A10 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2019 LATIMES.COM/OPINION
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ost people knowthat rac-
ism and white supremacy
have been part of America
since even before we became
a nation. There’s no need to
recount the slavery system on which this
country’s early wealth was built, from South-
ern plantations to New England-owned slave
ships to the rise of Wall Street banks that fi-
nanced both the cotton and slave trades.
Most of us also know about the Jim Crow sys-
tem, the bouts of xenophobia, the rise of the
Ku Klux Klan and the internment of Japa-
nese American citizens during World War II.
What’s less well understood is the unde-
niable through-line to today’s racial dispari-
ties in wealth and health and lifespan and
other measures of well-being. That cannot
be wished away or compartmentalized any
more than the outbreaks of racial antago-
nism that occur far too often. Against that
background, the current resurfacing of
white supremacist ideologies is both shock-
ing and predictable. Add in guns, and well,
suddenly we have dead bodies in El Paso, in
Gilroy, in Poway and Pittsburgh and
Charleston and too many other places to list.
White nationalism, or whatever you want
to call it, is a serious and growing reality. Vi-
olence by white men who have been inspired
by extremist ideologies make up an increas-
ing share of domestic terrorism cases, the
FBI says. According to the Anti-Defamation
League, 73.3% of all extremist-related fatali-
ties in the last decade in the U.S. can be
linked to right-wing extremists (compared
with 23.4% that can be attributed to Islamic
extremists). Earlier this year, FBI Director
Christopher A. Wray described white su-
premacy and other forms of domestic ex-
tremism as a “persistent, pervasive threat.”
So President Trump was right on Mon-
day to declare that “hate has no place in
America.” He also said that “in one voice, our
nation must condemn racism, bigotry and
white supremacy.” But the president should
start with himself. He has called Mexicans
and other immigrants “thugs” and
“animals” who are invading the U.S., dispar-
aged much of the Third World as “shithole
countries,” characterized some of those sup-
porting a neo-Nazi rally in Virginia that
turned fatal as “very fine people,” and re-
cently described sections of Baltimore as so
blighted that “no human being would want
to live there.” Those kinds of nasty and divi-
sive statements help create a climate and
culture in which racist extremism can thrive.
Meanwhile, as The Times’ Molly O’Toole
reported Monday, the Trump administra-
tion has redirected millions in federal funds
from programs targeting domestic terror-
ism to programs to counter Islamic extrem-
ists. That’s a misallocation of resources.
The vast majority of the mass killings in
this country, and our daily barrage of single
and double homicides, have causes other
than racist ideology, ranging from mental ill-
ness to domestic violence to workplace melt-
downs. But violence committed in the name
of racism — or misogyny, anti-Semitism, ho-
mophobia and the like — carries a peculiarly
troubling weight.
The recent rash of extremist violence did
not begin with Trump. During the Obama
administration, Dylann Roof killed nine
black worshipers at a Charleston, S.C.,
church in hopes of stoking a race war.
George W. Bush was president when Doug-
las Williams, described as a racist by co-
workers, shot up a diversity training session
at a Lockheed Martin plant in Meridian,
Miss., killing six people before turning the
gun on himself. And white nationalist move-
ments — and violence — have increased in
other parts of the world, as well. The white
Australian gunman in Christchurch, New
Zealand, targeted Muslim immigrants. Po-
litical parties in Italy, Austria and Germany
have been infused by often racially tinged
anti-immigrant beliefs.
So what do we do about it? That’s the
thorny question, since our collective actions
must be against not just the crimes — mur-
der and assault — but also against the
thought and theory that underlie them. For
the crimes, we have a system that handles
them after the fact and government pro-
grams to try to ferret them out before
thought becomes deed. But the Constitu-
tion rightly requires the government to give
free rein to political expression. That right to
free speech is one of the nation’s most endur-
ing freedoms, and embracing it means allow-
ing speech that the vast majority of us find
utterly repellent. We can’t, and shouldn’t, sti-
fle such speech, be it from a soapbox or a site
living in the darker recesses of the internet.
But we must counter it.
Of course, such vile beliefs wouldn’t be so
deadly here in the U.S. without easy access
to firearms. In that regard, our 1st and 2nd
amendments both offer extremists tools
they can use in their efforts to kill people
they perceive as enemies.
