Los Angeles Times - 07.08.2019

$2.75DESIGNATED AREAS HIGHER © 2019 WSCE WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2019 latimes.com

W

hile working at Ran-
dom House in the
1970s, Toni Morrison
was known as “the
black editor” for her
commitment to publishing books
about the African American experi-
ence. One of her bestsellers was “The
Black Book.”
Documenting nearly 200 years of
history, its content was as stark as its
title. An anthology of artifacts, it fea-
tured slave auction notices, lynching
photos, blackface advertisements and
a fateful clipping from an 1856 news-
paper.
“A Visit to the Slave Mother Who
Killed her Child” told the story of Mar-
garet Garner, a runaway who, as she
was about to be captured, attacked
her three children, killing one of them.
In explaining her crime, she said death
was preferable to captivity.
Morrison wondered what compas-
sion, what love could possibly lead a
mother to commit so terrible a crime,
and in 1987 answered that question
with her landmark novel about the leg-
acy of slavery, “Beloved.”
With “Beloved” and other writings,
Morrison gave voice to the silences in
the past and created some of the most
memorable characters in American
literature. Singing, keening, praising,
mourning, laughing, crying and lov-
ing, they fill her pages in a resounding
chorus that captures the tragic and
joyful complexion of life and race in
this country.
Now Morrison’s voice is silent.
Morrison died Monday night at
Montefiore Medical Center in New

TONI MORRISON, 1931 - 2019

‘Beloved’ writer pushed imagination

Sundance Institute

FILLING A LITERARY VOID

Through “Beloved” and other works, Toni Morrison gave voice to the

silences in the past with intricate depictions of African Americans.

Novels, essays and plays captured rich complexion of life and race

By Thomas Curwen

[SeeMorrison,A8]

Federal authorities on

Tuesday said they had

launched a domestic terror-

ism investigation into the

shooting at the Gilroy Garlic

Festival after officials dis-

covered the gunman had a

list of other potential tar-

gets.

Among the targets were

religious organizations,

courthouses, federal build-

ings and political institu-

tions involving both the Re-

publican and Democratic

parties, FBI agent John F.

Bennett said during a news

conference. The agency de-

clined to provide specifics on

the targets but said law en-

forcement officials were

reaching out to notify them.

The new investigation

comes as law enforcement

continues to try to deter-

mine a motive for the attack.

Santino William Legan,

19, opened fire at the popular

food festival on the evening

of July 28, killing three peo-

ple and wounding 13. Legan

wore a bulletproof vest as he

carried out the attack, firing

39 rounds as attendees fled

from the park where the an-

nual festival was being held,

Gilroy Police Chief Scot

Smithee said.

Police initially had said

the rampage was cut short

when three Gilroy officers

engaged a rifle-wielding

Legan with handguns and

killed him in less than a min-

Gilroy gunman had other targets

FBI opens domestic

terror investigation

as officials look for

signs of a political or

racial motivation.

By Hannah Fry

and Richard Winton

[SeeGilroy, A7]

A MOURNER at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in San Jose touches the casket of Keyla Salazar, 13, one of

three people shot and killed at the Gilroy Garlic Festival on July 28. The 19-year-old gunman also died.

Justin SullivanGetty Images

EL PASO — The pastor

had never prayed so fer-

vently.

Michael Grady had just

learned that his 33-year-old

daughter was lying in a pool

of blood at Walmart.

Shot three times,

Michelle Grady had man-

aged to dial her cellphone to

call her mother, Jeneverlyn,

who jumped in her car and

kept her on the line until she

reached the store.

His wife called him from

the store, and Michael

Grady raced to join them.

The drive from his house to

the Walmart normally takes

about seven minutes. It felt

longer.

When he finally arrived,

the parking lot was already

taped off. He saw his wife’s

car by the theater next to the

store. He parked. He ran.

But his 65-year-old body,

which had endured a quad-

ruple-bypass heart surgery

a few years prior, couldn’t

move nearly as fast as he

would’ve liked.

Grady prayed.

“I was asking God to

make sure Michelle isn’t in a

lot of pain or was suffering,”

he said. “That we would get

through to her and find her.

That was my prayer.”

When he saw her, it was

bad. “I know she wasn’t OK,

but I told her she was going

to be OK.”

