May 20, 2010

The interfaith group a Moral Compass to Justice recently had a panel discussion on how to counter hate speech and violence. Reverend Eric Lee (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) moderated the panel that consisted of Angelica Salas, (Executive Director of Coalition for Humane Immigration Rights of Los Angeles), Adrian Dove (Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission), David Doan (Los Angeles Police Deparment-Chief Of Detectives),  Rabbi Steven Jacobs (Founder, Progessive Faith Foundation) and singer Ani Zonneveld (Muslims for Progessive Values).

Rabbi Jacob's started off the conversation by stating he feels the "pain in every community" when a hate crime and injustice is commited. The controversial immigration law in Arizona and immigration reform have sparked heated debates. Salas was concerned of a rise in hate crimes toward the immigrant communities. Based on CHIRLA's analysis the last time immigration reform took place in 2007 there was a rise in hate speech and hate incidents.

The panelists agreed there is a stigma of under reporting in various communities and even taking hate crimes seriously. It is important to report hate incidents as well as hate crimes in order to, track trends that may be related to specific current events.

- Saadia Khan (saadia@mpac.org)
Hate Crime Prevention Coordinator