. Primarily, I I wanna shed light that the federal government had cut critical resources such as in the Department of Justice, there is a community relations division and there's civil rights division.

These community relations agents have been cut, fired wrongfully, and that leads a void that, you know, of resources that we to help address some of these hate crimes.

So, you know, at this point, the state might have to step in and make up for some of those shortfalls. I think funding towards those types of programs might be critical in order to ensure that there's that the state is being able to be a stronger partner with communities and organizations that wanna prevent hate crimes and Santa Fe, Opovea, and racism.

The last question is, how can people show up as allies for your community? How can people show up as allies for your community?

I think this I think this forum is a great example of how we could all show up as allies. An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us. And I think solidarity, especially when there is an attack, has lasting impacts. And not just when we face an attack, but also have roundtable conversations before any incidents come. So we have those relationships built upon in anticipation for what might ultimately will happen in in this day and age.

I think the first step is understanding. Understanding what every community is experiencing and having that as a baseline for us to begin in dialogue. Federation runs a united leaders project where we bring leaders across the city together so we can hear and understand how each community is addressing the issues, the systemic issues facing their community. And then the second is that we may not always agree, but where are the concentric circles in which we cross over? Where is it that we may find commonality?

We may not find commonality across the board, but there are absolutely some core issues that we can align on. And then how can we be dogged and address those very, very deliberately, and come together? And and then using your voice not just when it impacts your community, but using your voice and reaching out. I can't tell you the the notes that we got after Michigan to the Jewish community saying, we hear you. We hear how this is scary.

We hear what this incident, did to you and your community and the fear that it created, And that goes a long way.

I think the while allyship in this moment necessitates labor of some form, actively participating in dismantling bias in some way. And, yes, that does come with a dollar amount at times. But it also just requires us to get uncomfortable, to do the type of self reflection that is necessary to acknowledge our own biases and then be able to dismantle them actively.

I think in relation to the nonviolent resistance that was mentioned earlier, in thinking about Gandhi's concept of satyagraha and nonviolent resistance, I think it's really necessary to have, self reflection in a way that also is nonviolent to others. How can you continue to dismantle your own biases while still participating in community and also in civic engagement?

How do we engage in that, process through the micro, the meso, and the macro, with nonviolence, but with explicit truth telling of what's happening?

Yeah. And I would just add from an immigrant perspective, you know, many of our folks are just facing extreme levels of violence and hate even in in detention. Right? We get stories from folks that are in detention centers that are getting beaten up, profiled by not only, officers with within the detention center, but in the process of them getting arrested by federal enforcement agents. And so we've even heard of stories of folks being beaten by our military.

And so this is this is pervasive, and I think we need to sort of hold a mirror up to ourselves, right, in in in in many ways to really try to reform, the the way that hate has permeated the infrastructures, the infrastructure in our country. Right? But also just, as my colleagues mentioned, just showing up for, for our communities and for individuals that have that have really been severely impacted.

One thing Trella has been doing is, we work with families, whose loved ones have been detained, and we reach out to their local policy maker, whether it's a local policy, state, or a member of congress to meet directly with impacted families to really understand, the impact that immigration enforcement and the discrimination and and and how the discrimination has really felt for their families, so they could sit with, not only an understanding, but a better perspective.

And so we ask, our policy makers to meet directly with, families in in the family's home.

Not not a neutral place, but to really understand sort of what folks are facing on a day to day basis. And, you'd be surprised how many policymakers are leave those meetings just really, with with a whole other awareness and go back to Washington and become really good spokespersons about what's happening right now on the ground.

I believe as organization of leaders, we have to sometimes step outside of our culture, in a in a culture of belief that reinforces our biases or prejudice and racism. And so that we have a opportunity within our own cultures to combat that, and so we can come together. And there's a concept of love and hate. You know, it's hate is really interesting because it can never be satiated. Once you trigger it, it just keeps going.

