LA Supes Step Up Battle on 'Anger and Fear' Against Muslims

Trying to combat “anger and fear” in reaction to the San Bernardino shootings and other terrorist attacks, the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to step up its battle against hate crimes.

While attempting to stop hate crimes against members of any group, supervisors focused on hate crimes against Muslims.

Supervisor Hilda Solis, who championed the plan, urged residents to resist calls to scapegoat American-Muslims and individuals of Middle Eastern descent.

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“This motion is about preventing more tragedy,” Solis said. “Anger and fear are understandable reactions to what happened in San Bernardino, but we cannot permit these feelings to grow into hate or bigotry against individuals who had nothing to do with this senseless violence.”

In voting for the motion, the board condemned the terrorist attack by a radicalized husband and wife who took the lives of 14 and injured 22 people in San Bernardino, while recognizing that “no religion or race or ethnicity is responsible for these acts.”

County staffers will reach out to residents via social media, asking them to reject stereotypes.

The board also asked District Attorney Jackie Lacey and Sheriff Jim McDonnell and the county’s Human Relations Commission to reach out more actively to Muslim, Sikh, South Asian and other groups that are the targets of hate crime and to swiftly respond to any threats of hate violence.

The property of a Sikh temple, or gurdwara, in Buena Park was vandalized earlier this month. The spray-painted graffiti included a profane reference to the terrorist group ISIS that was scrawled on a truck in the temple’s parking lot.

Over the weekend, two mosques in Hawthorne were vandalized by graffiti and a fake grenade was left in one of the mosques’ driveway.

A spokesman for the Sikh community said Islamophobia hurts non-Muslims.

“Islamophobia does not only affect Muslims, it affects Sikhs, Christians, basically anyone of South Asian or Middle Eastern descent and even, after 9/11, Latinos were attacked because of their appearance, people were so rabid with hatred and fear,” said Nirinjan Singh Khalsa of the California Sikh Council.

Supervisor Sheila Kuehl urged residents to hold themselves to a high standard.

“This is a time that asks all Americans to strive to be our best and bravest and wisest selves,” Kuehl said.

—City News Service, photos courtesy of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community