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07/27/2008: "Latino-vs.-black violence drives hate crimes in L.A. County to 5-year high"
Hate crimes in Los Angeles County rose to their highest level in five years last year, led by attacks between Latinos and blacks, officials said Thursday.
The largest number of racial hate crimes involved Latino suspects against black victims, followed by black suspects against Latino victims. Latinos also made up the largest number of suspects in hate crimes based on sexual orientation. Whites were the leading suspects in religion-based incidents. Overall, blacks made up nearly half the hate crime victims, totaling 310.
"What we're seeing is the democratization of hate crimes," said Brian Levin, who directs the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino. "We're not only seeing a diversification of victims but also increased diversification of offenders."
The rhetoric appears to be influencing other groups, Toma said. He cited law enforcement reports that some Latino gang members who targeted blacks in the Harbor Gateway area of Los Angeles were found with neo-Nazi material and some Latino gangs were forming alliances with white supremacists in prisons to prey on blacks.
[ Thankfully the statistics are not classifying the Latinos as being "whites" in order to make out whites are far more prone to violent racial attacks on blacks. Note the bizarre use of the word "democratization". While democracy is in many ways to blame for this situation, with its advocacy of pluralism in society, this is not what Levin means.
Why would Latinos be using "neo nazi" literature to upset blacks? Perhaps just because they find it is amusing how strongly it does offend them. ]
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-hatecrime25-2008jul25,0,7191743.story