Commission to Act on Hate Crimes

At the urging of a local Arab-American businessman, the Orange County Human Relations Commission today will address a recent increase in hate crimes directed at people of Arab descent.

Such incidents have been on the rise in Orange County and throughout the country since August, when U.S. troops were deployed to the Persian Gulf, according to a recent report by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.

George Hanna, vice president of the Arab-American Republican Club of Orange County and a target of harassment recently, said he contacted the commission in the hopes of “heading off a major incident.”

“I don’t want a bombing to take place,” said Hanna, a second-generation Arab-American whose parents were born in Syria.

Hanna said his home was targeted by vandals a few weeks ago. He said they spray-painted a Star of David on a Porsche that was parked in his driveway.

Rusty Kennedy, executive director of the county Human Relations Commission, said his agency has received reports of about half a dozen incidents of harassment directed at Arab-Americans in the last several weeks. While there have been no reports of physical violence, he said homes and businesses have been singled out for vandalism, and children have been taunted at school.

Kennedy said the incidents have been difficult to track because the victims are often too afraid to report them to authorities.

“There were two incidents related to me secondhand concerning Iraqi-Americans, where the FBI had gone to their homes to interview them and when they weren’t there, interviewed their neighbors instead,” Kennedy said. “When the Iraqis got home, vandals had broken beer bottles up against their house.”

Kennedy said he received a telephone call from a La Habra teacher earlier this week who told him that a Kuwaiti student had insisted upon changing his name to “an American name” because he feared an anti-Arab backlash.

An Iranian businessman in Fullerton covered up the Arabic signs on his business out of fear of possible violence, Kennedy said.

“That’s just an indicator that I thought was really sad,” Kennedy said. “He felt having anything Middle Eastern on his business could put him in danger.”

Kennedy said several Arab-Americans are expected to relate their experiences at tonight’s meeting, which will begin at 7 p.m. at 1300 S. Grand Ave. He said the commission will discuss meeting with school superintendents to make them more aware of anti-Arab sentiment in the public schools and will alert law enforcement officials to the possibility of special security measures to protect the Arab-American community.