To the editor: I’ve lived in Los Angeles lengthy sufficient to know that this metropolis weathers hearth, quake and fury and nonetheless manages to bloom. We develop meals in our backyards, paint our ache on partitions and discover magnificence within the battle. However proper now, there’s a stress within the air thicker than smog, a nationwide worry winding by means of our streets, and its title is Donald Trump (“Nationwide Guard arrives in Los Angeles as fallout from immigration raids continues,” June 8).
The helicopters overhead aren’t simply information choppers anymore. They’re echoes of one thing historical and harmful: Fascism rising on American soil. I by no means thought I’d say this in my lifetime, however we’re watching a person attempt to deliver down a republic with the smug grin of a sport present host who already is aware of the ultimate reply.
President Trump, you may cease now. Flip in your TV. Watch what you’ve carried out. You’ll not be remembered as a patriot. You’ll not be remembered as a liberator. You may be remembered because the worst chief this nation has ever produced. A divider. A destroyer.
We write, we paint, we protest and we plant seeds of hope in cracked concrete. However we’re exhausted. We want ethical management, not messianic delusion. What will we inform our kids when their leaders reward dictators, vilify the press and mock the weak? That chaos is energy? That empathy is weak spot?
Mr. Trump: Historical past shouldn’t be in your facet and neither is Los Angeles.
Patsy Pitts, South Los Angeles
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To the editor: You will need to keep in mind that the president who despatched the Nationwide Guard to Los Angeles as a result of the administration “has a zero tolerance coverage for prison conduct and violence” is identical president that incited the revolt on Jan. 6, 2021, declined to take steps to cease the assault on our Capitol or defend members of Congress and, as quickly as he took workplace in 2025, pardoned everybody (greater than 1,500 individuals) indicted or sentenced for the assault. Roughly 140 regulation enforcement officers have been injured with greater than $2.7 million in harm to the Capitol.
He’s sending a message.
Marcia Scully, Whittier
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To the editor: Gov. Gavin Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass haven’t instructed the L.A. disruptors to go house as a result of these politicians worry alienating an essential voting bloc.
If Trump does nothing, there would be the creation of no-go zones all through our nation, wherein native teams deliver components of main cities to a halt so as to impose an unlawful immigration political agenda.
If Trump makes an attempt to revive order, rioters — like these on school campuses — will enhance their stress to reveal who has energy on this nation. It actually is important to ship within the troops. In any other case, we’re headed towards a variant of mob rule.
Julia Lutch, Davis, Calif.
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To the editor: The final time a president known as within the Nationwide Guard with no request from a governor was in 1965 in Selma, Ala., to guard civil rights demonstrators. This present motion by the president is to not defend civil rights and even authorized rights.
The troops’ carrying of masks signifies a whole lack of coaching and accountability. In different phrases, unrestrained gangs with the backing of POTUS.
Joanne Weckbacher, Burbank
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To the editor: Protests by the undocumented and their supporters with out permits are futile and silly. The ensuing arrests and detentions are inevitable. Legislation enforcement is barely doing their job and the protesters are breaking the regulation in making an attempt to cease them.
If the undocumented and their supporters need to make an announcement, boycott their workplaces in agriculture, building, the garment trade or housekeeping in lodges, nationwide. These industries are totally conscious simply how dependent they’re on those that toil to maintain the income rolling in.
Elliott H. Boone, Lengthy Seashore
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To the editor: Now that the Trump administration has launched open warfare towards the values of Californians, the simplest response could be resistance that’s huge and, above all, passive. When 1000’s of individuals within the streets lie down and play lifeless in a blocking motion towards no matter motion navy forces try, these forces haven’t any good choices to defeat the individuals. Roughing protesters up will solely recruit extra to the trigger.
This can take self-discipline on the a part of the resistance, however the conscience of the common American will recoil on the sight of peaceable protesters being subjected to violence. Mahatma Gandhi prevailed towards the British and received a subcontinent with out firing a shot. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. helped defeat white supremacy utilizing nonviolence. This can be a pivotal second in historical past that will probably be squandered if the resistance resorts to violence. The place the trigger is righteous, good hassle calls for huge peaceable protest to win.
Alan B. Posner, Santa Barbara
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To the editor: I stand with these of the town who’re protesting towards Trump’s intervention into California’s autonomy. I’m happy with you and your efforts.
To those that dedicated acts of vandalism together with burning vehicles, deep disgrace upon you. To those that remained peaceable, report those that dedicated crime. It deeply hurts your trigger when the weak-brained commit stupidity.
Mat Lakota, Oroville, Calif.
