Racism in Venice?


By Jim Smith

Last month, a number of white Venetians were outraged at being called “white supremacists,” “white crackers,” and similar names by Venetians of color. Most of the insults occurred outside the Vera Davis McClendon Center (named for a late, great Black Venetian) as they were entering a Venice Neighborhood Council meeting. One instance occurred during public comment at the meeting, but the speaker was quickly interrupted by members of the board.


While the email lists and internet message boards, which are overwhelmingly white, have been abuzz with indignation ever since, the larger question has not been addressed. Is there racism in Venice?

My observation after 35 years in Venice leads me to answer in a resounding yes. Venice is still segregated, and still subject to different police practices for members of different races.

In the old days racism and discrimination were much more overt. Blacks were allowed to live only in Oakwood. Real Estate restrictions in Venice and elsewhere prevented white property owners from selling to Blacks, Mexicans, Chinese and others. The KKK had a chapter in Venice. Their office was near where the post office annex now stands. When long-time residents of Venice who happened to be of Japanese origin were rounded up and put in concentration camps during WW II, we heard no protest from the “greatest generation.”

In spite of it all, Venice continues to be a multi-racial city. Even with segregation, many Venetians find ways to embrace the racial diversity of this odd-ball beach town. In fact, so much embracing has gone on that more than 1,700 Venetians are of “mixed race” according to the 2000 census. Those whites who are blinded by their racism unfortunately miss the rich diverse cultural texture that make Venice, well Venice. Because of past legal restrictions on their mobility many Black, Native American and Latino families came to Venice in its early days and never left. To be a third and forth generation Venetian of color is much more common than it is among white Venetians.

None of this had deterred a condescending or even hostile attitude from newcomers who are white. A white friend told me that one evening last month when she was standing outside a community center located on the Black-white border of Venice with one of the Black women who works there, a white man came by walking his dog. When he was asked not to leave his dog’s poop on the yard, he complained that people visiting the center threw trash in his yard. My friend responded that she had never thrown anything into his or anyone else’s yard. “That’s became you’re white,” was his retort. While it may be extreme to express these feelings out loud, if you are white, ask yourself if you scrutinize a Black man walking down your street more than you would if he was white. Would there be any neighborhood watch committees if people of color never came into white neighborhoods?

It’s only been in the past few years that a derogatory name for Oakwood among white Venetians has stopped being used in polite company (I’m not going to revive it here.) Lately gentrification has come to Oakwood. Whites who previously wouldn’t have dared set foot on Brooks, Broadway, Indiana, etc. now drive their BMWs slowly down those streets looking for real estate. Others come looking for something more illicit. Some whites actually move in, all too often behind 8-foot fences patrolled by Pit Bulls. Meanwhile Black and White police cars cruise up and down every street. One long time resident remarked that the stepped up police presence is because “Blacks aren’t selling their homes fast enough.”

Hot on the heels of the Yuppie invasion come proposals for not one but two charter schools on the grounds of Broadway Elementary School. When schools like Broadway and Westminster were overwhelmingly Black and Latino, no one outside Oakwood cared about the quality of education. Now, 50 years after Brown vs. Board of Education, we may be seeing the resegregation of our neighborhood schools.

Advances like integrated schools, lunch counters, an end to Jim Crow laws and other overt manifestations of racism came as a result of Blacks - and a few whites - becoming militant. Marches, sit-ins, freedom rides, and in some cases, rude behavior, put liberal whites on the spot. Now, in some ways the clock seems to be turning backward. There are more young Black Venetians in jail than there are graduating from Venice High.
Those on the street are restricted by terms of probation or gang injunctions (often without due process). Twelve year olds are already in THE LAPD'S computer databases. Is it unreasonable for Venetians of color to feel angry and powerless?

An LAPD bust in Oakwood on May 13 involved kicking in the front door of a home, and arresting two local men on charges of dealing crack cocaine. Some locals claim the search warrant was bogus and the evidence was planted. This followed the March 27 alleged police beating of Donovan Moore, which was covered in last month’s Beachhead.

Admittedly I wasn’t on the scene in either case so I don’t know from personal observation whether the THE LAPD'S went “by the book” or if they used excessive zeal. However, police practices in Oakwood have been called in question by residents for a long time, probably since Venice was taken over by Los Angeles. One former Venice Division cop, Mark Fuhrman - of O.J. Simpson trial fame - in an interview with Laura McKinney, bragged about beating and torturing gang members, “we had them begging that they'd never be gang members again, begging us.” Fuhrman’s negative attitude toward Blacks - which I’m sure is not shared by any other police officers - was apparent. He said that he would tell Blacks, “You do what you're told, understand, n_____?” Fuhrman was also accused of planting evidence, a tempting shortcut for any “bad cop.”

Even while police are kicking down doors in Oakwood, it is possible to buy powdered cocaine in some of the Venice watering holes frequented by affluent Venetians. Quite a few impressive new homes throughout Venice have elaborate pot farms in their walk-in closets. When was the last time you heard about a police raid on a plush nightclub or a fancy home where illicit drugs were cultivated or sold? I’d guess never.

The unequal enforcement of crack versus powdered coke and other drugs is not the only problem. What is the problem is the lack of concern, sympathy, or action by those white Venetians who see Blacks and Latinos, and not racism, as the problem. Venice is a microcosm of our society. We have our suburbs and our inner city, our wealthy and our homeless, and we have residents from all over the world, including thousands of Blacks, Latinos, whites, Asians and hundreds of Native Americans on whose land we are all living.

Meanwhile, Spanish classes are poorly attended by Anglos. Community programs at the Vera Davis McClendon Center and Oakwood Recreation Center seem to be boycotted by whites. When the Neighborhood Council held a town hall on May 6 focusing on helping at-risk youth, hundreds of whites streamed into the adjoining lobby to vote in favor of denying 16 and 17-year-olds the right to vote and then made a beeline to their cars.

Racism is so deeply ingrained on us whites that it can probably never be fully eradicated - at least not in our lifetime. All of our families have profited, either directly or indirectly, from the enslavement of Africans, genocide and taking the land of Native Americans, conquering the Mexicans in California, and near-slave labor conditions of Chinese, Japanese, Filipinos and other Asians and Pacific peoples. And the list goes on. Just ask Wal-Mart and other U.S. Corporations what they are doing around the world.

Overcoming this legacy is like a 12-step program. “My name is Bill White, and I’m addicted to racism.” We’re guilty as sin of exploitation and discrimination. We should be sentenced to community service for the rest of our lives. And when someone who has suffered from white supremacy all his life hurls an unfair expletive in our direction, we can be sure that someone in our family tree truly deserves it.

Posted: Tue - June 1, 2004 at 08:58 PM          


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