We must fight their hate-based ideol-
ogies, remembering that this is not a “white
nation” or a “white culture.” We have from
the beginning been an experiment in the
mingling of races and ethnicities, of religious
sects and political visions. That is where our
future also must lie — in the protective and
tolerant embrace of our differences, not in
the violent expression of fear and prejudice.The white nationalism poison
T
he devastating wildfires that
swept across California were
supposed to be a wake-up call
that would finally force local gov-
ernments to rethink new hous-
ing development in high-fire-risk areas.
From Redding to Santa Rosa to Ventura,
suburban neighborhoods once thought to be
fireproof were destroyed by fast-moving
flames. Even new homes built to the most
up-to-date standards were charred. Com-
munities that thought they were safe from
wildfire discovered that their notification
systems, evacuation routes and prepara-
tions were woefully insufficient for these big-
ger, faster, more intense fires.
The implications were pretty clear: In an
era when climate change was expected to
fuel more frequent and more devastating
wildfires, California would need to stop pro-
moting residential sprawl and build denser
developments closer to city centers if it
hoped to save lives and protect property.
That’s why a fire chief in San Diego
County raised eyebrows recently when, dur-
ing a discussion of whether to allow the de-
velopment of 1,119 homes on chaparral-cov-
ered land east of Chula Vista, he suggested
that building new homes on the urban fringe
could help stop the spread of wildfires.
According to the Desert Sun, Cal Fire
San Diego County Unit Chief Tony
Mecham’s startling comment came as he
was taking questions from the San Diego
County Board of Supervisors, whose mem-
bers were considering approval of an upscale
1,284-acre development known as Adara at
Otay Ranch. The site is prone to fires and
most recently burned in the 2007 Harris fire.
Mecham predicted that the area would
burn again. Still, he told the supervisors that
the developer had addressed fire safety con-
cerns. And, he said, modern homes sur-
rounded by fire-resistant landscaping could
stop the spread of fire — an assertion some
fire experts said was dangerous. The Board
of Supervisors approved the project.
The fire chief is right that new homes
built with fire-resistant materials and sur-
rounded by less flammable landscaping are
safer than older homes. But fire resistant is
not the same as fireproof. In the 2017 Thom-
as fire in Ventura County, newly built homes
that met the strictest codes were destroyed.
Just because new homes designs are safer
doesn’t mean it’s safe — or a good idea — to
keep putting them in areas known to burn.
Yet elected officials continue to approve
massive housing developments in high-fire-
risk areas. Last year the Los Angeles County
Board of Supervisors approved the Centen-
nial development, a 19,000-home mini-city to
be built at Tejon Ranch in a remote valley
that’s been deemed at “high” (or “very high”)
risk of wildfires. Between 1964 and 2015, state
fire officials recorded 31 wildfires larger than
100 acres within five miles of Centennial, in-
cluding four within the project’s boundaries.
Just like in San Diego, Los Angeles lead-
ers said that their communities desperately
needed more housing. They argued that in-
herently dangerous locations could be made
safer with fire-resistant construction and
landscaping.
Similarly, developers have argued that
their projects are making people safer by
converting flammable grass and chaparral
into “ignition-resistant landscapes.” By that
logic, California can end wildfire risk alto-
gether by paving the entire state.
To be sure, California has a debilitating
housing shortage that is driving up rents
and home prices, fueling an increase in
homelessness and handicapping efforts to
attract and retain businesses. Yet it should
be clear by now that the old way of building
— extending farther from the urban centers
into high-fire-risk areas — is dangerous and
counterproductive. It puts more people in
harm’s way, including both residents and the
firefighters tasked with protecting these
new developments.
The threat is only going to grow as the ef-
fects of climate change intensify. Worse, re-
mote developments increase greenhouse
gas emissions. That’s because people who
move to far-flung subdivisions generally
have to commute longer distances to their
jobs, and the developments themselves are
often built for driving, rather than walking,
biking or transit. That’s one more reason
Californians have to make room for homes
within their existing cities. The state can’t
keep sprawling to solve the housing crisis.The wildfire risks of sprawl
It is certainly possible
that Trump’s immigration
rhetoric energized the El
Paso shooter.
