No Time for Complacency

Of all cultural poisons, none more threatens the notion of American democracy than racism. Rarely, though, do bigotry and hatred reveal themselves in as plain and ugly a way as they did recently in the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys. Two synagogues were sprayed with venomous graffiti and racist fliers appeared at supermarkets in packages of taco shells, canned tuna and soda.

Shoppers found pamphlets that read: “Our culture and heritage have been destroyed . . . by this tribe of hateful control freaks.” The fliers also suggested that a prominent Jewish film producer be chained to a pickup truck and dragged “down Sunset Blvd. before we are exterminated through interracial sex and marriage.” About the same time, cowardly vandals at Temple Solael in West Hills and Temple Ahavat Shalom in Northridge scrawled “Stop Murdering the White Race” and left the World Wide Web address of a racist group called the National Alliance.

The West Virginia-based outfit is headed by William L. Pierce, author of “The Turner Diaries,” a racist novel believed to have inspired atrocities such as the 1995 bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City. Los Angeles Police are investigating both incidents, but have declined to comment on any connection between them and the National Alliance, which has expanded its reach through new communications technology such as the Internet.

Hate is easier to find than ever. With a couple of mouse clicks, the foulest garbage imaginable can flash across a computer screen and infect the mind with ridiculous theories and wild conspiracies. When those kinds of intellectually and morally corrupt messages seep into the community--as they did over the summer--it’s time to fight back.

And the best revenge is to show bigots how wrong they are. The San Fernando and surrounding valleys are no longer the white suburbs they were in the years after World War II. From San Fernando to Woodland Hills and from Porter Ranch to Burbank, the Valley has become a region of many cultures, languages and ideas. Often, these differences separate neighbors from one another. But it is this very diversity that gives the Valley, Southern California and the rest of the United States their strength.

America is a country of immigrants, where many cultures slowly blend into one and where the democratic ideal gives an equal voice to all who choose to exercise it. Distrust has plagued this region, this country from the earliest days. Only when we begin to see the similarities in those who look and speak and worship different than we do can the democratic notion of equality mean anything.