LAST Monday marked the 10th year anniversary of the brutal and senseless hate crime spree that killed Joseph Santos Ileto, a Filipino American postal worker, and wounded fi ve people at the North Valley Jewish Community Center. To remember Ileto’s death and reflect on how far our community has come and what has been done to address the problem of hate crimes in the past decade, the Asian Pacifi c American Legal Center organized the 10th Annual Commemorative Event in its community room along Wilshire Blvd in Los Angeles from 9:30am to 1pm on Monday, August 10. Leading elected offi cials and community members joined the press conference and memorial service, which paid tribute to Ileto and the other victims and their families.

On August 10, 1999, white supremacist Buford O. Furrow, Jr. walked into the lobby of the North Valley Jewish Community Center in Granada Hills, California and opened fi re with a semi-automatic weapon, unloading 70 shots into the complex and wounding three small boys, 6-years-old Joshua Stepakoff, James Sidell, also 6, Benjamin Kadish, 5, 16-year-old camp counselor Mindy Finkelstein, and 68-year-old receptionist Isabelle Shalometh.

Minutes later, Furrow murdered postal worker Joseph Santos Ileto in Chatsworth, a few miles away from the center. Joseph had just delivered mail to a home and was returning to his postal truck when Furrow asked him to mail a letter for him. As Ileto agreed, Furrow pulled out a Glock 9mm handgun and shot Ileto nine times.

Just released from prison three months before the attack, Furrow was on probation when he bought buy five assault rifles, two pistols, 6,000 rounds of ammunition and a flak jacket. He drove from Tacoma, Washington on Aug 7 with the express purpose of "killing Jews." After the rampage in LA County, Furrow went to Las Vegas, where he surrendered. He told police he had sought to kill Jews as a "wake up call to America" and had fatally shot Ileto because he was a man of color working for the federal government. He is now at a federal penitentiary, serving two life sentences plus 100 years without the possibility of parole. His guilty plea – to murder and firearm charges – and his history of mental illness persuaded federal prosecutors to forego the death penalty.