L.A. leaders concede that race might be an issue in recent shootings

L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and LAPD Chief William Bratton have strongly challenged the notion that racial hatred might have played a role in some of the recent shootings involving Latinos and African Americans. In one recent press conference, Bratton abruptly cut off one reporter asking questions on the subject and cited crime statistics to back up his beliefs.  However, based on recent statements, both men seem to be hedging their earlier comments.

"Do I personally suspect that race might have been a factor underlying the gang issues? I do. Can I prove it? I cannot," said Bratton, according to a City News Service story that appeared in the Daily Breeze.

Added Villaraigosa: "In a city as diverse as this one, is there conflict among races? Of course. Is it increasing? It may be. But I can tell you this, it's nowhere near what we've heard, frankly, from some of the media sources when these incidents occur."

Several African American leaders have been upset that concerns about racial animosity were dismissed so quickly. Today, Wave Newspaper columnist Betty Pleasant repeated previous complaints about the issue after she had a face-to-face encounter with Bratton.

"He talked of his need for and the difficulty of obtaining proof of racially motivated gang activity before he could admit to such a thing. I told him that the department’s own statistics on gang-related murders presented to the Police Commission just the day before showed that 37 percent of the blacks murdered by gangs so far were killed by Latinos. 'What further proof of a problem do you need, 100 percent?' I asked."

-- Jesus Sanchez

Photo: Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Betsy Ross Patriots]

To the Black community. I am a white woman and have marched with a black activist named Ted Hayes through the streets of downtown Los Angeles. He is the founder of an anti-illegal immigration group called the Crispus Attucks Brigade.

I marched side by side with Hayes as the sidewalks filled with Latinos 5-10 deep. I had never heard such horrible and vicious names that were thrown at a person before in my life. Mr. Hayes was called the most racists name one can imagine. He was spit on, glass bottles thrown at him, and rocks hurled at his head. The riot police, in full gear, had to hold the angry Latinos back or they would have broken through the lines with the intent to kill.

Ted Hayes cried and I cried with him. I have photographs of this great man with tears flowing down his face, as he, an American citizen working for the rights of blacks and ALL Americans was insulted and attacked.

Later, Hayes took out a PERMIT for a march and a rally at Leimert Park. He and a group of others marched through the neighborhood calling on the black community to join him. The black community came out of their homes, but they failed to join Hayes. Why? Because he was marching with Whites! The black community stood with the Latinos and yelled names such as KKK as Hayes marched by.

When the marchers arrived at the park where they had a city permit to hold a rally, some Latino immigrant groups blocked his entrance into the park. Hayes explained to the police that he had a permit and asked to be escorted in in order to complete the event with speeches about how the black community can save their neighborhoods from the takeover that is happening. The Latino immigrant rights groups told the police they would inflict violence if Hayes were allowed to speak. The police DENIED Hayes entrance to the park and when he said he would exercise his First Amendment Right to Free Speech in a public area, they ARRESTED HIM.

I am a white woman and I stand with ALL my fellow Americans, whether they be black, brown, white, or rainbow as long as they love this country. My black and other ethnic friends are part of my heritage, part of my heart and soul. During the American Revolution, War of 1812, and Civil War blacks fought proudly for their country. I don't remember reading about Latino regiments during any of those wars that formed this nation.

The terms of posting to this blog do not allow me to give out my website address where you can view photos of the marches I have participated in with Ted Hayes and Crispus Attucks Brigade. They are very revealing and truthful. I have even traveled to Boston to honor the gravesite of Crispus Attucks (the first Patriot to die in the Boston Massacre and a Black man). I cried shamelessly at his gravesite and thanked him for his sacrifice to give me the freedoms and the country I have.

To all blacks and all fellow Americans, please don't think of the White man as your enemy. We are all of the same blood and we all want to see OUR country remain the strong America it is today,

Please support Ted Hayes and Terry Anderson.

[aqeela Sherrills]

and too although who are perpetuating this "Ethinic Cleaning" ignorance......Ms. Pleasant, Mr. Hutchinson, and all who believe

I have to disagree with you on this one. Their has been 58 death of Black men in LA County and 37% have been perpetrated by Latino's. In a County of 8.5 million does not qualify as an ethnic cleansing? To have this small group of ignorant individuals who call themselves gang member prosecuted
for hate crimes will only back fire on us. Black
so-called gang member kill each other in much larger
number why dont we call that ethnic cleansing? Have you looked at the number of Latino death in LA County? To say
that these "gangs" are motivated by race is to say
that they are organized and centralized, which both
you and i know is the furthest things from the truth.
I garuntee you that these individuals are a minority
in there own sets.

And the Mexican Mafia, 20 years ago i would have
agreed with you. Today, these dude's are a bunch of
Heroin heads and drug addicts. There are division on
top of division in there own ranks. Check the sources.
The one's who are perpetrating these
acts against innocent people are individuals who hate
themselves and are cloaking their self hatered behind
the act of being so-called gang members. These dudes
get dissaplined when they reach the Prison. This is the
untold story.

