To the editor: President Trump’s govt order sending the Nationwide Guard and the Marines into L.A. amounted to a not-so-subtle provocation of the state of affairs, and possibly an unconstitutional one as properly (“Downtown L.A. hit by widespread vandalism, damage as city struggles to calm unrest,” June 9). When you watched virtually any supply of visible information media protection of the protests in opposition to Immigration and Customs Enforcement occurring in Los Angeles, you might need been satisfied that the town was in violent turmoil. It was not. What viewers noticed had been solely probably the most dramatic examples of occasions that transpired over the previous few days, endlessly repeated photographs of a handful of the identical burning automobiles, flash-bang explosions and different such photographs chosen, I’m positive, purely for his or her visible impact.
To place this in perspective, L.A. County’s inhabitants has greater than 9 million residents. That’s higher than that of 40 individual U.S. states and contains 88 incorporated cities and lots of unincorporated areas inside a complete space of 4,084 square miles. By that measure, what transpired was small, concentrated primarily inside a couple of blocks surrounding the town of Los Angeles’ civic middle and a largely peaceable mass gathering by protesters, a lot of whom had been admittedly very offended on the deliberately provocative techniques of the often-masked and brutal ICE operatives. In the long run, it was all competently dealt with by the Los Angeles Police Division and sheriff’s deputies.
John Trask, Thousand Oaks
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To the editor: It’s clearly not doable for these of us dwelling midway throughout the nation to totally perceive what individuals in Los Angeles are experiencing. However relaxation assured, we share your fears due to what all of this implies for our nation. Donald Trump received the 2024 common vote by the slimmest of margins, but claimed a mandate from the American individuals. And he has used that mandate assertion to make our nation, and the entire world, a extra harmful place. His slender election victory didn’t, in truth, entitle him to terrorize and deport (with out due course of) individuals who have a proper to be right here, to interrupt all latest precedent by deploying the Nationwide Guard with out the consent of the governor or, most frighteningly, to really ship the U.S. Marines to quell a civil disturbance he has triggered and doubtless hoped for. Like with so a lot of his actions, Trump is trying to fireside up his base whereas dividing our nation. California has develop into his scapegoat for all issues MAGA.
Trump’s imaginative and prescient of America runs opposite to every thing our nation stands for. Until we do one thing, like Los Angeles’ peaceable protesting, his imaginative and prescient is what our nation will develop into. Please know, L.A., we stand with you.
Stephen F. Gladstone, Cleveland
