‘Tide’ Awash in the Fight on Racism : Activism: Michael Novick’s bimonthly newsletter exposes people and attitudes that he feels contribute to an atmosphere of bigotry.

The air was filled with smoke and a sense of crisis as Michael Novick hurried into a Studio City cafe for lunch while on his way to a student demonstration in Westwood. The fires and looting that occurred after the verdict in the Rodney G. King beating case were continuing for the third day, and Novick, who had just received the May/June issue of his anti-racism newsletter, “Turning the Tide” from the printer wanted to distribute a stack of them to the crowd.

Novick, 45, has published the Tide since 1987, and the bimonthly paper is the main thrust of his loosely organized 5-year-old organization People Against Racist Terror. Membership is informal, a group of six to 12 high school and college students, teachers and others interested in fighting racism who meet monthly at Novick’s Burbank home to discuss racial topics, plan upcoming issues and organize rallies and events.

Within each eight-page issue, Novick deals with local events and people he feels contribute to an atmosphere of racism and bigotry. Cartoons, such as one showing presidential candidate David Duke holding a sign reading, “Republiklans” are used to help bring humor and attract a youthful audience. Recent issues have focused on Japan-bashing, anti-gay assaults, the building of a new federal prison in Colorado that Novick said will increase the “psychological torture” of its inmates and the revival of Nazism in unified Germany.

“Originally, I thought we could create a movement against racism locally, but that hasn’t happened. Not yet at least,” he said. The newsletter has about 500 subscribers nationwide, but most are in Southern California. He also distributes 500 to libraries, at concerts and demonstrations, and speaks to groups and rallies to promote anti-racism.

“Michael is very valuable to our community,” said Shirley Gillette of North Hollywood, a member of the Valley Interfaith Council’s Human Relations committee. “He’s helped organize people to remove racist graffiti, and has been very committed to educating people on racism.”

The Tide’s publishing costs are covered by donations and $5 annual subscriptions. “It’s a real low-budget operation. No grants, no paid staff,” Novick said with a laugh.

While earning a living teaching English as a second language to adults at a Hollywood day school, Novick works away on his PC keyboard at home, writing stories for the Tide, as well as planning anti-racist events and investigating racial incidents in Southern California.

“Unfortunately, I think much of the anti-racism activity we have is reactive. Some atrocity will occur and people will question what’s being done, but then the fundamental problems aren’t dealt with, and the attention fades away.”

Novick feels the not-guilty verdicts in the King case weren’t surprising, considering what Novick contends was the bias toward the defense of the four Los Angeles Police Department officers. “The case should have been tried in Los Angeles. A jury from Simi Valley isn’t going to have the same knowledge of the LAPD that people in Los Angeles are going to have.”

The July/August issue of the Tide will cover the aftermath of the riots and will try to show what racism is. “We’re planning on making the next issue almost a primer on racism, showing how people ignore it and deny that it exists and yet you have organizations, companies, banks, all discriminating against people in regards to jobs and loans. There are ‘white rights’ people out there who say they are not racist. They just think affirmative action programs discriminate against them. But would any of them like to trade places with a black person in today’s society? I don’t think so,” said Novick, who is white.

“Hold the Police Accountable for Their Crimes” was the main headline in a recent issue of the Tide, in which Novick argued that the Christopher Commission, founded by Mayor Tom Bradley and Police Chief Daryl F. Gates to recommend solutions for the demoralized Police Department after the King incident, was formed to “derail the momentum of popular outrage against Gates and the LAPD.”

Novick gestured outside: “The fact that they succeeded in that led to what’s happening now. I think the new chief will be an improvement over Gates, but I don’t think you can blame the problem on one person though; it’s the whole system. We should have gotten rid of Gates a few years ago when he said black people don’t have normal necks, which was supposed to explain why they died during police chokeholds.”

Novick got involved in politics while a student at Brooklyn College during the 1960s. “At the time, Brooklyn College was kind of an ‘Ole Miss of the North.’ The student population was about 98% white while the population of the surrounding area was 40% to 50% black and Hispanic. It was an interesting time to learn about civil rights.”

He majored in political science intending to be a teacher. “It was also a major with few requirements, and since there was so much political activity going on outside, you almost didn’t need to go to class to get an education.”

In the years after graduation, however, the spirit of the ‘60s ended and Novick became frustrated by what he saw as the apathy that set in. “I thought all the protests and movements would create a better society, a better outcome, that things would really change, but they didn’t. I don’t have much hope for a revolutionary transformation in our values and attitudes toward other people, but I think something has to change.”

