{"id":47578,"date":"2014-01-06T18:46:12","date_gmt":"2014-01-07T02:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theavtimes.com\/?p=47578"},"modified":"2014-01-09T12:14:35","modified_gmt":"2014-01-09T20:14:35","slug":"community-leaders-condemn-hate-fliers-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2014\/01\/06\/community-leaders-condemn-hate-fliers-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Community leaders condemn hate fliers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Nigel<\/a>
Nigel Holly of The Community Action League speaks at a press conference in front of the Antelope Valley courthouse Monday morning. Community leaders united at the press conference to address the hate fliers found recently in Lancaster and Palmdale.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LANCASTER \u2013 More than two dozen community leaders, civil rights activists, city commissioners and concerned residents joined local law enforcement captains Monday morning in a press conference to address the hate fliers recently circulated in Lancaster and Palmdale.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe NAACP has called this press conference today to say in no uncertain terms and no uncertain language that we will not allow these fliers to divide our community,\u201d said local NAACP President V. Jesse Smith<\/strong>. \u201cWe have worked too hard in our community to come together as a united community\u2026 Black, white, brown, red and yellow, we\u2019re working together as a united front, and we\u2019re not going to allow anyone who desires to divide this unity to come between us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this community we’ve already set the precedent for change,\u201d said Nigel Holly<\/strong>, founding member of The Community Action League. \u201cThese fliers are just a mere reflection of those who resist that change.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NAACP<\/a>
NAACP President V. Jesse Smith holds up two versions of the hate fliers. (Content blocked by Editor. Click image to view unedited version)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In mid-December, several 8 1\/2 x 11 papers containing derogatory language and racial slurs were found in a Lancaster neighborhood. The fliers referenced a Lancaster address in the 44000 Block of 11th<\/sup> Street West, where people would get \u201cshot at\u201d if they had a problem with the fliers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to point out that the address that\u2019s mentioned in the fliers is a vacant home, so whoever is putting these out isn’t actually calling anybody to that location other than to cause problems for that particular home,\u201d said Lancaster Sheriff\u2019s Station Captain Pat Nelson<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Nelson said there had been an ongoing investigation in that neighborhood, even before the fliers were reported.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been some reported problems with those particular properties in the past,\u201d Nelson said, adding that the problems included vandalism and a number of minor incidents, all possibly related. \u201cAs that investigation progressed, these fliers began appearing,\u201d Nelson continued. \u201cWe\u2019re certain that it\u2019s going to be the same individual that\u2019s causing problems for those particular houses on 11th street, so we\u2019re going to continue to work that angle.\u201d<\/p>\n

About a week after the hate fliers were reported in Lancaster, fliers containing similar language were found scattered on a public roadway in the 900 block of East Avenue Q-4 in Palmdale. The Palmdale hate fliers contained threatening messages aimed at African Americans and referenced the same address as the fliers found in Lancaster.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese hate fliers that have been found in the streets of Palmdale and Lancaster represent some of the worst that we’ve seen in this Valley, but we wanted to point out that this Valley is not about racism\u2026,\u201d said Palmdale Sheriff\u2019s Station Captain Don Ford<\/strong>. \u201cFor a Valley of nearly 500 thousand people, last year there were 17 reported hate crimes\u2026 and they range not only against race, but against sexual orientation, against religion, against other things.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sheriff\u2019s Department\u2019s Hate Crimes Task Force is handling the ongoing investigation, which is being classified as a \u201chate incident.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to do everything we can to make every attempt to identify who\u2019s responsible,\u201d said Task Force detective Christopher Keeling<\/strong>. \u201cWe do have some leads, but things that we can prove are what\u2019s important.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Monday\u2019s press conference, community leaders urged the public to unite against hate.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, we\u2019re coming out behind this, but the challenge is that we begin to organize and mobilize like never before,\u201d said Stan Muhammad<\/strong>, local director for the Nation of Islam.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is our responsibility and obligation as community residents to come forth and speak out against this kind of racism\u2026\u201d Smith said. \u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s now time for us to speak up as one united front. We\u2019re not going to allow the weapons of hatred or racism to try to destroy it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other speakers at Monday\u2019s press conference included Xavier Flores<\/strong>, President of the Antelope Valley Chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC); Darren Parker<\/strong> of the Antelope Valley Human Relations Commission; Jeanine Militello<\/strong> of the Lancaster Human Relations Tapestry Commission; Lancaster Mayor Emeritus Bishop Henry Hearns<\/strong>; Morris Thomas<\/strong>, District Director for Congressman Howard \u201cBuck\u201d McKeon; and Gwen Cole<\/strong> of the High Desert Alliance of Black Educators.<\/p>\n

Anyone with information regarding this investigation is urged to contact Detective Melissa Sullivan of the Los Angeles County Sheriff\u2019s Department Hate Crimes Task Force at 661-940-3857.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LANCASTER \u2013 More than two dozen community leaders, civil rights activists, city commissioners and concerned residents joined local law enforcement captains Monday morning in a press conference to address the hate fliers recently circulated in Lancaster and Palmdale. \u201cThe NAACP has called this press conference today to say in no uncertain terms and no uncertain […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":47579,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47578"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}