Newly Arrived Black Family Moves Out After Graffiti, Arson Incidents

Mike Daniels and his companion Crystal Lakey were looking forward to living in a more secure, quiet neighborhood just outside Torrance where they could raise their two children in a home with a yard.

But only four days after moving from Inglewood to an unincorporated Los Angeles County area, the attacks began last weekend on the African American couple.

First it was Latino gang graffiti sprayed Saturday night on the outside retaining wall of Daniels’ home. The graffiti included a racial slur. Daniels painted over it. Two days later, there was more graffiti on the wall. Again he painted.

But the graffiti was mild compared to what happened next. At 2 a.m. Thursday, Daniels awoke to discover his 1980 Buick sedan engulfed in flames as it sat in his driveway.

His dream home had turned into a nightmare only nine days after he moved from Inglewood, where his apartment had been burglarized twice in two months.

“I wanted a place where my family could be happy,” he said of the two-bedroom house in the 20600 block of Raymond Avenue that he was renting from a friend. “I wanted a place where the kids could play on the grass.”

On Friday, movers were busy packing up the barely unpacked belongings after Daniels decided to move his family out because he feared for their lives. Two security guards stood watch to make sure no more violence erupted.

“I literally read the writing on the wall,” Daniels sighed as the movers wrapped sheets of plastic around two couches and swaddled bookshelves in padded cloth. The driveway was scorched black from the car fire that authorities said was ignited by gasoline.

But the 28-year-old used car salesman vowed to remain in the house while his family moves elsewhere.

“I’m not letting anyone intimidate me and run me away,” he said.

Daniels and his family are among about half a dozen black families in this predominantly Latino neighborhood wedged between Torrance and Carson. Residents said there have been few racial problems, although they said one black man who lived about three doors from Daniels’ house moved out five years ago because he didn’t get along with his Latino neighbors across the street.

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Det. Jim Gonzales, who is investigating the arson fire he believes was caused by a local Latino gang, said it was difficult to say whether the attacks on Daniels were racially motivated. The problem could have started when words were exchanged between Daniels’ Latino movers and Latino neighbors who are known gang members, Gonzales said.

Gang members blame Daniels, who they say treated them disrespectfully one evening last weekend when they were holding a loud street party outside his home.

About 11 p.m., they said, he asked them to quiet down. Twenty-year-old Ralph Soto said Daniels hurled racial slurs at them, which Daniels denies.