Teaching, writing and staying active in political and social causes, Novick moved to Los Angeles in 1981, looking for new challenges. “I didn’t like it here much and would’ve moved back to Chicago if I didn’t get married. My wife wants to stay out here now for her children.”

His wife, a kindergarten teacher in Burbank, supports his anti-racism efforts, as do his three stepchildren, two of whom are in high school, while the other is “a real gung-ho Marine.” Novick said: “He joined the Marine Corps recently, and loves it. We have some real interesting conversations when he’s home.”

Novick carefully follows news reports and gets calls and letters from his readers regarding racist incidents. “I’ve definitely seen an increase in racist activity since March, and it’s increased slowly over the last several years.”

The latest issue of the Tide carries accounts of 24 incidents that occurred from February to April, including the attack on two Japanese-American surfers at Topanga State Beach, the burning of a kosher butcher shop in Van Nuys on Hitler’s birthday, and the shooting of an undocumented Mexican immigrant in San Diego.

“I think there’s been a lot more violence associated with these hate crimes than there has been in the past. You used to see vandalism; now it’s assaults and shootings,” he said.

Since its inception, Novick has regularly worked with the Los Angeles Student Coalition, a group of high school and college students who organize and demonstrate for social causes while they promote and provide input for the Tide. “By getting young people involved, we get them to see humanity in a better light.

“A lot of hate groups target young people because they’re impressionable, and you have Nazi skinhead gangs who try to relate their alienation to what kids feel.”

Novick believes that youth hate groups are starting to thrive in the Inland Empire and Ventura County since he has seen racial incidents in the two areas rise. To combat these groups, Novick began working with Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice and other anti-racist groups, helping them organize demonstrations and distribute anti-racist literature. “Unfortunately, a lot of these groups come and go before they can have much impact. But the main thing is that people are interested in the subject and want to get involved.”

Novick has tried to expand the readership of the Tide by distributing it at more events, libraries and schools. He admits his part-time efforts can only take the newsletter so far. “It’s an uphill battle, and it’s not going to be won by one person alone. There are deep issues that one person can’t take on himself.

“The bottom line is that issues like racial violence are part of a larger problem, which is economic discrimination and political disenfranchisement for those who aren’t in the mainstream of society.

“No one feels it’s objectionable to have a Latina as a maid, not thinking that this person can’t survive on what they’re being paid. These are things that must change,” he said. And to create change, Novick feels the public has to know more about what they may not see in the newspaper or watch on TV.

Novick also gathers information and writes and distributes research papers on such topics as exposing racist front groups active in Southern California. He details ties between the organizers of the Populist Party, which ran Louisiana legislator Duke as its candidate for President in 1988, to the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazi activists. Another paper claims police are actively being recruited into white supremacist groups.

He’s also working with artists from a group called Eclipse Publishing in Los Angeles to produce a series of anti-racist postcards. “They’ll be exposing racist groups and promoting racial harmony. I’m always looking for new ways to get the message across.”

He has also tried to stage more demonstrations to bring attention to the problem. “After the leader of the White Aryan Resistance, Tom Metzger, was convicted last year in a cross-burning incident, he was allowed to leave jail to go to the funeral of his wife. While he was out, he called for a huge demonstration on the U.S.-Mexican border against immigrants.

“We’re trying to organize a counter-demonstration against them. It’s not that we don’t think they should be allowed to demonstrate. It’s just that they shouldn’t be allowed to demonstrate unopposed. They shouldn’t be mistaken as speaking for all white people.”

Some, however, think otherwise, which accounts for the hate mail People Against Racist Terror receives in its Burbank post office box. “We get our share,” said Novick with a smile. “Lately, we’ve only been getting two or three a month for some reason. Either the people who hate us have lost interest, or our efforts have had some effect and they have gone away. We’ve had some interesting phone calls as well.”

Novick recently started using a traditional answering service, since his suspicions were raised when he discovered that the electronic voice mail service he had used was also employed by the White Aryan Resistance. “We’d sometimes call for messages and just get nothing, as if they were being jammed.”

Novick checked his watch and realized that he needed to leave. The rally from UCLA to the federal building was under way, and he wanted to meet some of those involved and possibly interest them in attending the annual Los Angeles Student Coalition demonstration Sunday at Los Angeles High School.

“The Student Coalition demonstration was planned some time ago to protest government policies,” he said as a police helicopter raced over Cahuenga Pass. “Of course, now it takes on a deeper meaning.”