The Los Angeles Music Center has two huge outdoor video signs in its courtyard (get there before the 8 pm curfew imposed by the mayor who says that the city is completely peaceful and certainly doesn’t need a curfew). At five-minute intervals they show signs about “Los Angeles vs. Hate”. This contrasts to the 30-minute interval for a land acknowledgement (below). Can we conclude from this that LA is filled with hate? Here are the hate messages:
There’s so much hate in LA that they need a hate web site and at the same time they tell us that combining humans from wildly disparate cultures is the best way to ensure a tight “community” with a lack of hatred. Asylum-seekers from Syria, Haiti, and Venezuela don’t have a language or religion in common, but apparently they are all “one” (contrary to peer-reviewed research; see below):
Don’t try to get into the art show unless you identify as “Latina”:
The Music Center acknowledges that it sits on stolen land, but it won’t either
- give the land back and pay rent to the rightful owners, or
- provide free tickets to the Native Americans from whom they stole the land
Here’s the text from their web site:
As a steward of The Music Center of Los Angeles County, we recognize that we occupy land originally and still inhabited and cared for by the Tongva, Tataviam, Serrano, Kizh and Chumash Peoples. We honor and pay respect to their elders and descendants — past, present and emerging — as they continue their stewardship of these lands and waters. We acknowledge that settler colonization resulted in land seizure, disease, subjugation, slavery, relocation, broken promises, genocide and multigenerational trauma. This acknowledgment demonstrates our responsibility and commitment to truth, healing and reconciliation and to elevating the stories, culture and community of the original inhabitants of Los Angeles County. We are grateful to have the opportunity to live and work on these ancestral lands. We are dedicated to growing and sustaining relationships with Native peoples and local tribal governments, including (in no particular order) the:
Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians,
Gabrielino Tongva Indians of California Tribal Council,
Gabrieleno/Tongva San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians,
Gabrieleño Band of Mission Indians-Kizh Nation,
San Manuel Band of Mission Indians,
San Fernando Band of Mission Indians.This acknowledgement, however, is empty without our efforts to counter the effects of structures that have long enabled injustice against Native Americans. The Music Center is committed to working with First Peoples to build and sustain partnerships and grow collaborations that engage and respect the knowledge, expertise and agency of First Peoples, past, present and future. The Music Center strives to be a champion of the arts in Los Angeles for all people. We are listening, learning, unlearning, and will evolve in the work ahead.
They admit that their acknowledgement is potentially “empty” and yet won’t give free tickets to any of the tribes they cite. What could be emptier?
In case the curfew is memory-holed, here’s a screen shot from the web page:
Since no human is illegal, the government can’t ask a migrant for documents in exchange for four generations of public housing, health care, SNAP/EBT food, and smartphone. On the other hand, the LA police can demand to see the ticket of anyone who is out after 8 pm because of attending a concert:
A person attending a ticketed event in an indoor establishment that ends after 8 PM should leave the curfew zone at the conclusion of the event. They should carry their ticket, if possible.
“The downside of diversity” (New York Times, August 5, 2007), reporting on peer-reviewed research:
IT HAS BECOME increasingly popular to speak of racial and ethnic diversity as a civic strength. From multicultural festivals to pronouncements from political leaders, the message is the same: our differences make us stronger.
But a massive new study, based on detailed interviews of nearly 30,000 people across America, has concluded just the opposite. Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam — famous for “Bowling Alone,” his 2000 book on declining civic engagement — has found that the greater the diversity in a community, the fewer people vote and the less they volunteer, the less they give to charity and work on community projects. In the most diverse communities, neighbors trust one another about half as much as they do in the most homogenous settings. The study, the largest ever on civic engagement in America, found that virtually all measures of civic health are lower in more diverse settings.
“The extent of the effect is shocking,” says Scott Page, a University of Michigan political scientist.
How is this still on the Web? Where is the Ministry of Truth when we need it?
Is hating Nazis allowed? KKK? Communists (who killed 4x more than Nazis)? I’m confused.
Great point. We are informed that it is okay, in fact required, to punch a Nazi. But must the punching be done without hate?
Anon, let me help you with your understandable confusion. Of course it’s okay to hate Nazis, KKK members and Communists. In fact, it’s really easy to do because there is one person who embodies all of these (duh!) and that is the Orange Man Donald Trump. Michele and I stand by to help you with any other questions because we too share your hatred of America and Western Civilization generally. Michele is particularly adept at channeling hatred of America, but don’t forget that my father also inculcated in me a great appreciation for it too!
And in case the genuflections to various peoples aren’t obsequious enough (suggesting this could have been written by an LLM) and despite such obviously good and heartfelt intentions, they somehow still manage to offend someone, somewhere, it’s essential to include “in no particular order”. In case the oppressed thought that they should have been listed above a different colonized group.