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ALPERN AT LARGE - As much as this city, nation, and state are all debating vigorously the issues of our day, the issue of what is “allowed” to be said, or be questioned, without getting screamed at and intimidated (or even physically assaulted), remains an unanswered problem that cast a pall over Los Angeles, as well as the rest of our state and nation.
I therefore commend all those who protested, either against or in favor of, President Trump and/or ICE and/or any City, County, State, or National policy worth debating…but no commendation—only condemnation—is worth granting those who descended into violence.
Those who have something worthy to say have NO need of masks, dark outfits, or anything akin to the screaming, graffiti, and physical violence that’s too often come from those who are NOT liberal so much as they are Leftist troublemakers who do not add—and actually hurt—liberal causes and ideas that are worth fighting for…
…but fighting for peacefully!
I think that the main problem at hand, with respect to those being questioned, deported, or imprisoned by ICE is whether or not the Trump Administration is being morally and intellectually honest on focusing on criminal aliens versus those not here legally but who work and exist without any violent impacts on their neighbors.
But there are related problems, and they’ve gone unaddressed because of “political correctness” or “cancellation” or whatever goes for suppression of free speech for decades.
And for those unaware of the Overton Window which allows for speech and actions acceptable to discuss during any given period or year, we’ve seen California and its major cities (as with Chicago, New York City, and other cities throughout the nation) dragging their local and collective Overton Window to the left, and hence this current Trump Administration is declared fascist by yanking it back towards the right.
For example, why is it that so many have left California to go to other states with lower taxes and a more centrist (or even conservative) bent? Did free speech and the ability to declare illegal actions “illegal” play a role?
Was the ramming down our throat of “you can’t say that!” helpful with respect to “illegal aliens” becoming “illegal immigrants” and then “undocumented immigrants” to just “immigrants” helpful? Was it ever intellectually or morally honest?
Was the conflation of those here legally from other nations and those here who knowingly broke the law to live here intellectually sustainable in a society with free speech?
Are we allowed to raise the issue of green cards and sponsorship of those here illegally to allow migrant workers the ability to live and thrive here safely and openly…or do we get a “who are you calling illegal?” screamed at us.
Are we allowed to question the affordability of providing services to those not here legally (look at our state budgetary crisis!) without being screamed at?
Are we allowed to raise the issue of returning to this nation illegally after being deported a FELONY without being screamed at and called names?
Is it President Trump, or Governor Newsom and Mayor Bass, who deserves the blame for not coming up with innovative ways to sponsor and legalize the status of nonviolent-but-illegally-present immigrants but in a way that doesn’t make all the taxpaying citizenry pay for them? Can it be addressed without name-calling?
Do we have the right to tell those waving Mexican flags that they need to put them down because they’re proving Trump correct with respect to assimilation into the United States? After all, in Mexico City we’re seeing protests against United States citizens moving, gentrifying, and not assimilating into that sovereign nation).
Are we ever allowed to raise the issue of how long a person from another nation is supposed to live here before they are encouraged, if not pressured, to speak some halting English to communicate not only with white Americans but black and other Americans…without being screamed at?
Finally, can we at least acknowledge that California, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, is part of the same nation as the other 49 states?
I want to be free, and I want you all to be free as well. I am both alarmed at those pulled out of immigration courts who are trying to follow the law, as well as those who let this simmer for decades and who really ARE the main reason we’re at this impasse.
It’s easy for Newsom and Bass to take shots at Trump for political gain, and vice versa, but if our local leaders don’t acknowledge where they did wrong (and I don’t think that either Newsom or Bass have much of a political future here, anyway), I think this struggle will be won by the bloviating Orange Man in the White House.
It was Independence Day, but the ability to truly say what needs to be said, in order to arrive at the proper but brave answers to our thorny issues of the day (of which illegal immigration is but one), was elusive.
Maybe it’ll be better luck for us next year.
(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. He was active for 20 years on the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC) as a Board Member focused on Planning and Transportation, and helped lead the grassroots efforts of the Expo Line as well as connecting LAX to MetroRail. 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.)
