EDITORIAL DISTURBING TREND.

CALIFORNIA is one of the most diverse places on the planet. It's also one of the most tolerant. So is it possible that our beloved state has become a hotbed of anti-Semitism?

The facts, as reported by the Anti-Defamation League, are highly disturbing. Anti-Semitic incidents have gone up by a frightening 17 percent nationwide, reaching their highest level in 17 years. The increase is even more dramatic in California, where anti-Semitic incidents have skyrocketed by 30 percent.

ADL leaders suspect that the cause may be that for today's youth, the Holocaust is ancient history. They are simply unaware of how hurtful a swastika can be, or how terrible the Third Reich really was.

Our children are blessed to be raised in a time and place where bigotry has been mostly - but not entirely - banished. Yet this blessing contains a hidden curse: We can become lackadaisical in our efforts to root out prejudice, or blind to its creeping resurgence.

But as the ADL's report reminds us, we must be ever vigilant in our efforts to fight prejudice.