Readers React: Anxiety over View Park as ‘Black Beverly Hills’: racism in reverse?

To the editor: My (white) family has lived in View Park for 51 years, and it brings back familiar memories that some of the residents fear that white “joggers and dog walkers” will ruin the neighborhood. (“‘Black Beverly Hills’ debates historic status vs. white gentrification,” July 18)

This is the way some white residents were talking in the early 1960s when black folks started moving in. Black people moving into this neighborhood then did not ruin anything — white people running away did.

Lack of diversity is always a negative thing. Everyone wins when we’re all together. Whether you believe that or not, if you don’t want history to repeat itself in reverse in View Park, then all you have to do is not leave.

Ken Scott, Agoura Hills

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To the editor: I think there is a strong misconception of what’s actually going on in View Park, where I live. New community members have this feeling that older residents want to run them out because of the color of their skin. That simply isn’t true.

Rather, there are pangs of heartache as one of the very few affluent, safe and cherished predominantly black communities in America begins possibly to fade away.

For me, the sense of loss comes from the fact that I know I will likely never be able to afford to buy property here, as prices will rise and what was once affordable will no longer be that.

I love this area and cannot imagine living anywhere else, and that’s why I feel sadness. But that isn’t anyone’s fault.

Recent gentrification risks View Park’s status as one of the few affluent and safe black communities. Gentrification may also bring greater diversity, desirable businesses and better schools, but it doesn’t mean there isn’t a sense of loss here.

I urge those who feel offended by the anxiety in View Park to feel empathy instead.

Aida Cadres, Los Angeles

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To the editor: Organizing to effectively keep whites out of their community, fighting the designation as a historic place because they fear it will cause an influx of whites, arguing that developers plan to use the designation as a way of luring white home buyers into “their” community — this all sounds like discrimination to me.

Can you imagine the outrage that would be generated if it were a predominantly white community doing all this to prevent black families from moving in?

I’m well aware of the history of discrimination here in the Southland, and I know about the battles that were waged and the indignities that were suffered, but whether the racist behavior is white toward black or, in this case, black toward white, it is wrong.

Eileen Kassem, Santa Rosa Valley, Calif.

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To the editor: Racist remarks attributed to some black View Park residents regarding whites moving into their neighborhood are abominable. With all of the recent news about racism in the South, it’s just beyond comprehension that such remarks were published in The Times.

As Rodney King said, “Can’t we all just get along?” Apparently, the sad answer is no.

My own neighborhood is a mixture of white, Asian, black and Latino. We all manage to get along OK.

Jim Rueff, Fountain Valley

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