Opinion: ‘White coffee’ protesters forget that Boyle Heights isn’t a Latino-only neighborhood

To the editor: I was born in Boyle Heights and lived there during the 1950s and ’60s. This was a period of rich diversity, a cultural and racial tapestry of Russian Jews, Latinos, Japanese and even “Amerikkkanos.” Over the last few years I’ve watched Boyle Heights grow and develop into an energetic, vibrant community. (“A community in flux: Will Boyle Heights be ruined by one coffee shop?” July 18)

But I’m troubled by the so-called anti-gentrification movement fomenting resistance to new institutions like the art galleries and artisan coffee shops that have moved into the neighborhood. The image of intransigent, angry, lawless Latinos feeds the negative stereotype prevalent in our country today.

Affordable housing, business development and artistic expression in Boyle Heights can only thrust it forward and prevent it from sinking into a backwater town with no soul.

Toni Burgoyne, Pasadena

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To the editor: Apparently, some protestors in Boyle Heights want to keep their community strongly Latino, lower middle class and frozen in time.

They want to insulate themselves against the invasion of “minimalist aesthetics and hipster style” that, as hand-holding inevitably leads to pregnancy, will spawn gentrification and the neighborhood’s ethnic cleansing. A coffee shop is as dangerous as an art gallery — and it’s not coffee or art per se, but “the effect.”

But much more dangerous is the overt racial profiling component to the protests — the railing against “white art” and “white coffee” as the enemy. What’s next, urging Latinos to avoid Anglo businesses anywhere in the prophylactic effort to combat possible gentrification infection?

The vibrant L.A. art (and coffee) scene, thriving from Bergamot Station to Los Angeles Brewery and beyond, knows no racial or cultural barriers. But this protest has made the full American circle, from the object of racial prejudice to the promulgators.

Mitch Paradise, Los Angeles

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To the editor: The Times has done a good job of chronicling the resistance to the gentrification of East L.A. While I both understand and sympathize with the protesters (at least the peaceful ones), I fear that their efforts will ultimately fail, as you cannot stem the tide of progress.

This issue is just a manifestation of the systemic problem of both homelessness and housing affordability. Since redevelopment agencies were eliminated, the problem continues to escalate with no solution in sight.

While there is no single answer to the problem, numerous organizations are lobbying for rent control, reduction in lot size limits for granny flats, laws to require developers to set aside space for affordable housing and more.

I believe we need, at the County Board of Supervisors level, a comprehensive plan to deal with this problem.

Ron Garber, Duarte

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To the editor: The anti-gentrification fight being waged in Boyle Heights against a “white” coffee house should be seen for what it is: racism.

It was ugly when whites protested against African Americans moving into Cicero, Ill., in 1951. It was ugly when African Americans burned businesses owned by Asians or whites in Los Angeles in 1992. It’s ugly now when Americans of Hispanic descent protest new business because their owners are white.

Fortunately, it seems most Boyle Heights residents don’t approve of these demonstrations. People who have been discriminated against should learn to combat racism in all its ugly forms.

Richard W. Merel, Hermosa Beach

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