Love is satisfying. You know, it's fulfilling. It goes forward. And so lacking that and the and the the damage of it and I know my my colleagues in Japan be surprised I'm speaking this way because we train mercenaries. You can't be successful in violence because it does not end.

And you created a a situation if if your child is killed and and drunk by drunk driver, you may be law abiding, but you may do something very because the hate drives you to something's not reasonable. So as organizations and as leaders, we've got to come together and put that aside. And then make sure we teach our community or the people we're representing that we've got to change. We've got to do it differently. And in ACP, we keep coming to the table.

And, fortunately, the leadership probably isn't as aggressive as people my age would have been, but you still have to come to the table and be willing to work and say we're all human beings. And if you've had a conflict, let's come together, and let's move the ball forward. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Thank you all. I want to, yield to assembly member Zaver.

Thank you, Chair Jackson. So first of all, I just wanna thank you all for being here today. It's important that you've taken time to help educate those of us in the legislature and the community about really the unique challenges that each of your communities face and the commonality in what you're facing as well. Each of you represent communities that are facing unique forms of hate, but forms of hate that affect all of your communities. You know, I I look at, you know, Mr.

Goode and recognize that, you know, that the community is facing long standing institutionalized forms of racism that we need to continue working on addressing in institutionalized ways in our communities. And then, of course, a federal government that has given up on prioritizing civil rights enforcement and meeting the social service needs of our communities. That's no different from folks in the immigrant and Latino communities, obviously.

But we see a horrendous focus in the targeting, not only the black community, but Latinos and immigrants as we have federal agents for the first time in our history coming into our communities and targeting people and ripping them out away from their families and their schools. And so, you're coming to us with recommendations and raising those voices is particularly important.

And I just want to thank you. And then of course, Joey, Mr. Hernandez, we've worked for together for many years. We have, you know, similar to the to the issues that immigrants are facing in our country. We actually have a the fact that the LGBTQ community and transgender people and transgender kids in particular are the have become a wedge issue with this federal administration, and that has resulted in real harm to those communities with the as you read reference the closure of children's hospital.

I mean, I can't tell you how many families have come to us because they have lost the gender affirming care that they were entitled to. And of course, we have the whole issue of what's happening to these kids in schools, and using LGBTQ and transgender kids in particular as a wedge issue in order for this federal administration to achieve political gains. And then, of course, our Jewish community, which, you know, I think is the unique part there is that the antisemitism is rampant.

And I mean, I it's I can't even say it's growing because it's just so rampant. And I, I think the unique thing about the, what's happening with the Jewish community is the antisemitism is coming from both the left and the right.

And that is something that I find very troubling and and and, you know, and have been in rooms where what we all understand is the cultural competency that every community deserves and look looking and centering the voices of that community, that that respect is not given to the Jewish community. That folks will lecture them and tell members of the Jewish community what is and isn't antisemitism, and will not listen to them.

And sort of the experience that they've had for millennia in one of the oldest hates that exists. So I just want to thank you all for being here today. I want to thank chair Jackson for convening this group.

He I'm particularly grateful for his allyship with the Jewish community because it's one of the the largest portions of my district, and he has just been a steadfast ally to the community. I wanna thank him for that. And thank you all for being here today. I you know, it sort of breaks my heart that we have to have this kind of convening today under the circumstances that we're facing with what's happening and coming out of the federal government.

What we all know and what your voices are are raising is that what's happening is causing real fear, real harm, and real violence to each of the communities that you're advocating for.

And so I just wanna thank you because an important part of addressing what's happening in this country is actually raising the voices, making sure the people and we articulate and voice what's happening, so that we can actually embrace it and actually come back with ways of combating it. So I just wanna thank you all for being here today and I wanna thank the chair for convening us.

Thank you very much, assemblymen. I I wanna thank all the, panelists for participating. We will also have, another select committee before select committee hearing in Sacramento as well as we convene other statewide organizations to continue this work. As I've said before, we have a, package of three bills that is, authored by myself, assembly member Lowenthal, and assembly member Aarons also.

