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ALPERN AT LARGE - Again, it’s enlightening but painful to see what our divided factions’ true colors are—not so much the color of one’s skin, but the presumption that that person’s color predetermines what that person’s thoughts, actions, and voting habits are supposed to be.
I have called this the New Racism, Racialism, and a variety of other terms…but in one way, shape or form it’s Racist. Because Identity Politics really is just Racism.
And while it’s too easy to throw around the moniker “racist, racist, racist” nowadays, it’s very concerning that Los Angeles Mayor Bass, who represents one the most multicultural and multiethnic cities in the world, would decry the historic numbers of Latinos joining the Border Patrol, or presume it’s driven primarily by financial benefit .
Apparently, CNN correspondent David Culver had interviewed two of these Latino Border Patrol agents, who joined in order to uphold the law and protecting the border, and who refused to classify those arrested for knowing breaking immigration laws as “my kind”.
Of no surprise is that the Department of Homeland Security also decried Mayor Bass’ sentiments and statements made to Wolf Blitzer on CNN as “detached from reality and how averse she is to the rule of law and public safety”.
Mayor Bass was also accused of race-baiting for media clicks, but I suspect those media clicks won’t be supportive. Quite the opposite, really.
After all, this is the same mayor who had to be goaded by the White House and federal agencies to keep the peace when ICE and other federal agents were doing their jobs and riotous activity was becoming a new normal.
This is also the same mayor who deserves much of the blame for the buildup to, and the wholesale failure after, the Pacific Palisades fire that to this day has left that neighborhood destroyed without any hope of near-term repair…and who probably is also as unprepared for the 2028 Olympics as she was for that conflagration.
Not all Angelenos oppose the rule of law and see everything through a lens of ethnicity, including Latino Angelenos (most of whom, by the way, refuse the “Latinx” term imposed on them by white and other “open-minded” do-gooders who presume they’re smarter than the average Latino/Hispanic/Chicano American).
Many (dare I say most?) Latinos know darned well what they or their forefathers fled from when they moved up north, to a nation that emphasized hope and the ability to succeed based on their individual, God-given talents…and particularly so if they did things the legal way.
Many Latinos have lived here for generations and identify as part of the good ol’ United States of America, which is NOT white so much as it is human in its very core.
And part of being human means following the laws and rules so that everyone gets a fair, safe, and equal shot at success—no guarantee of success, but the “pursuit of happiness” that should be ensured.
Illegal immigration just leads to one form of slave labor or another, as well as the requirement of the general population paying for the illegal enrichment of employers, government entities, and others who don’t merit such special treatment.
Joining law enforcement because it’s a paying job isn’t immoral or lamentable, and in the same way we have teachers, lawyers, medical workers, and employers who also create and enrich a given society.
Latino-Americans who defend the southern border, directly or indirectly, are no less vital than Asian-Americans and Muslim-Americans who use their insights and talents to preserve the nation from the cruel and divisive outside world…and who really don’t want any hyphenations before their designation as Americans.
Just Americans.
And it is to be hoped that Mayor Bass, if she has any glimmer of hope or re-election, will eschew race-baiting, and Racialistic/Racist, sentiments because she was elected to represent us all—because being both liberal/left, or conservative/right, or a combination thereof, are all appropriate ways to live our lives.
So, I won’t call Mayor Bass a racist. Not at all.
But I will suggest that perhaps she misspoke, or if she meant what she said then her statements are worthy or derision and decrying.
Because I will be the first to lament that dividing us based on race has no business in the City of the Angels.
(Kenneth S. Alpern, M.D, is a dermatologist who has served in clinics in Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside Counties, and is a proud husband and father. He was active for 20 years on the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC) as a Board Member focused on Planning and Transportation, and helped lead the grassroots efforts of the Expo Line as well as connecting LAX to MetroRail. His latest project is his fictional online book entitled The Unforgotten Tales of Middle-Earth, and can be reached at [email protected]. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Dr. Alpern.)