It is also possible that
the Democrats’ strategy of
making nearly everyone
believe that he or she is
part of a victim group —
victims of racists, capi-
talists, white nationalists,
white privilege, sexists,
xenophobes and more —
energizes revenge-seeking
lunatics who take it out on
the innocent.
Words matter, and not
just those of Trump.
Scott Perley
Irvine::News flash for Trump:
People worldwide suffer
from mental illnesses.
Violent video games and
hate-filled social media
exist in every part of the
globe.
To lay blame for these
horrendous back-to-back
mass murders on lax men-
tal health laws and violent
video games is dodging the
real problem: This country
has more guns than peo-
ple.
If we the people want to
see effective changes in gun
legislation, then we need to
vote with knowledge and
conviction. Seek out candi-
dates at the federal, state
and local levels who offer
strong gun reform legisla-
tion and vote for them.
Our future as a civilized
nation depends on what we
do in 2020.
CeCe Wilkens and
Jack Van Sambeek
Bonita::I am alarmed that many
people are giving credit to
Trump for having delivered
words of compassionate
support and understand-
ing to the people of this
country. That is not what I
saw or heard.
Anyone who is familiar
with the Trump M.O.
would have recognized the
expressionless, dispassion-
ate delivery of words that
were put before him on a
teleprompter, thoughts
and phrases that any nor-
mal president would deliv-
er, usually inspired by
genuine feelings and a
thoughtful mind.
I’d bet anything that
Trump’s message was
carefully delivered with the
caveat, “Do not go off
script.” Those who wrote
that speech did a masterful
job of giving Trump a bare-
bones message to impart
to the country, knowing
most of us are well aware of
his true mind-set and
inclinations to speak what
he really thinks.
His attempt to deflect
and direct blame for the
heinous acts onto video
games and mental illness
are predictable diversions,
which he has employed
throughout his tenure.Trump will never accept
blame, ever — count on it.
Mass killings as we’ve
seen in recent times are
usually not indicative of a
mental illness, but they are
a sign of hate, a mind-set in
which “others” are re-
garded as inferior and the
killer is correcting what he
perceives as a wrong.
Don’t be fooled by
Trump’s single act of hu-
manity.
Sylvia Lewis Gunning
Thousand OaksAn oil spill
is not normal
Re “Oil spill? No use crying,
they say,” Aug. 2I read the article about
the ongoing oil spill in
McKittrick, Calif., and was
somewhat dismayed that
the environmental degra-
dation was portrayed as
just the cost of doing busi-
ness.
As an employee of a
medium-sized oil com-
pany, I can say that this is
not the cost of doing busi-
ness.
This display of compla-
cency is harmful. My chil-
dren will inherit this state,
and nothing sickens me
more than when produc-
tion fluids end up not
where they are supposed to
be.
I do not speak for my
employer; this is my per-
spective. My company
employs groups of people
dedicated to the protection
of the environment, com-
pliance with regulations
and the safety of our em-
ployees and contractors.
The cost of doing business
is ensuring that the law is
followed.
I know that the use of
crude oil for energy is
changing, and I look for-
ward to the day when
“alternative energy” is just
“energy.” I’m also partially
saddened that my job will
one day go the same way as
a telephone switchboard
operator or a lamp lighter.
Until then, I’m happy
doing all I can to make sure
the work I do protects the
California I live in.
Matthew Milbury
Bakersfield::Though I cannot help
but feel some sympathy for
the residents of McKit-
trick, I cannot agree that
the 900,000 gallons (so far)
of oil and brine leaking into
the ground is just their
backyard problem. Fossil
fuel usage and the multiple
varied and much-publi-
cized perils associated with
it affect all of us.
Read about the positive
results of the Future Ener-
gy Jobs Act in Illinois and
about the proposed Green
New Deal legislation,
which would cut climate
pollution while also cre-ating millions of family-
sustaining jobs.
Additionally, the Ener-
gy Innovation and Carbon
Dividend Act (H.R. 763)
would provide dividends
for households like those in
McKittrick as the depend-
ence on oil extraction is
phased out. We can take
care of each other and our
common home.
