A Barrier to Better Living

There’s a Malayan proverb that taunts the shortsighted by observing: “He can see a louse as far away as China, but is unconscious of the elephant on his nose.” I fear, by that measure, that South Pasadena can’t see the elephant on its nose.

I’m talking about a barrier that divides the white-majority city from the predominantly Latino community of El Sereno. In a noisy debate regarding the removal of that barrier, I emerged as the louse, but cultural isolation is the elephant.

If you missed the analogy, let me explain.

In February, I wrote of a plot of land with low walls on either side that separates Van Horne Avenue in El Sereno from Via del Rey in South Pasadena. The barrier was created 27 years ago as a supposed deterrent to heavy traffic, but it is perceived by some as a kind of Berlin Wall erected to keep out Mexicans.

L.A. City Councilman Nick Pacheco, in whose district El Sereno falls, condemned the separation and said, “Whether the barrier was a result of classism or racism, the bottom line is that it wasn’t done for positive reasons.”

South Pasadena City Councilman David Rose, who was mayor when the column appeared, agreed that the barrier ought to be eliminated and the streets rejoined. He called the perception of racism “troublesome,” adding: “In today’s world, no one should keep neighbors from melding.”

After the column appeared Feb. 25, to paraphrase an old Marine saying, the spit hit the fan.

Then, two weeks ago, when I was abed with the flu, the South Pasadena City Council, with about 293 of the 300 people present roaring approval, voted to keep the barrier that divides the two communities.

But as a token gesture to those on “the other side” who feel unwanted in South Pasadena because of their brown skin and funny way of speaking, the city is going to take down the walls and pretty up the remaining dirt area. Maybe plant some daisies and a few cacti.

But the streets won’t be joined.

About 100 people attended the council meeting, with 200 more watching on closed-circuit television at an outdoor patio. The meeting featured the kinds of boos and cheers one might expect at a Laker game, instead of being a session that explored the feelings of a people who feel unwanted. Even a perception of racism can be painful, but that subject was hardly mentioned.

I’m told I was called a bigot and a troublemaker at the council meeting, and compared in more colorful language to the body parts of humans and animals in messages that came via voicemail, e-mail and letter mail.

One woman wrote: “People like you make me sick to my stomach and because of people like you, I want nothing to do with your people.” A man e-mailed: “You and your pals can shove it.” He apologized in a subsequent message and decided that while I need not shove it, I was still irresponsible. Fair enough.

But the major issue involved in the brouhaha over the barrier isn’t my credibility, my sanity or my ethnicity--even though all have been called into question. I’m just the louse in China. It’s that elephant on the city’s nose that’s important.

Two members of the South Pasadena City Council acknowledged the beast in oblique terms. Dorothy Cohen, who introduced the motion to take down the walls but keep the barrier, explained, “It’s a psychological thing.” Mayor Harry Knapp said the council had to work to improve the way South Pasadena is perceived.

Well, it’s a psychological thing all right, Dorothy. There aren’t armed guards at the barrier keeping out anyone from the Other Side. The perception, the “psychological thing,” is in the heads and hearts of those who feel demeaned by the barrier. And dressing it up with flowers or park benches isn’t going to do a lot to minimize that feeling.

Many who wrote me said that the walls were intended to prevent crime. Before the barrier was created, they said, burglaries and robberies were a frequent occurrence on the sweet side of the walls. But once the barrier was in place, the crime rate went down because there was no fast getaway route for the bad guys from El Sereno.

I guess walling oneself in is a way to prevent crime and traffic and all the attendant evils that accompany population shifts. We can isolate ourselves with our own kind and feed off the angers that isolation engenders.

On the other hand, and maybe it’s a dumb idea, joining together to minimize crime and control traffic might be a better way to achieve the same ends. I’ve never met anyone in any Latino community who favors crime. A merging of goals and dreams could work. It’s worth a try.

There was a time in this country when the Irish were considered scum, when the Chinese couldn’t vote and when blacks had to ride in the back of the bus. America finally saw the elephant on its nose, and we improved. But that vote in South Pasadena indicates that we still have a few elephants to go.

*

Al Martinez’s column appears Mondays and Thursdays. He’s at al.martinez@latimes.com