Letters to the Editor: Don’t be fooled — Los Angeles isn’t drowning in violent turmoil

To the editor: President Trump’s executive order sending the National Guard and the Marines into L.A. amounted to a not-so-subtle provocation of the situation, and possibly an unconstitutional one as well (“Downtown L.A. hit by widespread vandalism, damage as city struggles to calm unrest,” June 9). If you watched almost any source of visual news media coverage of the protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement occurring in Los Angeles, you might have been convinced that the city was in violent turmoil. It was not. What viewers saw were only the most dramatic examples of events that transpired over the last few days, endlessly repeated images of a handful of the same burning vehicles, flash-bang explosions and other such images chosen, I am sure, purely for their visual effect.

To put this in perspective, L.A. County’s population has more than 9 million residents. That’s greater than that of 40 individual U.S. states and comprises 88 incorporated cities and many unincorporated areas within a total area of 4,084 square miles. By that measure, what transpired was small, concentrated primarily within a few blocks surrounding the city of Los Angeles’ civic center and a mostly peaceful mass gathering by protesters, many of whom were admittedly very angry at the intentionally provocative tactics of the often-masked and brutal ICE operatives. In the end, it was all competently handled by the Los Angeles Police Department and sheriff’s deputies.

John Trask, Thousand Oaks

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To the editor: It is obviously not possible for those of us living halfway across the country to fully understand what people in Los Angeles are experiencing. But rest assured, we share your fears because of what all of this means for our country. Donald Trump won the 2024 popular vote by the slimmest of margins, yet claimed a mandate from the American people. And he has used that mandate assertion to make our country, and the whole world, a more dangerous place. His narrow election victory did not, in fact, entitle him to terrorize and deport (without due process) people who have a right to be here, to break all recent precedent by deploying the National Guard without the consent of the governor or, most frighteningly, to actually send the U.S. Marines to quell a civil disturbance he has caused and probably hoped for. Like with so many of his actions, Trump is attempting to fire up his base while dividing our country. California has become his scapegoat for all things MAGA.

Trump’s vision of America runs contrary to everything our country stands for. Unless we do something, like Los Angeles’ peaceful protesting, his vision is what our country will become. Please know, L.A., we stand with you.

Stephen F. Gladstone, Cleveland