Boyles guest Anderson blamed Hispanic students for starting “race riots almost on a weekly basis”

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

A radio talk show host appearing on The Peter Boyles Show blamed Hispanic students for starting riots that are occurring “almost on a weekly basis” in Los Angeles high schools. Terry Anderson said students at Fontana High School blamed racial tensions for a large riot there, asserting that “there is not one documented case of black kids picking on Hispanic kids, starting a riot.”

On the October 16 broadcast of 630 KHOW-AM's The Peter Boyles Show, frequent guest Terry Anderson claimed that “high schools in Los Angeles are having riots almost on a weekly basis” and that “black students are now outnumbered by the Hispanic students and when those numbers get up around 65 to 70 percent Hispanic, the riots begin. Every school in the state of California this happens at.” Anderson, a radio show host on KRLA-AM in Los Angeles, further stated that “there is not one documented case of black kids picking on Hispanics kids, starting a riot.”

In a July 30, 2005, article, the Los Angeles Times noted that Anderson “has long opposed illegal immigration.” The Times reported that at an event titled “Blacks and Hispanics: Allies or Rivals?,” Anderson “was one of several panel members who blamed illegal immigrants for, in their opinion, stealing jobs from blacks and crowding schools and neighborhoods to unbearable limits.”

Boyles and Anderson were discussing news reports about a riot that broke out on October 13 at Fontana High School, about 50 miles east of Los Angeles in Southern California. According to an October 13 Associated Press article, “About 100 officers rushed to Fontana High School around noon after a fight between two students escalated into a large riot, with some students throwing rocks and bottles at officers and one another, according to Fontana police Sgt. Doug Wagner.” The AP article quoted Fontana police sergeant Doug Wagner as saying, “We don't know if it was gang related or if it was racially motivated. ... Some people were unhappy with one another, a fight broke out and it spilled over.”

An October 14 San Bernardino County Sun article reported, “Some students blamed Friday's riot at Fontana High School on long-simmering racial tensions. ... Police, however, were hesitant to call the riot a racial one.”

After referring to the Fontana High riot, Anderson blamed Hispanic students for a supposed rise in violence in California schools:

BOYLES: By the way, what happened at Fontana High School, man? There was a bunch of stuff on the wire this morning about --

ANDERSON: I'm reading an article right now. Fontana students blame riot on simmering racial tensions. Let me tell you what that's about. That happens here in L.A. all the time, Pete. Amazing. Jefferson High, Crenshaw High, Manual Arts High -- all these high schools in Los Angeles are having race riots almost on a weekly basis, but it doesn't make the news. The reason this one made the news is because it was so huge. The black students are now outnumbered by the Hispanic students and when those numbers get up around 65 to 70 percent Hispanic, the riots begin. Every school in the state of California this happens at. And nobody wants to address it, they want to say, “Well, it was two gang-related guys, or it was just a couple of kids fighting” -- yeah, but if you notice it's always the Hispanics who jump on the blacks. There is not one documented case of black kids picking on Hispanic kids, starting a riot. And let me say one more thing on that: When these schools were 80 and 90 percent black, no riots. Zero. Zero.

BOYLES: Let's go right to our phones.