Gil Garcetti

I’m heartened to know that Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti’s ethnic makeup has become headline news (“Garcetti Stresses His Latino Heritage,” July 3), because it is precisely his background and past performance that make him such a desirable candidate. When Gil speaks about preventing crime by keeping kids in school, the only playbook he is reading from is his own. When he speaks about gangs, he isn’t lifting material from a new study; he’s drawing from the experiences of his own father, a former gang member turned assembly plant worker.

Those who know Gil and have heard him speak are well aware that he is from a low-income Latino family. He has always been proud of this fact.

LIZ GREBLER

Encino

* Your article may give some readers the mistaken impression that the district attorney is suddenly emphasizing his roots for campaign purposes. As a fund-raiser for the Hollenbeck Youth Center and the Inner-City Games, Los Angeles, I’ve been hearing Gil stress his background for more than eight years. Garcetti has made his story an inspiration to disadvantaged children, so many of whom are looking for a positive male role model.

DICK JAMES

Los Angeles

* Your story speaks to an issue that should be ignored by the voters, particularly those of Latino heritage. America is truly America when we can make choices on the basis of ability without reference to heritage. As John F. Kennedy said in 1960 when confronting the issue of a Catholic for president, “If this election is decided on the basis that 40 million Americans lost their chance of being president on the day they were baptized, then it is the whole nation that will be the loser.”

Likewise, if people vote for Garcetti just because he happens to be part Hispanic, we are all the losers. No citizen will be better off or safer, if this inept district attorney continues in office. I have faith that the Hispanic community can rise above the pandering of Garcetti and vote for the better candidate.

MICHAEL H. MILLER

Los Angeles