CommentsTHE DOCTOR IS IN - Let me start by stating that I'm a dermatologist--I am all too aware of the skin-deep differences between the different races that comprise humanity.
Sometimes there are systemic differences that create health-related issues that vary in importance between races (hypertension, diabetes, sickle cell anemia, multiple sclerosis, etc.). But there the differences END.
Because if a man and a woman, each of any given race, have sexual intercourse (presumably after marriage, and in a loving relationship) followed by successful fertilization of his sperm and her egg, there will be a viable human being as a result of that intercourse. It's not like dogs and cats, mice and elephants, or armadillos and chickens.
Modern humanity all resides within the species homo sapiens. Furthermore, while on average males are larger and stronger than females, the two innate genders' brain power and reasoning ability (despite being influenced by heredity, hormones, and age) are IDENTICAL.
End of story.
Hence the race obsession that is so dominant in Los Angeles and other mega-left big cities of the 21st Century so easily dissolves into pure racism.
My previous and exhausting efforts to bring the races together in Los Angeles to create a Metro Exposition Light Rail Line connecting the once-white Westside to the once-black Mid-City was borne of a pragmatic and humanitarian desire to join our city, county, and region together.
(Both the Westside and Mid-City areas are becoming increasingly multi-ethnic, which is how it should be, IMHO.)
Ditto for my efforts to bring a Metro Green Line to LAX--these past efforts may help our physical and ecological environment, but more importantly these same efforts were and are more important with respect to the economic environment, human/family-friendly environment, and the transportation/mobility environment to benefit all human individuals, families, and races.
Hence my past and painful shock in learning how many whites didn't want nonwhites access to their "tribal lands", and ditto for blacks not wanting whites through their turf. When it came to funding, mitigation, spending, and quality/engineering issues, it all devolved into race.
As in "my people need a better rail line, and/or with better mitigation, and/or with more spending than your people do".
Pretty awful, because getting from point A to point B, with respect to safety, efficiency, and neighborhood preservation should be prima facie the same for all races and regions.
Enter Nury Martinez, who was bandied about as "the first Latina this" and "the first Latina that".
Enter all the other Latino/Latina/Hispanic/whatever politicians who are supposed to be celebrated, empowered, and untouchable because of their racial background and body parts.
Enter the City redistricting struggles (I've played a considerable back room and private role in these before) that came right down to race instead of geographical links, because it was presumed that Angelenos would only get proper representation by City Councilmembers of the same race.
Enter all the shocking revelations that City Councilmembers wouldn't give a rip about overdevelopment impacts to neighborhoods of different ethnicities.
Enter the blatant race politics of today, including the insistence of so many that Karen Bass, as a black and female mayoral candidate, should be considered because of her biological background instead of her tenure in local and state politics, or her ideological tendencies and influences.
That's RACISM, folks, pure and simple. If Bass defeats Caruso in our upcoming mayoral elections, or Caruso defeats Bass, it should be based only on their campaign promises, past managing history, and personal beliefs.
To do otherwise is just RACIST.
And too many who live here in the City of the Angels, and too many reading this now, will vote for either Bass or Caruso because of their ethnicity and/or gender.
Which is RACIST.
So the one-party Democratic stronghold that is Los Angeles is no better with respect to racism that a city in the rural Republican strongholds of Alabama or Mississippi.
RACISM IS RACISM, and it's all bad.
Martinez, De Leon, Cedillo, and all the others who horribly said unspeakable things about a sweet and innocent little boy ultimately is devolving into the race of who spoke those awful epithets--and even the race of the cute little man--who has to grow up and live with the knowledge that those things were spoken about him.
But, as aforementioned, Los Angeles (which assuredly prides itself in being diverse) is RACIST.
Yet it need not remain so.
It's up to us all...if we can just get over the obsession of who belongs in which office, or who deserves any given promotion, because of race, gender, or any other factor that has nothing to do with individual achievement or character.
To do otherwise is just RACIST.
(Kenneth S. Alpern, M.D, is a dermatologist who has served in clinics in Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside Counties, and is a proud husband and father to two cherished children and a wonderful wife. He was termed out of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC) twice after two stints as a Board member for 9, years and is also a Board member of the Westside Village Homeowners Association. He previously co-chaired the MVCC Outreach, Planning, and Transportation/Infrastructure Committees for 10 years. He was previously co-chair of the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee, the grassroots Friends of the Green Line (which focused on a Green Line/LAX connection), and the nonprofit Transit Coalition His latest project is his fictional online book entitled The Unforgotten Tales of Middle-Earth and can be reached at [email protected]. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Dr. Alpern.)