Town Hall Panel Finds City Plagued By Racism

Racism is alive and thriving in Pasadena, just as it is across America, a panel of experts concluded at a town hall meeting last week.

About 300 people packed The Pasadena Center on Wednesday for the televised meeting on the theme, “Racism in Pasadena, Are We at Risk?” It was the first of a series of discussions planned by the city in response to the rioting that erupted in Los Angeles after not guilty verdicts were returned in the trial of four white police officers accused of beating Rodney G. King.

One panelist, Elmer Griffin, a clinical psychologist in Pasadena and associate professor of psychology at Occidental College, said he laughed when he read the topic. He compared it to a person with a gigantic lump on his forehead going to his doctor and asking if he’s at risk for cancer.

“You can’t be at risk for something you already have,” Griffin said. “Unless risk means that Pasadena will have a riot. I think there are little riots in Pasadena every day. . . . It’s a gigantic lump on our heads.”

Three other panelists also found racism prevalent, but all discussed it broadly as a societal problem more than one specific to Pasadena.

“It’s what keeps the needle in my arm,” said Hector E. Lopez, a minister at East Valley United Church of Christ; repeating how acquaintances defined the term for him. “It’s what keeps my father from getting a job, and keeps my mother on welfare. It keeps us from getting an education and jobs. It keeps us from having political power and justice.”

The panel concluded that racism was created when whites began buying and selling Africans for slave labor. It still benefits “anyone who continues to enjoy the orgasm of the rape that took place 500 years ago,” Lopez said, by which he meant all those who control America’s economic system.

The discussion, which was broadcast live on the city’s cable television channel, went smoothly until moderator Warren Olney, of KCRW-FM radio, asked for questions from the audience and television viewers. Two speakers chided the panel for failing to address the issues head-on.

“We’re going back to the ‘60s in our discussion,” said Charles Johnson. “We’re now at the point of developing a mechanism to solve the problem. April 29 was a wake-up call.”

Another speaker called the panel “cowards” for not blaming European culture for creating racism.

“People keep saying they, when we all know it’s the indictment of European culture that oppresses people,” he said.

Lopez pointed out that racism has become more complicated now than in the 1960s when the issue concerned mainly African-Americans and whites. Minorities now include Latinos, Pacific Islanders and Asians who should not press their interests at the expense of another minority group, he said.

After the meeting ended, the audience reaction was mixed.

“I think it was healthy,” said Arthur Bean. “The more we talk about it, the better we deal with and understand each other.”

Cheryl Hubbard said she was disappointed with the experts.

“People who are experts on racism are people who have been kicked by the police and denied housing,” she said. “Next time, they should have civilian experts with first-hand knowledge of the backlash of racism.”

The meeting will be rebroadcast on Pasadena’s television station KPAS, cable channel 55, Tuesday at 9 a.m., Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., Thursday at 3:30 p.m., Friday at 11 a.m. and Saturday at 5 p.m. through July.

Dates of future town hall meetings have not been set.