It wasn’t a lie. It was

hope. The pastor doesn’t be-

lieve God fulfills prayer re-

quests like Santa Claus.

There weren’t enough

stretchers to move her out,

so Grady and his wife lifted

Praying for his daughter’s life

For an El Paso pastor, the mass shooting was very personal

By David Montero

[SeePastor,A7]

MICHAEL GRADYfound his daughter in a pool of

blood. She had been shot three times. “I know she

wasn’t OK, but I told her she was going to be OK.”

Rudy GutierrezFor The Times

Democratic Rep. Gil Cis-

neros of Yorba Linda, a

freshman member of Con-

gress in a historically Re-

publican swing district,

spent a recent Sunday

telling constituents about

what he’s accomplishing in

Washington in hopes they

will reelect him.

But he and other vulner-

able California Democratic

Party freshmen are discov-

ering just how hard it can be

to compete with the national

political narrative revolving

around President Trump,

his tweets and tensions be-

tween Democratic leader-

ship and others in the party

who hope to push it further

left.

At his Fullerton district

headquarters last month,

Cisneros answered ques-

tions from constituents

about homelessness and

veterans’ services, and di-

rected staff to assist with im-

migration cases and disabil-

ity benefits.

It didn’t take long for talk

of Trump to creep in.

Some liberal voters

pushed Cisneros to support

an impeachment inquiry,

which he has thus far de-

clined to do. Others feared

the consequences of focus-

ing intently on the president.

“Every day there’s a new

distraction, which takes the

focus away from us, the work

that you’re doing for us,

right?” said Rohit Kaushik,

a Democrat from Yorba

Linda who said he wanted

his party to stay on message.

“You’re going around an-

swering questions on stupid

things that [the president]

said, whether it’s racist or

not,” he added, referring to

Trump’s tweets targeting

several of Cisneros’ fresh-

man colleagues.

Don, a La Habra resident

[SeeHouse,A12]

They didn’t go to

D.C. for the drama

Some Democrats who

swung California GOP

House seats have no

desire to get into it

with Trump or Pelosi.

By Christine Mai-Duc

APPRECIATION:She reflected black life and created a path for would-be writers to follow. CALENDAR, E

Becerra defends

new ammo law

State data show back-

ground checks have kept

more than 100 felons and

others from buying am-

munition. CALIFORNIA, B

Residents sue

historic railroad

over wildfire

Is a beloved train

to blame for one of

Colorado’s largest

blazes? People in the

town of Durango are

conflicted about going

after the railway for

damages. NATION, A

Weather

Patchy low clouds

and fog early, then

mostly sunny.

L.A. Basin: 84/63. B

Printed with soy inks on

partially recycled paper.

Soccer player still

speaking out

Alejandro Bedoya, who

went viral for celebrating

his goal with a call to end

gun violence, aims to

inspire others. SPORTS, D

WASHINGTON —
Shortly before igniting a new
round in his trade war with
China, President Trump last
week accused Beijing of try-
ing to stall talks until after
the 2020 election in hopes of
negotiating a better deal
with a Democrat in the
White House.
But Trump has strong in-
centives to drag out the
fight: Behind a relatively
strong U.S. economy and at
least the chance of more
credit stimulus from the
Federal Reserve, he may
benefit politically from con-
tinuing the confrontation
with Beijing because it’s red
meat for his political base.
The potential loser in this
international game of
chicken is the U.S. economy.
Both long term and short
term, the White House is
playing with fire — and it
could end up burning
Trump’s reelection bid.
“Being tough on China in
pursuit of an imaginary deal
that fixes everyone’s prob-
lems is a very safe political
space to be in,” said David
Loevinger, an analyst for
TCW Emerging Markets
Group in Los Angeles and a
former senior Treasury De-
partment official for China
affairs. “Once you move from
an imaginary space to a real
deal, it makes a lot of constit-
uencies unhappy, and you’re
taking a bigger political
risk.”
In the short term, con-
tinuing conflict is likely to
mean more pain for Ameri-
can farmers, who count

ANALYSIS

Trump

risks a

backfire

in China

trade war

Escalation of the fight

could bring short- and

long-term economic

pains — and hurt the

president in 2020.

By Don Lee

[SeeChina,A4]