Simi’s Isolationism Can Foster Racism

This letter is in response to Mack Reed’s article about Simi Valley and the Rodney King case. As a longtime resident of Simi Valley, I am troubled by residents’ and city officials’ failure to engage in any form of self-criticism with regard to more subtle forms of racism.

Referring to the city’s problems with race, Mayor Greg Stratton claims that he “didn’t think anything was wrong to begin with.” Yet in his statement on Simi Valley’s Web page, Stratton celebrates the fact that “we have made Simi Valley a place that the criminal element--especially from ‘over the hill’--is learning to avoid.” In effect, Stratton is saying that the goal has been not only to reduce crime, but specifically to keep residents of the neighboring poorer communities of color out of Simi Valley.

When the mayor is able to take such comments free of criticism perhaps we should take a deeper look at race issues in Simi Valley. Few claim that more than a few residents of Simi Valley participate in any forms of overt organized racism. However, as Simi Valley and other suburbs around the country become increasingly homogenous and isolated from the problems of urban abandonment it is crucial that residents take a critical look at the subtle forms of racism and xenophobia this isolation helps to foster.

KEVEN RUDIGER

Simi Valley