The Los Angeles City Council moved ahead with a motion on Friday, Dec. 15, that asks City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto what the city can do, if anything, when people circulate hateful flyers en masse in neighborhoods — and whether the city can fight back by calling it a misdemeanor.
The motion comes as communities throughout L.A. County and surrounding areas report that antisemitic flyers are papering neighborhoods in heavily Jewish areas.
L.A. City Councilmember Bob Blumenfield, who introduced the motion, acknowledged that First Amendment issues are “always complicated,” but he drew a line between free speech and targeted hateful speech.
“If you have a rope and you drop it on the ground, that may be littering. But if you tie that rope in a noose, and you put it … specifically on the doorstep of an African-American family, you’re sending a message of intimidation,” he said.
“We want to make sure that people can say whatever hateful things they want to say. And you can do that in the town square and, you know, online or in various places,” Blumenfield said. “But when you cross that threshold and you start sending that hate into someone else’s sanctuary, into their front step, that is something different. That is no longer about your free speech. That is about intimidating someone else.”
Blumenfield, who represents parts of the West San Fernando Valley, said in a recent interview that Jews, Blacks, Armenians and members of the LGBTQ+ community have been targets of hate-based actions in L.A. in recent years.
As it stands, if someone widely spreads hate-filled flyers in targeted neighborhoods, generally the city can only go after them for littering, Blumenfield said.
According to Blumenfield’s motion, in most cases someone found guilty of littering would be charged with an infraction and face a fine. But someone who’s charged and found guilty of a hate crime could be imprisoned.
Blumenfield’s motion asks the city attorney to…
Read the full article here
