Palmdale Mayor Backs Hate-Crime Hotline

Mayor James C. Ledford, who resisted implementing a community-run Antelope Valley hate-crime hotline, reversed his position Thursday after 30 members of the Nation of Islam unexpectedly showed up at City Hall.

The presence of Tony Muhammad, western regional director of the organization, and his stern-faced, all-male security force were applauded by minority community leaders who invited them to project “power and unity” during negotiations with Ledford.

But Henry Hearns, the only black member of the Lancaster City Council, feared that Muhammad’s comments before the media--if misunderstood--could spark more violence in an area that has seen four suspected race-related attacks in the past 11 days.

As his entourage stood beside him and a security force took up stations around City Hall, Muhammad warned of “justice in the streets as never before” if city authorities did not address the problems behind a July 8 attack on black teens by suspected skinheads.

In that assault, Marcus Cotton, 16, was slashed with a machete--but not seriously injured--and his cousin Angela McKenzie, 17, was spat upon. Since then, three whites have reported separate attacks by African Americans who made reference to skinheads.

Hearns said it was not the place of the Nation of Islam, which has its western regional headquarters in Los Angeles, to spearhead negotiations on an issue he considers local.

“While I appreciate the concern of others, I think that the Antelope Valley is capable of handling its own problems,” said Hearns, who is also a minister.

Mayor Ledford angered minority activists after the Cotton attack when he declined to establish a community-run hate-crime hotline and instead said a city-run graffiti abatement hotline would be used for both purposes.

The activists said Ledford was trying to avoid the high-profile advertising they planned for the hotline because he feared it would scare off potential home buyers and new businesses.

They said city employees would not be diligent enough in recording the crimes and also accused Ledford of denying that racial animosity exists in the Antelope Valley, where, before the Cotton attack, six of the 35 hate crimes reported to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office the past two years occurred.

But after meeting with Muhammad and members of the Antelope Valley Coalition for Racial Healing for two hours, Ledford said that a regional hotline would be in place in the next few days and community volunteers would run it.

He also denied ever having reservations about plans to advertise the line.

“That’s never been a concern,” Ledford said. “Actually, I think that may be a market edge. It will show that our community is proactive.”

Marcus and Angela, who both attended Thursday’s meeting, were attacked by white youths yelling “white power!” according to sheriff’s deputies. Marcus was treated at Antelope Valley Hospital Medical Center and released with a deep cut on his arm and less serious ones on his back.

Two 16-year-old boys were arrested after the incident and charged with committing a hate crime and assault with a deadly weapon. The Los Angeles County district attorney’s Hate Crimes Division is seeking to try them as adults.

On Monday, a 15-year-old white youth, who Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies suspect is a skinhead, said he was kicked in the back by a black teenager who yelled “you skinheads!” at him and two companions while they walked into a Lancaster supermarket.

The boy suffered minor bruises and did not require medical treatment, deputies said.

Duane Jones, 19, told authorities he was assaulted Saturday by as many as six African American men as he rode his bicycle near 2Oth Street East and Avenue J in Lancaster.

Jones, who is white, told deputies one of the men pointed a handgun at him and pulled the trigger three times, but it did not fire.

He said the men pulled next to him in a gold Ford Probe when the front passenger struck him in the head with a metal object. Jones said the other men then jumped out of the car and started hitting him after asking if he was skinhead and shouting racial epithets.

Jones went home and was taken by his father to a hospital where he was treated for a 3-inch cut on the back of his head.

Earlier Saturday, an Acton man was shot and in a confrontation he also described as racial.

Robert Ulberg, 25, told deputies at least two black men approached him in a car while he walked near Avenue J and 10th Street West.

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The men reportedly shouted “skinhead!” and shot him in the abdomen. Deputies are still trying to verify Ulberg’s account. He remains hospitalized at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills after surgery.

Also, Danny Williams, 22, who was arrested but later released for lack of evidence in the Cotton incident, was beaten in jail by inmates he said were black and yelled “KKK!” before pummeling him.

In an interview Williams said he is a skinhead and supports a segregated society. The Nation of Islam has also supported such a society.

“I just want to live with people of my own color,” Williams said. “Even some black people want to live with nothing but blacks.”