No Tolerance for Intolerance: Law Enforcement Vets Explore Strategies to Combat Hate Crimes

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cluded stints as Long Beach police chief after almost 30 years ith AP , and as A County sheri fro - , overseeing 18,000 employees and a $3.3 billion budget, attributed some of the near-doubling of hate crime reports in the past decade to in a atory leaders and unchec ed social media that “encourages people who can hide in the dark” to anonymously spew hate encouraging and rewarding like-minded others for “something very hurtful to our community.”

“That lack of accountability, I think, separates where we are today from where we were 20 years ago, as it relates to hate crimes in particular, but other crimes and aberrant behavior as well,” he said.

Doris Trinidad Gamalinda, poet, essayist, and editor of several national publications, died on Monday, February 13, 2023, in Manila. She was 95.

Doris Trinidad, as she is known in journalism and literary circles, is the mother of Marisse Gamalinda-Abelgas, former editor of the Philippine Post and Hiyas Magazine, and mother-in-law of Val G. Abelgas, publisher-editor of the Los Angeles-based Philippine Post. She is also the mother of award-winning New York-based poet, novelist and journalist Eric Gamalinda.

Born Adoracion Trinidad on November 15, 1927, to school teacher Aurora Cañizares and lawyer Jesus Trinidad, she obtained her bachelor’s degree in Philosophy, summa cum laude, from the University of Santo Tomas, where she was also Assistant Literary Editor of The Varsitarian. She also attended high school at the Holy Ghost College (later College of the Holy Spirit) and was

Valedictorian at Legarda Elementary School, a few steps from her ancestral home in Sampaloc, Manila.

She began her writing career as a section editor for the Manila Times until its closure during

Martial Law in 1972, and later worked as associate editor for Focus Manazine, editor of the Times Journal’s People Magazine and the Journal’s lifestyle editor. In 1980, she oined the sta of the ational edia Production Center, and a year later became editor-in-chief of Woman’s Home Companion, during which time she turned the magazine into the most widely circulated lifestyle magazine in the country.

She retired in 1995 and devoted her later years pursuing her first love riting and rapidly pu lished a succession of books, including Looking Glass (essays, New Day Publishers, 1991); Permutations of Love (essays, Anvil Publishing, he ay of the iracle essays, ira e oo s, ysteries and e ories essays, ira e oo s, and o and ifeti es Ago poetry, ira e oo s, he also published Two Voices (poetry, University of Santo Tomas Publishing House, 2012 ) with Gloria G. Goloy. In addition, her poems were also included in the anthology Babaylan (Aunt Lute Books, San Francisco, 2000).

The ACT Against Hate Alliance brought together some heavy hi�ers fro law enforce ent to iscuss strate ies for co a n the recent rise in hate cri es.

As the United States experiences an escalating wave of hate crimes, particularly victimizing Asian Americans, ACT Against Hate Alliance brought together some heavy hitters from law enforcement to discuss strategies for combatting this alarming trend.

“The core mission of the ACT Against Hate Alliance is to identify the root causes behind hate crimes, and propose solutions to stop the , co-host o u , for er California state senate minority leader, said in introducing the Feb. panel, the sixth in a monthly series the organization is hosting while also opening chapters on campuses throughout the state.

“We’re all stakeholders,” said Domingo Herraiz, of the International Association of Chiefs of Police. “When an incident or hate crime occurs, it truly rocks the community and the credibility of government and policing agencies. The sense of safety for all in the community is badly damaged.

“If the investigation falls apart, if there’s no prosecution, no charges, e have long-ter , long-lasting e ects and devastation to the community.

“We need to speak up, because we are the majority and we cannot tolerate this. We weren’t raised this way. Very, very few people were.”

Jim McDonnell, whose decades in law enforcement in-

He cited improvements in data collection thanks to a new “NIBR” (National Incident Based Reporting) system that will improve coordination between various law enforcement agencies and jurisdictions. Besides leading to a more complete picture of what is widely believed to be an underreported crime phenomenon, he said, NIBR is expected to make it easier to identify trends and capture specifics a out individual cri es

“We have a relatively small number of people in our society who would engage in this type of behavior,” he said. “So, it’s important that those in law enforcement be aware of ho those individuals are, hat groups they re affiliated with, and how they operate.”

“We dedicate a ton of resources to hate crimes,” said FBI Special Agent Brian Gilhooly, who oversees criminal investigations across seven southern California counties, dealing with gangs, narcotics, violent crime, hate crime, public corruption, crimes against children and fraud.

“It’s not only an attack on a victim. It has a huge impact on the entire community, which is why it’s a priority for the FBI.”

“It’ll take a team to really make an impact on this threat, the for er avy A officer in the iddle ast and Pacific regions said, and here in os Angeles, e are one of the only field offices that has an entire s uad dedicated to investigating hate crimes.”

There is “is a button for tips and leads” on the FBI website, Gilhooly said. “We can use that information to better prepare our law enforcement or intelligence analysts, our victim specialists or our language specialists to address

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Mysteries and Memories was awarded Book of the Year by the Manila Writers Circle. In his introduction to the book, F. Sionil Jose noted “the felicity of language that only a poet can muster, the depth of perception and the illumination that clear thinking brings.”

Eugenia Duran-Apostol, in her introduction to Permutations of Love, said: “She rises above mere journalese and ends up enchanting you with single-topic literary musings, many of them poems-in-the-rough, almost-poems, not-quite-poems, unmetered poems. For by nature, Doris is a poet.”

Her alma mater UST also honored her with the Ustetika Award in 2006 and Philets Owl Award in 2010.

Doris Trinidad’s work explored the interconnectedness of writing, personal history, and memory, placing great value on the significance of fa ily, friendships, art and literature, spirituality, and even politics and personal loss. Throughout her life, she remained a relentless student of the great metaphysical mysteries and the quest for God and meaning, and of being and becoming.

She wrote: “I will just remind you of the treasures that might be lying in your own mind, buried for years by layers of more pressing, more recent experiences. Find a quiet corner and a restful moment to coax them out. They are part of what you are.”

Doris Trinidad Gamalinda was married to the late Marcial Gamalinda, Jr., and the mother of eight children, Marcial III (“Bunny”); Marisse Abelgas; Marco; Celine Borromeo; Eric; Diana; Marvin; and Miel Lanting. Her siblings included the late Agnes olosa, for erly ean of tudent A airs at the College of the Holy Spirit, and the late Dr. Juvenal Trinidad of the UST Faculty of Medicine. She leaves behind 14 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

Her remains will lie in estate at St. Peter’s Memorial Chapels in Quezon City starting Feb. 16 and will be interred on Feb. 19 at Loyola Memorial Park.