L.A. Goes to DEFCON 1 After Potted Plant and Pride Flag Set on Fire

Just how much danger are you in when you can mobilize law enforcement over the destruction of a potted plant and a tiny Pride flag? Well, just ask California. NBC News, no less, noted that sometime during the weekend of May 21-22, someone broke into the Saticoy Elementary School in North Hollywood. The perp or perps set a potted plant on fire. There was a small Pride flag in the pot, which was also burned. The Los Angeles Police Department said the incident was being investigated as a “vandalism hate crime.” No suspects have been apprehended. The Los Angeles School Police planned to provide additional patrols around the school. Renato Lira, the director of the San Fernando Valley LGBTQ Center, told NBC:

We are really concerned. We wanted to make sure the kids are safe during the time they’re inside the school. We are working on this around the clock. We are keeping an eye on social, even communicating with the school district and the LAPD. We have meetings every day.

The district sent the following message to parents:

I’m calling to inform you that we experienced a break-in over the weekend at Saticoy Elementary that resulted in vandalism and is being investigated as a hate-motivated incident. We are cooperating with law enforcement. This is a reminder that we rely on our entire school community to keep our school safe and secure by reporting any suspicious activity on campus after hours. If you see something, say something. Los Angeles Unified is committed to creating a safe and inclusive learning environment that embraces the diversity of the communities we serve. The District encourages everyone in our school communities to treat each other with respect, kindness, and compassion so that our students can be empowered to achieve their greatest potential.

I think the blessing that we are all missing here is that the level of crime in the rest of the greater Los Angeles area is so low that law enforcement can allocate resources to this incident (/sarc if you had to ask). And before anyone in the comments section starts in, yes, it should be painfully obvious that in 21st-century America, setting an American flag on fire is enough to earn someone an endorsement for Congress, while burning a 4″ x 6″ Pride flag practically necessitates a shelter-in-place order.

There was one social media post protesting a Pride Day that was slated for the school. But naturally, no one appears to have taken a moment to investigate if the calls are “coming from inside the house.” Let us not forget the Ballad of Jussie Smollett or the myriad of other hate crimes across the nation that have been revealed as hoaxes in true Scooby Doo fashion. As Megan reported last Saturday, a bomb threat against Target stores was not the rantings of a cisgender Bible-thumping Christian. Rather, the threat was the product of an angry, leftist, true-blue Pride supporter who was enraged by the fact that the store had removed some Pride-themed merchandise. So it is not out of the realm of possibility that someone decided that with Pride Month warming up in the bullpen, there needed to be some pre-show hype and torched a houseplant and a flag. All this, and it’s only June 2. Buckle up. It’s going to be a long news cycle.