Open Letter to Councilman Herring: Torrance is NOT a Systemically Racist City

Councilman Herring:

I read your editorial published in the Daily Bulletin, entitled "Black Lives Matter, Mr. Mattucci".

I must say that I found the tone and the conclusions of this editorial quite surprising and striking for their serious disregard for facts and evidence.

You claim that "systemic racism that has existed in Torrance since its corporation in 1921."

Would you please explain which systems in the city of Torrance exhibit this racism, and what is your proof of this racism?

Your article did not cite anything specific. In fact, in a city council meeting in 2018, you declared that Torrance could not be a racist city, since the residents had elected you to the city council, and you were the highest vote-getter in the 2016 City Council election.

You assert that "Black Lives Matter is not a terrorist group." However, Black Lives Matter spokesman and activists have talked about taking land from white people in public forums. One of the leaders in New York City stated the following: "If this country doesn't give us what we want, then we will burn down this system and replace it." They have claimed that cities with a multi-ethnic heritage like Carson were founded "white supremacy", and in fact I recall that members of Black Lives Matter call you yourself a white supremacist. They have rallied around and then toppled monuments and statues throughout the United States, including memorials for African-American soldiers who fought for their own freedom and their fellow countrymen during the American Civil War. A number of times, BLM protesters have chanted "Pigs in a blanket, fry 'em like bacon." These phrases were directed at police officers. These are violent statements, implying perverse threats against police officers.

BLM protests have erupted into riots in many cities across the United States. They have destroyed businesses, homes, attacked police precincts. They have even attacked and murdered other black lives. They have repeatedly intimidated elected officials by disrupting public meetings and preventing other citizens from being heard in these public meetings. I personally have been assaulted and my life threatened by these activists. I must remind you that many of the businesses destroyed in these riots were owned by African-Americans.

Violence, acts of intimidation, destruction of property -- are not these behaviors examples of domestic terrorism?

Mr. Herring, you stated the following in your editorial:

"Mr. Mattucci, when we say that Black lives matter, we are not saying that other lives do not matter."

"We are saying that all lives cannot matter until Black lives matter and receive that same justice."

 All lives matter because they are all endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. The notion that a life matters less because of skin color is antithetical to everything that the United States is founded on. The notion that other lives cannot matter until the lives of one segment of the population matter by receiving the "same justice" is in fact one of the most unjust, racist formulations I have ever read. Justice cannot be a matter of skin color. Justice must be a matter of actions and merits. The very notion that a segment of the population based on skin color has been denied justice because of their skin color requires more rigorous defense than you have provided.

What is your basis for the assertion that black lives are not receiving the same justice as everyone else?

Are you implying that Asian-American lives, which are most often harmed and harassed by black lives, do not matter?

Are you aware that the massive homicide rate in black communities is a result of black-on-black crime?

Are you aware that many black lives are lost because of abortion, and that Planned Parenthood, founded by an embittered racist named Margaret Sanger, deliberately targeted black communities for extermination via abortion?

Are you aware that in predominantly Democrat-run urban areas, most of the black homicides occur?

 Councilman Herring, I have no reason not to take your statements seriously. Precisely for that reason, I found many of your formulations in your editorial to be surprising if not disturbing for their lack of evidence, intellectual rigor, and seriousness. I submit to you that when black lives matter to other black lives, then the import of the larger statement "Black lives matter" will have more integrity. Furthermore, your claim that Torrance is systemically racist is, if I may be so bold, systemically flawed. By what metric can you claim that the city of Torrance is racist?

 Please respond to the questions which I have provided in bold letters above. As a retired city councilman, a pastor, and a retired military official, your reputation and the gravity of your assertions demand a response to the questions I have provided. You all but libeled the city of Torrance and its residents, and such brazen assertions must be challenged.

 Sincerely,

 Arthur Schaper