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HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 12145 City of Palo Alto (ID # 12145) City Council Staff Report Report Type: Informational Report Meeting Date: 4/5/2021 City of Palo Alto Page 1 Summary Title: HRC Letter to Council on Hate Incidents in Palo Alto Title: Human Relations Commission Letter to the Council on the Current Pattern of Incidents of Hate in Palo Alto From: City Manager Lead Department: Community Services Recommendation This transmits a letter on “Response to the current pattern of incidents of hate in Palo Alto” (Attachment A) from the Human Relations Commission (HRC) that was read to City Council on March 22, 2021. The letter was approved by the HRC on March 17, 2021 after a thorough discussion of its contents on January 14, 2021. It is part of the HRC’s continued work on Diversity and Inclusion in the community. City Council action is not required. Attachments: • Attachment A -HRC letter to Council on Hate Incidents In Palo Alto-final ATTACHMENT A March 17, 2021 City Council City of Palo Alto 250 Hamilton Palo Alto, CA 94301 Dear Mayor DuBois and Council Members, One of the Human Relations Commission's leading roles is listening to community concerns —and then taking action. Over the past many months, the people of Palo Alto have brought to our attention several hate-based crimes, which have targeted churches, minorities, and those supporting the Black Lives Matter movement. This year, our communities experienced: ● the desecration and vandalization of the University African Methodist Episcopal Church, the oldest black church in Palo Alto ● the unauthorized removal of First Congregational Church of Palo Alto’s Black Lives Matter sign ● the posting of a “Wuhan Virus” sign in front of a popular coffee shop (Image 2) ● the posting of derogatory signs at three school properties this spring, referring to COVID-19 as the “Chinese Virus.” ● the verbal assault of a Palo Alto Council Member because of his Asian ethnicity ● the defacement of a campaign poster of the only Black candidate for council with a White Lives Matter Sign (Image 1) ● the distribution of “White Matters” letters at private homes (Image 3) ● the defacement of a student art Black Lives Matter project by an assailant wearing MAGA paraphernalia ● the vandalism and removal of at least ten BLM signs (see attached sheet) These incidents in 2020, along with other incidents in recent years— including the unauthorized leaving of anti-LGBTQ materials at the library and antisemitic materials at Gunn High School—shows a disturbing trend. Since the initial drafting of this letter, there has been a rash of hate-based crimes in the Bay Area, and it is especially concerning that many are violent attacks of elderly Asian American community members1. As a community, we need to address this problem at the root. We can no longer excuse these events as “one-off incidents” or pranks where “kids are just being kids.” We see a repeated pattern of hate, and it is time for us to stand and actively address these issues. In Washington in early January, lawmakers, grandmothers, CEO's, and others stormed the Capitol. Several people from our area attended this insurrection and participated in violent activity. We need our city council to denounce all hate-based incidents and hate-based crimes when they happen. We need our city to arrest and prosecute all individuals involved in hate-based crimes to the maximum extent of the law. We ask the council to direct staff to create programs that educate citizens and law enforcement on hate-based crimes in our city. There are myriad resources provided by the California Attorney General, with downloadable brochures in multiple languages that may serve our local community in an effective and expedient manner.2 In addition, Palo Alto Police Department already has Policy 338: Hate Crimes in the PAPD Policy Manual.3 There are also local models to consider and learn from, on February 26th, 2021 the first ever Hate Crimes Task Force was established in Santa Clara County4,5. This task force is co-chaired by San Jose’s Councilmember Maya Esparza and Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez. The Hate Crimes Task Force is tracking and distinguishing between hate crimes and hate based incidents, as both are considered to be equally damaging. It is a task force made up of law enforcement, community members, and city government. There have also been grassroots efforts to establish “community strollers” in Oakland, where volunteers can help the Asian community be accompanied for grocery shopping, or other tasks that they might have previously done alone, leaving them vulnerable to attack6. Prior to seeing what was going on locally, and