By Marsha D. Mithell, Senior Director of Communications
The surge in hate crimes in Los Angeles between 2022 and 2024 serves as a stark reminder of the urgent need to address the root causes of intolerance and prejudice in our society. By acknowledging the impact of hate crimes, amplifying the voices of marginalized communities, and advocating for just solutions, we can work towards creating a city where we feel safe, valued, and respected. The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) Civil Rights, Accessibility, and Racial Equity (CARE) Office allocated $110 million in funding for its Stop the Hate (STH) Program.
LA County sees surge in hate crimes against the LGBTQ+ community.
Community Coalition (CoCo) was one of 173 organizations throughout the state awarded an allocation for this effort. CoCo has an established track record of providing anti-hate prevention work. CoCo curates intergenerational and multiracial events/spaces that center the lived experiences of South LA residents to build unity around issues that impact the community. As a people-centered organization, CoCo knows that unlearning biases and promoting compassion and understanding are essential to our ability to address the more significant issues connected to structural racism and inequality. Thus, we intentionally advance hate prevention through events like our Unity Retreat and partnerships with the CDSS’s Stop The Hate Program.
Under the grant, CoCo has:
- Created a three-part arts series to deepen empathy and foster community interconnectedness across racial groups in South LA,
- Leveraged grassroots organizing to foster multiracial unity to build collective power and address the conditions that enable hate, inequity, and poor material conditions and
- Provided capacity-building training—through our Unity Retreat—held last week.
CoCo staff and community members examine racial biases and facilitate conversations during events like our embRACE LA dinners, monthly People’s Assemblies, and our South LA Unity Circle, held in the Fall of 2022 after the leaked tape exposed prominent Los Angeles leaders engaging in hate-filled dialogue about African American, Indigenous, AAPI, LGBTQIA, and other communities in LA.
During CoCo’s recent Unity Retreat, we created a safe space to discuss the harm participants have suffered from hate language and incidents. We engaged in a deep study of systemic racial oppression in America, we created an art wall to envision the world we want to build and we had guests who led us through affirming mind and body exercises like poet/cultural strategist Sonia Guinansaca and Los Angeles-based activist dance theater company Contra Tiempo. The overall goal of the retreat was to elevate the importance of history, identity, culture, and connection.
“Dismantling structural racism requires systemic change, economic investment, deep education, and opportunities to engage and interface with one another,” said Marsha Mitchell, Senior Director of Communications at Community Coalition. “It also requires everyone’s involvement to address the root causes of racial oppression and hate while building an inclusive society where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.”