To get the federal government involved with ignorance
in which individual are given antoher 5-7 year on top
of gang inhancement is racism! i am a Gang Expert for
the County of LA and testify in many court cases
against law enforcement agent who claim that gangs are
domestic terrorist, organized like the mafia and have
treasury and armory. in the end, many innocent young
folk and some deserving gang member are receiving
unfair sentenses to the tune of 30 and 40 years for
first time offenses! hey, im all for prosecuting
individual for crime (as you know my son was murder),
but to lock these individual for the rest of there
life is not going to solve the problem. these
individual have real mental health issues who are
perpetrating these murders and violent acts and it's the
responsibility of our government with our input to
create alternative and healing modalities to serve
them. im not condone any act of violence. im saying
that we have to ask the deeper question of why these
young men murder this other young man and be willing
to hear them out. to hear these story is not to
condone the act, its to get full knowledge of the
circumstance so that we can implement preventive
measures.

The feds, Prisons and LAPD get enough of our tax
dollar to be bulljiving and lolly gaging with. lets
not keep financing the very thing we are fighting
against. do you know that the correction officers
lobby in the strongest in the state? that why
Bratton, the Mayor and all other politician is in
their back pocket. when has the justice system showed
black or latino's any justice? we are all in the
same boat. Latino's are not our enemies! I hope
that you are able to see this for what it really is, a
propaganda campaign to further marginalize and
criminalize black and brown people.

you want to see an Ethnic Cleansing, look up the
Bosnian war in Eastern Europe. I have many friends
who lost their whole families. I also visited these
country many times. My good friend Andrija was a
photographer and soldier during the War. Ive seen the
pictures as well. Please check this out and read what
the MILITARY did in the Ethnic Cleansing. Again,
neighbors where made to kill each other and it was
thousands of death. not a few ignorant youth who have
serious psychological problem targeting innocent for
over mistaken identity or neighborhood fueds over
so-called gang violence.

[Aqeela Sherrills]

Interesting..... I agree that some of these murder are
racially motivated, however i still believe that
, "race" is a social construct and we
have to look at the root causes of violence to really
understand what's motivating the killings. Its more
despair and self hatred than racism. Believe me, the
reason why Bratton won't say that these murders are
racially motivated is because the FBI will than take
jurisdiction and those overtime dollars will go to
them! My friend (a black women) is the head of the
FBI public relation in LA. LAPD and FBI compete for
the same dollar since 9/11. These funds come from the
office of Homeland Security.

We will never benefit in defining these murder as
racially motivated, . I agree that we should let folk no
where not to go however on the streets, people already
know where not to go. It aint no secret that Los
Angeles is segregated. Up until 1963 black
folks in Watts couldnt go nor own homes on the
otherside of 92nd and central without be arrested and
beat by the police and it's white residence. Gangs in
Watts started ( the Farmers) to protect
themselves from the "Spook Hunters" a white gang from
Compton. In the 1980 we could get caught after
sundown in South Gate because of the racist sheriff's
who called themselves the Viking and that's right across
alemeda from Watts!

The question is how much of LA is still racially
segregated? Those who act out of fear and kill someone
because of their color are acting out of their own
personal wounds. The community doesnt support it
Black or brown and again it's easy to blame La Eme
because no one is going to speak on their behalf
without being charged a domestic terrorist. Im not
saying that i condone any of the acts of violence that
have been done. what im saying is that we have to
take a closer look. who benefits from this? La
Times?-they sell papers, The Wave?-they sell
advertisement. This is about money. No one really
cares about the perpetrator and what their story is.
again, im not condoning the act. But venture to ask
the family of the perpetrator what was their life like
and whether or not there are mental health issues or
psychological problems in that person's life. Not to vindicate them, but
just to know the truth. The truth is that are children are
damaged goods and they are crying out for help and we
are villifying them and the syrogate families (gangs).
Why? Because we as adults and the society that we
sustain have abandoned them. We all live a total lie
and we cant reconcile it ourselves and we criminalized
and marginalize our children for the mistake we made
and continue to make.

[Ransome]

This is only a portent of things to come. These gangs are striking out at Blacks because no one cares, no even the Black politicians. The Black politicians are more loyal to the Democrats than to their own constituencies and the Democrats see illegal immigrants as a way to eventually get more votes. It is interesting to see all the Blacks in Jenna. Yet, here in Los Angeles, Sharpton, Jackson and others are nowhere to be found. When these gangsters, mostly the sons of illegal immigrants move into the Heartland and start killing Whites, the government will take action and we will see this problem solved.

[newscalculus]

Hey Kamila;

Arm yourself...your on your own this time...between the criminals of all hues, the best defense is to be armed...

[Kimela Santifer- Berry]

We in the African American community, have known for quite some time now that these murders are racially motivated. Now that "The Powers that Be" have
acknowledge the problem, what are the plans for a solution to this ? Frankly, we are tired of being the victims of racism, no matter where it comes from. I believe that some members of the Latino community, especially the "immigrants" and their children, are unaware of the history of African Americans in this country. In some of the South American communities dark skin is frowned upon. I believe that these believes were brought to this country just like other cultural ways of life. They simply have little or no respect for African Americans. I have lived here all of my life, grew up, and went to school with Mexican - Americans. We never had any of these problems, until this massive wave of immigrants flooded Los Angeles. The mayor really needs to address this issue. Whether he wants to admit it or not, his Latino brothers and sisters, have a lot of learning to do when it comes to respecting African Americans. They need to teach African American history in all of these schools, so they will know, that we have contributed to country, with our labor, blood, sweat, tears, and even our lives, and we should not be subjected to the type of racism again, that this country has fought so hard to try and end. Once again, racism being spewed at us. African Americans are tired, and deserve better protection from the leaders of this city. Chief Bratton, and the mayor need to realize, that is REAL !