to what extent hate crimes and hate based incidents are on the rise in the Bay Area, during our January 14th meeting, the HRC collectively stated their desire to explore: 1. Establishing a hate-based crime unit in within Palo Alto; 2. Participating in a potential county task force to investigate hate-based crimes perhaps in collaboration with Mountain View and/or Los Altos; 3. Establishing school and community-based prevention programs; 4. Acknowledge the importance of data and collect data across individual instances; 5. Establishing a hate-based crime hotline 6. Understanding law enforcement training on hate-based crimes. In this critical time, we need the City Council as the highest elected officials in our city to lead and emphatically denounce the surge of hate in our community. The rise of hate-based incidents and hate- based crimes shows us that our community image may not be in line with the reality of our community. Our goal is for all members of our community to feel safe and like they belong. Let us not wait for more hate and be reactive, rather let us heed the warnings signs and rally our community members to stop this. Human Relations Commission Rev. Kaloma A. Smith, Chair 1. https://www.npr.org/2021/02/12/966940217/anger-and-fear-as-asian-american-seniors- targeted-in-bay-area-attacks 2. https://oag.ca.gov/hatecrimes 3. http://auditor.ca.gov/reports/2017-131/documents/palo_alto_police_department- Hate%20Crime%20Policy.pdf 4. https://patch.com/california/campbell/new-hate-task-force-santa-clara-county-launches- incidents-rise-across-country 5. https://abc7news.com/santa-clara-county-hate-crimes-task-force-crime-san-jose/10381943/ 6. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/12Re9XS3_MlazkZ6DvhAhhtJ3zjJBUiYshK- HqAAecpM/viewform?ts=60222a9d&gxids=7628&edit_requested=true Image 1: The defacement of a campaign poster of the only Black candidate for council with a White Lives Matter Sign 32 9 Image 2: the posting of a “Wuhan Virus” sign in front of a popular coffee shop Image 3: the distribution of “White Matters” letters at private homes BLM Lawn Signs Jessica Clark Steven a few weeks back our BLM sign was trashed in the bushes 2x in one week, I didn’t notify police. This problem is more prevalent than documented I believe. Xiaowei Shi our BLM sign was removed from our lawn as well! Mary Jo Ricci Mine and at least one other flyer on our street 7/22. Reported. Alison Wauk My BLM sign disappeared a week or two ago. James Gaddy This is the letter I got in response to my BLM sign in Palo Alto. Terry Roberts I had a BLM sign stolen from my yard in PA a few weeks ago. Hopefully another one is arriving soon. If this one disappears, too, I'll start making my own from cardboard. Can't let the vandals win. Namita Gupta My Black lives matter yard sign was posted over with a white lives matter poster -- which, ironically, said 'be proud of your race' (I'm a POC). Another paper with rants (which also made many presumptions about my race, gender, affiliations etc..) was stuck to the sidewalk. (I dont want to share pictures here to reduce publicity) Regina Emore A friendly and vigilant neighbor who had this happen to his sign, and others in the neighborhood pointed this out to me. Clearly not an isolated incident. Have you had this happen to you, and do you have suggestions on what we can do as a community? Maybe put up more BLM signs to keep our friend busy (and hopefully someone with an outdoor camera may spot them in the act)? Also given some of the language and logical inconsistencies in the poster - they may need mental health support? I'm not concerned about safety (though they did need to come onto my property to do this) - Palo Alto remains a very safe and inclusive place. Maybe we can think of ways to demonstrate what a safe and inclusive community we are, to our hot and run poster? Best wishes Regina Emore Smita Kolhatkar Our signs and our neighbor’s are within our property. Someone left a white lives matter flyer with tape near one of our signs and a neighbor's. One kind soul in the neighborhood, took pictures of the white lives matter signs on his and our properties in the neighborhood and reported the incident to the police, then removed those flyers. The flyers haven't appeared since. The flyers were placed on our respective properties and that is not done. In 20+ years of living in Palo Alto, I have not seen this and it is sad. I would suggest whoever had this happen, if the person's signs were placed on your property, please take a picture and report it. Robin Blair They got a house in Greenmeadow last night. On Shasta. I saw the glued sign but I was driving and didn’t see anything else. Rebecca Olson White (on a FB group) Our two posters were stolen a week apart.