Resources, City Spotlights Los Angeles

City Spotlight: Los Angeles, California, United States

The City of Los Angeles is the second largest city in the United States and most populated city in California with nearly four million residents. Los Angeles boasts a diverse multi-ethnic and multi-religious population, contributing to a vibrant landscape. With over 200 languages spoken, the city is home to many immigrant communities, making it a truly global city. It has the largest Latino and Armenian communities, the second largest Jewish community and the third largest Arab American as well as Asian American and Pacific Islander populations.

Los Angeles has been a member of the Strong Cities Network since 2016 and has contributed to numerous Strong Cities activities. These include the January 2024 Washington D.C. Transatlantic Dialogue Roundtable on Building Community Cohesion and Strengthening Democracy in Cities, the Summit of the Americas side event on Promoting City-Led Approaches to Violence Prevention, The Hague Mayoral Declaration on Preventing Hate, Extremism and Polarisation and Safeguarding Local Democracy and, most recently, Strong Cities’ ongoing webinar series on Global Crises, Local Impacts: Threats to Social Cohesion and How Cities Can Respond.

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What is the local government concerned about?

Being a global city, Los Angeles is often at the forefront of addressing local impacts of global crises. That includes global conflicts, including in the Middle East, global mass displacements and various security and public safety concerns. These stress points often trigger protests and physical confrontations, contributing to increased trauma, divisions and polarisation. Like many cities around the world, Los Angeles is tackling the rising trend of hate and discrimination targeting immigrant populations and religious groups. Of particular note is the significant increase in antisemitism and Islamophobia. According to the most recent hate crimes report released by the County of Los Angeles, reported hate crimes rose steeply from 2022 to 2023. Race, ethnicity and national origin was by far the most common motivation, constituting 45% of all hate crimes. The report also noted sharp increases in hate crimes based on gender, religion and sexual orientation. Hate incident reporting paints a similar picture with the most notable rise in incidents taking place at schools, colleges and universities. Anxiety, fear of discrimination and diminished civility in public discourse underscores the need to protect democracy and freedoms enshrined in the United States Constitution.

How is the local government responding?

The City of Los Angeles leads a wide range of efforts to ensure the protection of civil and human rights. In 2019, the city enacted Civil and Human Rights law and launched the first ever Civil + Human Rights and Equity Department (LA Civil Rights) in 2020 to maintain and strengthen the city’s diversity, equity and accountability.

LA Civil Rights has taken many steps to ensure the protection of human rights, while also working alongside government and community partners to uplift prevention efforts and address community divides. In 2021, LA Civil Rights, with support from City Council, launched the LA for All campaign as a multilingual endeavour aimed at increasing access to hate reporting, support resources and fostering community dialogue. The award-winning campaign is available in 21 languages and uses a diverse range of tactics to promote belonging and inclusion for everyone.

An important pillar of this effort is the improvement of hate crimes and incidents reporting mechanisms, alongside the aggregation of resources to support those affected by hate. Working with community partners, members of city council, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and the city’s technology department, as well as county and state partners, reporting of hate incidents was expanded to include LAPD online reporting options, calling LAPD, My311 LA or LA County 211. Through these efforts reporting of hate can now be done anonymously or by an advocate or family member on behalf of a victim.

Using the LA for All framework, which was recently expanded to include the Just Say Hello campaign, the city recognises the importance of honest dialogue, mutual respect and the emotional and psychological impact of the Israel-Gaza crisis. The city has aimed to implement a multi-faceted approach. Below are a few highlights:

Multifaith Convenings: In the City of Los Angeles, vibrant faith communities are a corner stone of bridge building and the City often serves as a convener, providing a safe space for multifaith dialogue. On 21 April 2015, City Council formally passed a resolution recognizing the Day of Religious Pluralism and officially acknowledging Los Angeles as an inclusive city. This resulted from years of multi-faith engagements, dialogues and bridge building across the diverse religious landscape in Los Angeles. As early as 2006, the convening of multifaith leaders under the auspices of the City of Los Angeles Human Relations Commission, yielded safe spaces for difficult conversations and galvanized collective efforts to uplift a pluralistic society. Since then, the Day of Religious Pluralism continues to be celebrated annually highlighting relevant themes in order to affirm the City’s commitment to the fundamental principles of pluralism. With the various global crises in mind, the 2024 Day of Religious Pluralism was hosted in City Hall with the theme of “Humanitarian Solidarity”. The convening showcased local to global humanitarian aid efforts in the context of local multifaith efforts. This year, Los Angeles commemorated the 10^th annual Day of Religious Pluralism in City Hall. These gatherings provide the space and opportunity to remind one another of shared human dignity across differences. It is these foundational relationships that help communities navigate the deeply emotional impacts of global crisis.

In the immediate aftermath of 7 October 2023, LA Civil Rights hosted a gathering themed “In the Name of Humanity” at City Hall to uplift shared humanity and the experiences of communities in Los Angeles irrespective of political, religious or ethnic differences. The gathering was attended by nearly 100 faith representatives with a simple aim of affirming the emotional impact and the pain experienced by many with direct connections to the region. City officials also prioritised support for affected members of the community by meeting with the families and individuals impacted by the Middle East crisis to demonstrate a commitment to addressing the pain and trauma experienced by local communities. The ability to humanise impacted communities is a helpful starting point to allow for the possibility of forward movement, even if it is small and symbolic in nature.

Civil Rights and Community Roundtables: LA Civil Rights also convened multiple Civil Rights Roundtables in partnership with local, state and federal civil rights agencies. The roundtables demonstrated a whole-of-government approach and highlighted the prioritisation of government agencies working together to protect civil rights. The meetings included impacted communities and provided an opportunity to hear directly from community members and to share resources on reporting hate and discrimination as well as available remedies.

Human Security Resolution: Efforts to pass a Human Security Resolution began as a community-led initiative to deepen ongoing community engagement efforts and address expressed fears around protections of free speech and core democratic values. LA Civil Rights collaborated with City Council and community representatives to formally pass the resolution to reaffirm the city’s commitment to fundamental human rights and to include freedom of speech, freedom of worship and freedom from fear and want. These four freedoms have their roots in the American Constitution and founding principles.

Human security is a multisectoral, human-centred framework that focuses on safety and dignity for all people and challenges inequalities and vulnerabilities. While the resolution is symbolic in nature, it underscored community-led efforts and reaffirmed core values that all people of the City can agree on. It provides a common starting point and reaffirms the commitment to foster the ideals of human rights and human security.

What’s next?

Los Angeles will continue to embrace the whole-of-city approach that combines community outreach, policy reform and support for communities experiencing pain and trauma to address issues of hate, extremism and polarisation. The city will continue to leverage existing efforts and create new initiatives that uphold its commitment to a democratic society. Strong Cities continues to liaise with city officials, including those in the LA Civil Rights Department, to ensure learnings from their work are shared with other cities in North America and globally, particularly by ensuring the City continues to play an active role in Strong Cities North America Regional Hub convenings and the Network’s Transatlantic Dialogue Initiative.

Joumana Silyan-Saba, Director of Civil Engagement and Human Rights for the Civil + Human Rights and Equity Department in Los Angeles, speaks at the third Strong Cities Global Crisis, Local Impact webinar in February 2024.

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City Spotlight: Los Angeles, California, United States

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How is the local government responding?

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