Hundreds of locals gathered, hand-in-hand to take a stand against hate crimes, stepping forward together to embrace diversity at the 10th annual Hands Across Azusa.
On Sunday, Jan. 15, the city hall lawn was filled with people, stages, tents and performers together to promote awareness of past hate crimes committed in Azusa and a potential future of racial acceptance. The theme, “A Decade of Healing,” noted the progress the city has made toward eliminating hate crimes in the city over the past 10 years.
Melani Jones COURTESY
“[Hands Across Azusa] has done a great job of bringing … everyone together,” Mikael Taylor, APU alumnus, said. “It not only brings to light all of our differences, but also celebrates them. It says, ‘You’re all welcome here’ as we hold hands together and pledge to not allow our actions or our words to be violent, but rather to follow Martin Luther King Jr. in his nonviolent approach.”
Azusa was once the hate crime capital of the San Gabriel Valley, according to Mayor Joseph Rocha. But, since the height of hate in 1999, the police department has created a gang specialist unit (GSU), which specializes in foreseeing gang crimes. Since the development of the GSU and other community awareness organizations, the number of “brown-on-black” hate crimes has reduced by over 90 percent. In both 1999 and 2000, there were 17 Hispanic against African-American crimes, but in 2011 there were only two.
“I worked during our height of hate crimes. One year we had 18, including fire bombings. It was disgusting,” Captain Sam Gonzalez of the Azusa Police Department said. “Some of these families were being targeted purely for the color of their skin. They weren’t involved in any kind of criminal activity or gang membership, and that’s why we took a very hard-line stance on investigating them, finding them out and prosecuting them.”
In June 2011, the Azusa Police Department, working with other local, county, state and federal agencies, obtained 51 federal indictments for various crimes committed by people connected to the Azusa 13 gang, which is notorious for drug dealing and “brown-on-black” hate crimes. The indictments “have made a huge impact on gang activity and hate crime activity in the city,” according to Gonzalez.
“Hopefully [the indictments] will help bring people to celebrate [diversity] and not be fearful,” Scott Bledsoe, APU professor of graduate psychology and commissioner on the Human Relations Commission, said. “When that kind of thing happens, people feel empowered. They can go out, they can enjoy themselves a little bit more.”
Members of the community have also organized groups, such as the Azusa Human Relations Commission (HRC), to help rid the city of gang violence, according to Bledsoe.
“The HRC helped to raise awareness of the anger that was going on,” Bledsoe said. “It was creating a dialogue between people in the city, making them aware of the animosity and hatred going on.”
The HRC was started in 2002, the same year that the Hands Across Azusa tradition was introduced. In addition to raising awareness in the general community, the HRC also targets Azusa’s youth. Each October, the HRC helps sponsor Lead in Harmony — a program that teaches 200 middle and high school students leadership skills and cultural sensitivity.
APU students, past and present, participated in various parts of the event, from a Umoja Step Team performance to the Gospel Choir presenting a number songs, including the “Black National Anthem.”
Taylor, along with sophomore psychology major Arielle Wilburn and sophomore English major Analiese Camacho, performed a dramatic presentation called “I Am an Azusan,” conveying the struggles and empowerment they have met within diversity.
Wilburn said that, coming to APU from the Bay Area, she was surprised that some students expected her to join the Black Student Association because she is African American, but she grew up in a place where color does not determine what a person is involved in. Instead, she volunteers at the Homework House to immerse herself in the city and embrace the kind of diversity it offers.
“Growing up, I didn’t see color,” Wilburn said. “I grew up around underprivileged kids all my life and to step out of APU and into Azusa was kind of like a breath of fresh air … Going out on your own and seeing this [diversity] is real life, and stepping out of APU’s doors, you see what the world looks like.”
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