The idea is this, is that, those before us who, really, expanded and enforced second class citizenship, dehumanization, and racist policies and culture also embedded it systemically into the very structure of the state of California.

And it is the goal of the select committee to identify that. And just as they implemented things, our goal is to root them out and embed anti racist, anti hate, and anti xenophobic policies and institutions within the state of California so that it's not just up to communities to defend themselves, but the state of California is actually defending all people, declaring all people's humanity, as well as going on the offense. It's time for us to stop playing defense, but go on the offense as well.

And is this a less committee's intent to do that and be aggressive in doing so? I would just like to reiterate the call that all of our ancestors at some point realized, and that is is that in order for others to see the humanity, in us, we must see the humanity in them and that we must all join together in having each other's back.

We must all make sure that even if it has not has nothing to do with us, we must actually take note that it actually does have to do with us because we're all humans. And whatever is happening to one segment of humanity is directly correlated to our humanity as well. And so I wanna thank you all for participating. And I also wanna make sure that we also uplift our API brothers and sisters who in 2011, which they saw their greatest rates of hate crimes.

Thank goodness those have decreased dramatically.

But also we recognize that if it wasn't for that community, we would not have no any stop the hate funding or campaign. This is that was their brainchild to ensure that we start really embedding and building the community infrastructure, of our community. So we wanna thank, the API community for their wisdom, in fighting for this, and which has done all of us all of us a lot of good, in this process.

I also want to make sure that we reflect, on our, Middle Eastern brothers and sisters who have seen a historic rise, in their hate crimes, especially here in Los Angeles County. We wanna make sure that we know that we see them, and that we wanna make sure that we have their back as well.

And no matter what we, are going to what no matter what's going on around the world, and unfortunately, it continues to grow around the world, which means that due to that, we start to see hate crimes appear from whatever's going around the world, which also begs the question whether we should also make sure that we are speaking up for peace around the world. Martin Luther King also talked about the three evils of the world three evils of this world, which is poverty, racism, and militarization.

I believe that we can do a lot to tamp down on hate by speaking up for peace around the world and to ensure that we don't continue to be in military conflict with so many people, so many nations around the world, and that we help to make sure that we speak on issues of nonviolence at peace because I think that at the end of the day, that will help a whole lot on keeping us all safe as well.

So thank you all very much for that and for all the work that you're doing, all the thankless work you're doing, all the emotional work that you're doing as you are speaking up as well.

So thank you for this panel. At this time, we are going to have those who may have public comment. There is a microphone coming down. If there's anyone who would like to make up to two minutes of public comment, please come on up and just state your name and affiliation.

My name is Craig Ali. I'm in Santa Monica. Part of the NAACP in Santa Monica. And as I grew up in South Los Angeles, I'm aware of a lot of the hate that went on. And when I see racism, I see it as an institutional thing.

Anybody can call me the n word, but when the sheriff calls me that, I have a problem, because he affects my life. So I I say, in essence, in answer to your first question, recognize the power you have as an institution to more or less address my humanity as well as folks who are not othered who are othered to recognize essentially that if indeed you don't, then you don't give me much of a choice, you know, to basically try and defend myself.

The fifteenth the fourteenth and fifteenth amendment are real to me. And if indeed that is curtailed, then what choices do I therefore have? Because I look to you as my protector within that.

Thank you.

Thank you. Name and affiliation, please.

Good afternoon, Chair Jackson, committee and staff. My name is Romeo Hebron, executive director with the Filipino Migrant Center based in Long Beach, assembly member Lowenthal's district. We are also a member of the Stop the Hate Coalition and California versus Hate grantee. Through this funding, we've been able to support hundreds of community members and families through intergenerational programs and services including direct case management and prevention services.

One story to highlight from this work is the case of the Roques, a filipino immigrant family who had anti asian slurs directed at them in a fast food drive through which led to a physical altercation including the mother getting choked on the ground and the father receiving a broken rib at the hands of someone much larger than them.

