Racism in Venice?
By Jim
Smith
Last month, a number of white
Venetians were outraged at being called “white supremacists,”
“white crackers,” and similar names by Venetians of color. Most of
the insults occurred outside the Vera Davis McClendon Center (named for a late,
great Black Venetian) as they were entering a Venice Neighborhood Council
meeting. One instance occurred during public comment at the meeting, but the
speaker was quickly interrupted by members of the board.
While the email lists and internet message
boards, which are overwhelmingly white, have been abuzz with indignation ever
since, the larger question has not been addressed. Is there racism in Venice?
My observation after 35 years in
Venice leads me to answer in a resounding yes. Venice is still segregated, and
still subject to different police practices for members of different races.
In the old days racism and
discrimination were much more overt. Blacks were allowed to live only in
Oakwood. Real Estate restrictions in Venice and elsewhere prevented white
property owners from selling to Blacks, Mexicans, Chinese and others. The KKK
had a chapter in Venice. Their office was near where the post office annex now
stands. When long-time residents of Venice who happened to be of Japanese origin
were rounded up and put in concentration camps during WW II, we heard no protest
from the “greatest generation.”
In spite of it all, Venice continues
to be a multi-racial city. Even with segregation, many Venetians find ways to
embrace the racial diversity of this odd-ball beach town. In fact, so much
embracing has gone on that more than 1,700 Venetians are of “mixed
race” according to the 2000 census. Those whites who are blinded by their
racism unfortunately miss the rich diverse cultural texture that make Venice,
well Venice. Because of past legal restrictions on their mobility many Black,
Native American and Latino families came to Venice in its early days and never
left. To be a third and forth generation Venetian of color is much more common
than it is among white Venetians.
None
of this had deterred a condescending or even hostile attitude from newcomers who
are white. A white friend told me that one evening last month when she was
standing outside a community center located on the Black-white border of Venice
with one of the Black women who works there, a white man came by walking his
dog. When he was asked not to leave his dog’s poop on the yard, he
complained that people visiting the center threw trash in his yard. My friend
responded that she had never thrown anything into his or anyone else’s
yard. “That’s became you’re white,” was his retort.
While it may be extreme to express these feelings out loud, if you are white,
ask yourself if you scrutinize a Black man walking down your street more than
you would if he was white. Would there be any neighborhood watch committees if
people of color never came into white
neighborhoods?
It’s only been in
the past few years that a derogatory name for Oakwood among white Venetians has
stopped being used in polite company (I’m not going to revive it here.)
Lately gentrification has come to Oakwood. Whites who previously wouldn’t
have dared set foot on Brooks, Broadway, Indiana, etc. now drive their BMWs
slowly down those streets looking for real estate. Others come looking for
something more illicit. Some whites actually move in, all too often behind
8-foot fences patrolled by Pit Bulls. Meanwhile Black and White police cars
cruise up and down every street. One long time resident remarked that the
stepped up police presence is because “Blacks aren’t selling their
homes fast enough.”
Hot on the
heels of the Yuppie invasion come proposals for not one but two charter schools
on the grounds of Broadway Elementary School. When schools like Broadway and
Westminster were overwhelmingly Black and Latino, no one outside Oakwood cared
about the quality of education. Now, 50 years after Brown vs. Board of
Education, we may be seeing the resegregation of our neighborhood schools.
Advances like integrated schools,
lunch counters, an end to Jim Crow laws and other overt manifestations of racism
came as a result of Blacks - and a few whites - becoming militant. Marches,
sit-ins, freedom rides, and in some cases, rude behavior, put liberal whites on
the spot. Now, in some ways the clock seems to be turning backward. There are
more young Black Venetians in jail than there are graduating from Venice High.
Those on the street are restricted by terms
of probation or gang injunctions (often without due process). Twelve year olds
are already in THE LAPD'S computer databases. Is it unreasonable for Venetians
of color to feel angry and
powerless?
An LAPD bust in Oakwood on
May 13 involved kicking in the front door of a home, and arresting two local men
on charges of dealing crack cocaine. Some locals claim the search warrant was
bogus and the evidence was planted. This followed the March 27 alleged police
beating of Donovan Moore, which was covered in last month’s Beachhead.
Admittedly I wasn’t on the scene
in either case so I don’t know from personal observation whether the THE
LAPD'S went “by the book” or if they used excessive zeal. However,
police practices in Oakwood have been called in question by residents for a long
time, probably since Venice was taken over by Los Angeles. One former Venice
Division cop, Mark Fuhrman - of O.J. Simpson trial fame - in an interview with
Laura McKinney, bragged about beating and torturing gang members, “we had
them begging that they'd never be gang members again, begging us.”
Fuhrman’s negative attitude toward Blacks - which I’m sure is not
shared by any other police officers - was apparent. He said that he would tell
Blacks, “You do what you're told, understand, n_____?” Fuhrman was
also accused of planting evidence, a tempting shortcut for any “bad
cop.”
Even while police are
kicking down doors in Oakwood, it is possible to buy powdered cocaine in some of
the Venice watering holes frequented by affluent Venetians. Quite a few
impressive new homes throughout Venice have elaborate pot farms in their walk-in
closets. When was the last time you heard about a police raid on a plush
nightclub or a fancy home where illicit drugs were cultivated or sold? I’d
guess never.
The unequal enforcement of
crack versus powdered coke and other drugs is not the only problem. What is the
problem is the lack of concern, sympathy, or action by those white Venetians who
see Blacks and Latinos, and not racism, as the problem. Venice is a microcosm of
our society. We have our suburbs and our inner city, our wealthy and our
homeless, and we have residents from all over the world, including thousands of
Blacks, Latinos, whites, Asians and hundreds of Native Americans on whose land
we are all living.
Meanwhile, Spanish
classes are poorly attended by Anglos. Community programs at the Vera Davis
McClendon Center and Oakwood Recreation Center seem to be boycotted by whites.
When the Neighborhood Council held a town hall on May 6 focusing on helping
at-risk youth, hundreds of whites streamed into the adjoining lobby to vote in
favor of denying 16 and 17-year-olds the right to vote and then made a beeline
to their cars.
Racism is so deeply
ingrained on us whites that it can probably never be fully eradicated - at least
not in our lifetime. All of our families have profited, either directly or
indirectly, from the enslavement of Africans, genocide and taking the land of
Native Americans, conquering the Mexicans in California, and near-slave labor
conditions of Chinese, Japanese, Filipinos and other Asians and Pacific peoples.
And the list goes on. Just ask Wal-Mart and other U.S. Corporations what they
are doing around the world.
Overcoming
this legacy is like a 12-step program. “My name is Bill White, and
I’m addicted to racism.” We’re guilty as sin of exploitation
and discrimination. We should be sentenced to community service for the rest of
our lives. And when someone who has suffered from white supremacy all his life
hurls an unfair expletive in our direction, we can be sure that someone in our
family tree truly deserves it.
Posted: Tue - June 1, 2004 at 08:58 PM