Prometheus 6

Quote of note:

In fast-growing Riverside County, experts and law enforcement officials say, rising racial hostility has been triggered by increasing racial diversity among newcomers.

Although the county's white population rose 7% from 1990 to 2000, the number of blacks grew 61%, and Latinos and Asians increased 82% and 62% respectively, said James P. Allen, a Cal State Northridge professor who analyzes racial and ethnic data.

"Any kind of major demographic change has the potential to spark racial turbulence and hate crimes," said Mark Potok, who monitors hate crimes nationally for the Southern Poverty Law Center in Birmingham, Ala. "Very often, hate crimes are someone acting out in response to some kind of real pressure, including sprawl and economic pressures."

Inland Empire Sees Rise in Hate Crimes, Bucking Trend in State
The tally stands out in regions where violations have declined. Authorities say the stimulus is an influx of racial minorities.
By Lance Pugmire and Janet Wilson
Times Staff Writers
February 28, 2005

When a teen lifted his baggy shorts and flashed a swastika and German army tattoos at Kenny Turner outside his high school last June, the popular black Lake Elsinore senior just kept walking.

"It was the second-to-last day of the school year," recalled Turner, now 19. "I didn't want to be in trouble with one day left."

But Turner and two witnesses said the young man, armed with an ice pick, ran after him and stabbed him while screaming a racial slur. It's an incident that, although rare, is emblematic of a growing problem in the Inland Empire, authorities say.

The number of reported hate crimes in Riverside and San Bernardino counties has risen sharply in recent years, fueled in part by dramatic demographic changes that experts say are bringing more minorities into a region that has long been home to pockets of white supremacists. Other growing Southland suburbs   among them Santa Clarita, Lancaster and Simi Valley   have also had high-profile racially motivated crimes and incidents in recent years.

Although hate crimes declined 10% statewide in 2003, they rose a combined 19.5% in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, according to the most recent data from the state attorney general's office.

Authorities announced in January that an alleged white supremacist in Riverside County's Menifee was recruiting players on a local high school football team. Educators and prosecutors promptly vowed to work jointly to combat hate crime on campuses.

...In the last two years, incidents in that county have included teens parading with a homemade flag emblazoned with swastikas in front of Lake Elsinore High School, and the beating of two black students by four white students at Murrieta Valley High School.

Last year, a black Norco High School junior found song lyrics on her desk about gunning down blacks. In May, a melee among 200 students at Temescal Canyon High School in Lake Elsinore was triggered by racial slurs. In March, Corona police arrested a dozen Centennial High School students after a racially motivated fight broke out.