Crimes motivated by racial discrimination are increasing in Los Angeles at an alarming rate, the International Herald Tribune reports. Last month, two Latino gang members, looking for any black person to shoot, gunned down 14-year-old Cheryl Green. Her only mistake was riding her scooter too close to a street that divides black and Latino rival gangs.

This recent hate crime grabbed the attention of community and civil right advocates who are concerned about the rising trend of Latino-versus-black confrontations. Racially motivated violence, together with crimes motivated by religious and sexual-orientation discrimination, in the city of Los Angeles increased 34 percent in 2005 over 2004.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson, an African American who hosts the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable, strongly believes the city’s woes are a “microcosm” of what could easily break out within other major American population centers. “When we have the kind of tension you see in L.A. in the schools, the workplace and now hate-crime violence, my great concern is this is a horrific view of what could happen in other cities,” Hutchinson said.

Bible prophecy tells us Mr. Hutchinson’s “great concern” is valid. To learn about the horrific racial tensions and inner-city violence that are prophesied to explode in American cities in the time just ahead—and, more importantly, how to avoid being victimized by this violence—request a free copy of our book Ezekiel: The End-Time Prophet.