Hate in the High Desert : Fire that destroyed Palmdale family’s home is listed as crime of ethnic hatred

It’s possible, of course, that a motive other than ethnic hatred may turn up in the arson fire that burned a Latino family out of its Palmdale home last Sunday. But at this point the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department continues to list the crime as one based on ethnic hatred.

Jesus Dominguez, his wife, Esther, and their small family had moved to East Avenue R-4 three years ago. The Dominguezes fit nicely into this racially mixed, middle-class neighborhood. They were consummate good neighbors, having turned a vacant eyesore into a well-kept home. Then, just before 1 a.m. Sunday, when the family and its dog were away, flames swept the structure. Later, authorities found spray-painted swastikas and epithets, plus graffiti that provide telling evidence of the education of the perpetrators if not their intelligence too: “wite power.”

Last month, a family member said, someone who tried to break into the house was bitten by the dog and fled, leaving a trail of blood. Nothing yet suggests a connection between the two crimes, but one wonders.

Neighbors expressed the usual surprise about the racial element of the arson. Call it the “this can’t be happening here” syndrome. But events in the area suggest it can indeed happen there. A shooting last February wounded four African Americans in a car outside Antelope Valley High School, and the suspects are alleged to be part of a white supremacist gang.

In Orange County too there was surprise when a brawl that had racial overtones erupted last month at Aliso Niguel High School. The county’s Human Relations Commission quickly looked for ways to reduce racial tensions; parents recognized the need for more awareness programs. It was the right kind of response.

It’s not surprising that the Los Angeles Human Rights Commission is recommending a similar formula for the high desert: local government involvement, community forums and the like. These incidents cannot be ignored. If the Dominguezes can be burned out of a neighborhood where they were so well-liked, it can happen anywhere, to anyone.