Hate Crimes Increase; Blacks Targeted Most

Calling the numbers alarmingly high, the Orange County Human Relations Commission on Wednesday reported an increase in hate crimes and said the most common perpetrators are white male teenagers who mainly target African Americans and Jews.

The commission documented 183 “hate crimes and incidents” in 1996, the highest number for such crimes since 188 were reported in 1992.

Among the victims of hate crimes, African Americans suffered the highest number--a reported 53 incidents countywide, which local black leaders Wednesday called part of a disturbing national trend.

“I’m very disappointed--but not at all surprised,” said Ron Coley, president of One Hundred Black Men of Orange County. “African Americans continue to be singled out for just this sort of attention all across America.”

The study reported 31 Jewish victims of local hate crimes in 1996; 24 cases involving victims of “multiple races”; 22 Latino victims; 19 Asian American victims; and 15 gay or lesbian victims.

Among people identified as “whites,” “Iranians,” “Christians,” “Arab-Americans” and “British,” 19 were victims of hate crimes, the findings indicated.

But to many observers, the most striking aspect of the figures was the percentage of white male teen-age perpetrators, which Rusty Kennedy, executive director of the Human Relations Commission, called “alarmingly high.”

“It paints a picture of a pool of perpetrators dominated by white, teenage, male perpetrators,” Kennedy said Wednesday. “Indeed, what we discovered is that the typical perpetrator of a hate crime in Orange County is a white teenage boy.”

The study found that, of the hate crimes committed in Orange County last year, 96% of the perpetrators were male. This is the first year the study has documented the gender of perpetrators, Kennedy said.

In addition, almost 60% of all perpetrators were teenagers, and 85% were white, he noted.

Among the types of crimes highlighted in the study, 59 involved vandalism; 55 were incidents of verbal assault; 49 were incidents of physical assault; and 20 involved the dissemination of “hate literature.”

“Unfortunately, we have too many skinheads and white supremacists, and generally, the people in those categories tend to be boys in their teens or early 20s,” said Fullerton Police Chief Patrick E. McKinley, one of 12 commissioners of the Human Relations Commission.

He blamed the preponderance of white male perpetrators on “the same kind of rootlessness that causes gangs among minorities,” adding, “it has to do with a lack of direction, a lack of self-identity and poor self-esteem.”

Despite the increase in reported hate crimes, McKinley contends the number is actually quite low, “especially when you consider that we’re a county of almost 3 million people.”

But given that 53 of the county’s 183 victims of hate crimes last year are black, and that the county’s black population is less than 2%, “I find those really troubling figures,” Kennedy said.

“An incredibly disproportionate number of the victims of hate crimes in Orange County are African American,” he said, “meaning there continues to be a singling out of people with the darkest skin as being the victims of hate crimes.”

The Rev. Julius Del Pino, senior pastor of Shepherd of the Hills United Methodist Church in Mission Viejo, said he was “not surprised” by Wednesday’s announcement, especially the high number of African Americans targeted as victims.

“We have a lot of work to do here in Orange County, especially in South County,” said Del Pino, the African American minister of a predominantly white congregation. “We have a lot to do in terms of shaping attitudes and affecting behavior. I think we as religious leaders could do more and say more to address the issues of injustice perpetrated on people of color in Orange County.”

Much the same can be said of Jews in Orange County, Kennedy said. Representing less than 2% of the county population, the group’s percentage of hate-crime victims--31 out of 183 in 1996--is, he said, “an arrestingly high figure.”

Joyce Greenspan, regional director of the Orange County-Long Beach chapter of the Anti-Defamation League, said she was neither surprised by the number of Jewish victims nor by the number of white male teen-age perpetrators.

“Just talk to some of the school principals” in Orange County, Greenspan said. “Very often we see the beginning of some of these [racist] tendencies among children in our schools. And boys tend to act upon this at a younger age than girls.”

Del Pino said the high number of white male perpetrators is “indicative of what’s happening to family life in this culture. We’re turning our backs on our children.

“We don’t spend as much time with them, share enough of ourselves with them. We think that by purchasing material goods or taking trips abroad that we’ll somehow solve our problems of social and human development. But hey, it doesn’t work that way.”

Hate Crimes Edge Upward

Reported hate crimes in Orange County increased about 5% in 1996, with the most being committed against blacks. Vandalism and verbal assault were the most common offenses:

Hate Crime Trend

1991: 126

1992: 188

1993: 180

1994: 182

1995: 175

1996: 183

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1996 Victims

Blacks: 53

Jews: 31

Latinos: 22

Asians: 19

Lesbians/gays: 15

Whites: 9

Multiple*: 24

All others: 10

* More than one victim group

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1996 Crime Profile

Vandalism: 32%

Verbal assault: 30%

Physical assault: 27%

Hate literature: 11%

Source: Orange County Human Relations Commission