THIS STORY HAS BEEN UPDATED, WITH A CORRECTION ABOUT THE COSTS FOR A HATE CRIME VICTIM TO HAVE HER PROPERTY RESTORED.
CLEARLAKE – Leaders of the Lake County Branch of the NAACP called on the Clearlake City Council Thursday night to do more to encourage diversity in the city and to work to solve a number of hate crimes that occurred earlier this year.
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Branch President Aqeela El-Amin Bakheit and First Vice President Rick Mayo gave presentations to the council.
A third presentation later in the meeting was offered by Booker Neal, senior mediator of the Community Relations Service wing of the US Department of Justice.
Mayo, who spoke first, referred to symbols that are both beloved – such as the American flag – and hated, such as swastikas and other Nazi symbols.
As a free society, said Mayo, we should have gotten past crimes based on race. “Yet in this year, 2007, we are still addressing hate crimes in our community.”
Mayo's comments were a prelude to El-Amin Bakheit's remarks, which expanded on the theme of concern.
“We are here tonight, Madam Mayor, to charge this city to do more, to offer more, to be more open and honest with your citizens, the citizens who elected all of you to represent us, in the hopes of real representation,” she said.
El-Amin Bakheit said NAACP group members met with at least two department heads from February until about a month ago about diversity and social justice issues.
She said the group saw no real willingness on the part of certain city staffers to work with them, and asked the council to address that with staff.
“One of your department heads compared us to the Aryan Brotherhood, and we were appalled at that comment,” El-Amin Bakheit said, adding that the comment represented the lack of cultural diversity and sensitivity that concerned the group.
“We are truly under no illusion that we have been truly included in the city,” she said.
Concerns about hate crimes, racial insensitivity
Then, on May 7, seven properties and vehicles within the city were spray painted with hate speech, gang symbols and “filthy, degrading language,” El-Amin Bakheit said.
Residents in the affected neighborhood belong to a broad ethnic mix, she said.
NAACP is concerned about the status of the investigation into the crimes.
“To date, as far as we know those crimes have been unsolved,” she said.
El-Amin Bakheit added, “It is truly sad that in the year 2007 our concerns are not addressed, and when they are they’re not taken seriously.”
She discussed briefly the history of NAACP and explained that, nearly a century after the group’s founding, many of the obstacles to racial equality in the United States remain in place, with social injustices and civil rights violations continuing today.
NAACP’s founders, she said, were both black and white, and the local branch includes a mixed ethnic base as well, she said.
Referring to a commentary written earlier this year by Mayor Judy Thein, El-Amin Bakheit said, “We charge you to breath life and energy into the words written in your commentary about opportunity, hope and the will to make changes.”
She added that NAACP wanted to work with the council to create a better city.
City administrator offers apology
City Administrator Dale Neiman said he needed to apologize to NAACP members, and took responsibility for the comment about the Aryan Brotherhood.
Neiman explained that during one of the meetings earlier this year the group had asked him and interim Police Chief Larry Todd to agree to a statement of cooperation with NAACP.
A copy of that statement, provided to Lake County News by the NAACP, explains that the NAACP and city representatives were specifically discussing “insensitivities and other citizen concerns” relating to Clearlake Police Department.
The group asked Clearlake Police for information about its most recent cultural sensitivity training, to improve its recruitment among black candidates and to update its citizen complaint procedures, according to the statement.
Neiman said he and Todd didn't feel the agreement was necessary, as they already felt obligated to fulfill the NAACP's requests.
He said he had made the comment, which he regretted, in the context that if the city made such an agreement with NAACP, they’d have to do so with any group that came forward, and that include groups such as the Aryan Brotherhood.
He said he should have done “a better job” of explaining himself.
Neiman said his nephew is half African-American and he also has lived in the South and was appalled at the discrimination he saw there.
“I think we have an obligation to enforce the laws equally across the board,” said Neiman, adding that he also would like to see more diversity among city and police staff.
DOJ representative offers services
Booker Neal, who arrived later after being caught in traffic on the way from San Francisco, said the US Department of Justice's Community Relations Service wing was founded in 1964 to address race relations, and is founded on the belief that problems can be resolved.
Neal has made eight trips to Clearlake this year to advise with NAACP and local officials on diversity issues, said El-Amin Bakheit.
He explained that hate crimes, such as those the NAACP brought to the council’s attention, are often invisible but still very present.
“Statistics will show that they are probably the most underreported situations that we can imagine,” Neal said. “Don’t assume that you don’t have issues in your community.”
He suggested the city should have a plan to deal with hate crimes so that, when they happen, they can react properly.
To help with that, he said, “I offer the services of our agency.”
He commended the NAACP, Police Chief Allan McClain and the council for working on the issues.
Update on hate crime investigation
The homes hit by the May hate crimes were painted with swastikas, “thunderbolts” – a symbol commonly worn by Hitler's Nazi SS officers on their uniforms, Mayo told Lake County News.
Photographs supplied to Lake County News also showed the number 14 painted on one home. The number among white supremacists refers to a 14-word quote by imprisoned white supremacist David Lane, "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children,” according to the Center for Democratic Renewal and Education.
In addition, one resident's car had curse words painted across the hood in red spray paint. The owner may have to pay thousands of dollars to have the car and her garage door repainted, said Mayo.
After the council meeting Police Chief Allan McClain gave Lake County News an update on the hate crime investigation.
He said investigators found some fingerprint evidence and entered it into the fingerprint tracking system, but so far have not found matches for the prints.
About two months ago, the case was reassigned to School Resource Officer Carl Miller, said McClain.
The crimes are believed to have been committed by juveniles, and McClain. “We hoped he'd be able to develop some leads in that area.”
McClain said the investigation is continuing.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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