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Speakers urge stronger county response after grand jury report on hate; board calls for HRC review
Summary
Public commenters and supervisors said the grand jury report on hate incidents omits experiences of Arab, Muslim, AAPI and other communities. The Board directed staff to assess the Human Relations Commission's capacity, data methods and outreach and approved staff responses with amendments.
During public comment, community groups told the Board the county’s 2023–24 hate incident summary and the grand jury report undercount and omit the experiences of Arab, Muslim, Palestinian, AAPI, Black and LGBTQ residents. Speakers said fear, language access barriers and mistrust of law enforcement lead to underreporting and urged the Board to restore funding and community partnerships for the Human Relations Commission.
Basha Jamil of CARE LA said local counts (Care LA: 57 hate incidents in 2023; 88 in 2024) likely understate the problem because many victims do not report incidents; she urged the county to reinstate robust HRC funding and partner with trusted community organizations. Nikki Uy of the Orange County AAPI Community Alliance said school-based incidents and an overreliance on law-enforcement data left many incidents out of official tallies. Rashad Altabag of the Arab American Civic Council said omission of Arab and Muslim communities in the grand jury report produced community frustration.
Supervisors responded by acknowledging gaps and instructing staff to present a comparative analysis of HRC bylaws and practices with neighboring counties, to report HRC accomplishments and outreach since January, and to pursue a reliable methodology that draws on non-law-enforcement sources for tracking incidents. Vice Chair Katrina Foley described rebuilding and resetting the commission this year and noted grants that will bolster community education and outreach. The Board approved the recommended response to the grand jury report with the changes requested by supervisors and public commenters.
The Board directed county staff to bring quarterly updates and a final report back to the Board for review and to consider whether consultant support or adjustments to meeting cadence and membership are needed to restore the commission’s capacity to document and respond to hate incidents.