This resulted in a fifteen month trial and campaign with close to 20 court appearances. In addition to the connecting the family with pro bono legal services, we conducted wide scale community education and outreach, focused on multiracial solidarity, and provided leadership development and organizing training including an average of 75 to a 100 people at each court appearance in Van Nuys, with the largest being over 200 people in one court appearance.

During this campaign, we helped we helped to produce the youth led documentary film, Liwanag or Light, featuring the Roke story, which was screened across California, Oregon, Washington, Chicago, New York, Texas, and Hawaii. Three of the four filmmakers are also the children of our past servant service recipients, including a human trafficking survivor.

The Roke family are still involved in a variety of community organizations and organizing efforts to this day, continuing to share their story and inspire others while they also continue to heal from their own experience with hate.

So in closing, the Stop the Hate funding has been crucial for our programs and our services. And the Rokays are an example of how the most impacted and vulnerable in our community can flourish as leaders with the proper support. Community organizations like mine and others in the Stop the Hate coalition are calling for renewed funding so we can continue expanding on this work that's needed at such a crucial time. Thank you.

Good afternoon. My name is Serena Hajjak Karol. I'm the executive director of Confluence Rising, formerly known as CCEJ. We're located in Long Beach. We're an equity and justice organization.

And we have received funding from Stop the Hate for the past three years doing really, really critical hate crime prevention work. And as you know, hate crime prevention and intervention are both critically important right now given the landscape that Rob and others have shared with us. Our work has really focused on young people, high school students, getting them the skills they need to understand the importance of bridge building and why it's important to dialogue instead of debate.

And what happens is when when young people get these skills, they're able to feel seen, to feel heard, to feel understood. And they are then really contributing to our civic health and our civic society in ways that are just immeasurable.

We have seen this work with hundreds of young people that we've sent to our racial justice and our gender justice camps. They come back and they're leaders in our community. And what we know is that we have to foster that type of young people for generations to come if we want California to continue to be the model for anti hate prevention. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Name and affiliation, please.

Hi. Thank you so much for having this session. My name is Deepa Talwar. I'm from St. John's Community Health.

And if you know 24 centers, four mobile centers, probably a very big organization in South LA, helping those getting health. But not only that, we also have a legal services program, and I'm an attorney at Saint John's where we have four to five attorneys that work under grants. The grant that I work under is stop the hate, and I cannot tell you how important this grant is.

Many people from different cultures and religions don't feel that they can report and one of the reasons they don't think they can report is because they're not understood. Cultures are told to just keep it quiet, be submissive, it's gonna be okay, put your head down, it's gonna work out.

Doesn't work that way. You have to speak up and a lot of our organizations and Saint John's, we help those, we empower them, and we let them know what their rights are. And I've had a few cases, not just a few, many few, where I've had to escort them to police stations, where I had to ask to take the report serious.

I drafted declarations, helped the officers make the report because reporting is very important and one of the other key consequences is that there's consequences to these crimes and these incidents and then being addressed by law enforcement. Moving forward, even with that, taking it to court may be a civil harassment restraining order, understanding that there are consequences, there are legal consequences to this.

And so the funding with Stop the Hate is able to do that and we're so thankful and we hope that it gets renewed because it's just gonna help our society. Diversity is a strength, It's not a weakness. If we all are tolerant, patient, and understanding, we can go miles, and that's what makes America amazing is being diverse. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Seeing no other folks lining up for public comment against, I wanna thank all of those who have come to listen, provide public comment, or to be a part of the panel. I wanna thank Suleiman Zibur for allowing us to be in his hood, and, conduct this in this fantastic facility. And I want to thank, assembly member Lowenthal for his participation. I wanna thank staff who, has made all of this happen.

I wanna thank Latif Alexander who is here staffing the committee as well as Daryl Langrabie, in my district office who came all this way. Now they know what I have to go through. I wanna thank DCO, as always, from the Los Angeles office for being able to staff us and provide all the technology that we need as well. So with that, thank you all very much, and we will have our next select committee hearing in Sacramento. We are now adjourned.