Kathleen Brown
Santa ClaritaDon’t give in
on tax returns
Re “Requiring candidate
tax returns is legal,” Opin-
ion, Aug. 1I am surprised that a
distinguished legal scholar
like Erwin Chemerinsky
would defend California’s
new law requiring presi-
dential candidates to dis-
close their income tax
returns to appear on the
primary ballot.
Chemerinsky ignores
the fact that an income tax
return is considered, by
law, a private document.
He also overlooks that it is
an “income” tax return and
does not reflect the value of
assets, debts, property,
contracts or agreements.
In short, an income tax
return is just for determin-
ing income taxes, not
wealth or debts (to Rus-
sians or others).
President Trump has
been all over the map on
this, but I hope he never
surrenders his income tax
forms. They are private for
all of us.
As for the California
legislation and New York’s
law on turning over state
income tax forms to Con-
gress, they will be conclu-
sively rejected by the
courts. Not much doubt.
William N. Hoke
Manhattan Beach::Chemerinsky knows far
more about the law than I
do, but he is ignoring the
fact that the U.S. Supreme
Court justices have repeat-
edly been willing to skew
their reasoning to fit the
outcome they desire.
In this case, as the L.A.
Times Editorial Board has
pointed out, there are
perfectly sensible argu-
ments against the new law,
and its blatantly partisan
nature is unlikely to en-
courage even the most
sympathetic jurist to sup-
port it.
But the law is unlikely to
reach the high court. I
predict that it will be
quickly struck down in the
first venue it reaches, and
its failure will then be used
as ammunition against
more reasonable ap-
proaches.
Gov. Gavin Newsom
should have followed his
predecessor Jerry Brown’s
lead and vetoed this fool-
ishness.
Geoff Kuenning
ClaremontA boost for
211 hotline
Re “Seeking shelter? Good
luck,” Out Here, Aug. 2Carla Hall writes of her
difficult experience trying
to obtain shelter for a
homeless woman, who was
also a victim of domestic
violence, using the 21 1
hotline.
As Los Angeles Coun-
ty’s official information
and referral service, 211 is
deeply frustrated. We are
critically underfunded, and
the homeless support
system we connect people
to is broken and inade-
quate to the task of provid-
ing homeless people with
the services they need. It is
heartbreaking to tell des-
perate people there is no
other help.
We stand ready to work
with the county to ensure
that the 450,000 individuals
and families we serve each
year can actually connect
to an effective system.
Robert Liljenwall
San Gabriel
The writer is president
of 211 LA County Inc.Guns and hatred
Re “Trump and the mass shootings,” editorial, Aug. 6Mental illness. Video games. Are you kidding me?
In his address to the nation after the mass shootings
in El Paso and Dayton, Ohio, President Trump talked
about “disturbed minds,” “demented individuals” and
the internet. However, multiple studies have shown there
is no positive correlation between violent video games or
the rate of mental illness to the rate of violence in
societies.
History has shown that whether it was Hitler and the
Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan in America, Serbian fighters in
the Kosovo conflict, the Turks in World War I, the
apartheid regime in South Africa, the Hutu in Rwanda,
Al Qaeda or Islamic State in the Middle East, or white
supremacy groups in the U.S., “insanity” was not the
driver of atrocities. Hate was — hate fueled by anger.
Even without racism or xenophobia, we have a gun
access problem in America. Enough is enough. The only
ones who have “disturbed minds” are our legislators
(including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell)
who refuse to act on gun control.
Broderick J. Franklin
Rancho Palos VerdesSaul LoebAFP/Getty Images
ADDRESSINGthe nation, President Trump men-
tioned video games, mental health and bigotry.EXECUTIVECHAIRMANDr. Patrick Soon-Shiong
EXECUTIVEEDITORNorman Pearlstine
MANAGINGEDITOR
Scott Kraft
SENIORDEPUTYMANAGINGEDITOR
Kimi Yoshino
DEPUTYMANAGINGEDITORS
Sewell Chan, Shelby Grad, Shani O. Hilton,
Julia Turner
ASSISTANTMANAGINGEDITORS
Len De Groot, Stuart Emmrich,
Loree Matsui, Angel Rodriguez
Opinion
Nicholas Goldberg EDITOR OF THEEDITORIALPAGES
FOUNDED DECEMBER 4, 1881 Sue Horton OP-ED ANDSUNDAYOPINIONEDITOR