—Jon W. Davidson Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund Los Angeles
EDITOR’S NOTE:
Sadownick acknowledges his mistake on the Supreme Court ruling but believes he quoted Davidson correctly. American PimpDEAR EDITOR:
Re: Erin Aubry’s review of American Pimp [“Freakshow Bro’s,” June 9–15]. I have a very hard time understanding why Ms. Aubry feels it is the Hughes brothers’ responsibility to humanize blacks for white Americans. Here we go again with the thinking that, regarding racism, there is greater culpability in the behavior of some blacks than there is in plain ignorance on the part of some white Americans. I say that the white friend of hers who thought that white people should stay away from the film, presumably because the onscreen images would reconfirm their fears about black men, is an idiot. As a black man, I’m not afraid of the Hughes film, because I’m not a pimp nor have I ever aspired to be. As for the minority of black men who are, maybe they’ll support the film much as real “wise guys” supported The Godfather.
—Chazz Cotton Los Angeles
Hold the Ballona
DEAR EDITOR:
Filmmaker Sheila Laffey’s rebuttal [Letters, June 2–8] to Marc B. Haefele’s critique of The Last Stand [City Limits, May 12–18] unwittingly confirms the validity of the Friends of the Ballona Wetlands’ decision not to participate in her documentary. In the first paragraph, she labels the Friends “pro-development advocates” despite the fact that she knows that we do not advocate Playa Vista, and are not about to support the development unless and until we determine it will not have an adverse impact on the Ballona Wetlands. We have not yet made that decision, and won’t until we see the upcoming environmental-impact report.
The Friends don’t want to “suppress” Laffey’s film; we merely want to point out its appalling deficiencies. Anyone who wishes to read our critique or to examine the Friends’ true position and learn about our activities should visit us at our Web site, www.ballona friends.org.
—Ruth Lansford President, Friends of Ballona Wetlands Playa del Rey
Can you say “Snake oil?”
DEAR EDITOR:
Re: Hope Urban’s “Unbroken Will” [June 16–22]. Welcome to Mr. Cimmarusti’s Neighborhood. Does anyone really think that switching one eyesore [the Van de Kamp bakery] for another makes Ralph Cimmarusti a neighborhood savior? I see him as more of a pariah: a snake-oil salesman peddling yet another crappy box development and burger joint. How original! If all developers were like him, we’d be gagging down McBurgers at the site of the old Helms Bakery, and parking our cars at the Old Towne Pasadena Parking Garage and Strip Mall. Our neighborhood deserves better than this unimaginative, unoriginal “concept.” And to top it off, if we don’t like it, we deserve to have our houses trashed! (“If someone did throw a rock through [activist Miki Jackson’s] window, I don’t blame them one bit.”)
I propose denying Mr. Cimmarusti and his company, Lucia Properties, the privilege of bidding on any and all work within Los Angeles city limits until he retracts his support of vandalism and criminal behavior.
—Nick Santangelo Los Angeles
Unspun
DEAR EDITOR:
Thank you for the fine story by Bill Gibson on Playa Capital [“Playa’s Problems,” June 16–22]. This kind of truth-telling is essential in our current social climate. It is very difficult generally for all media sources — excepting NPR, in my opinion — to get the facts out without some spin.
Do the arithmetic
DEAR EDITOR:
Re: Chuck Stephens on Titan A.E. [“Space Junk,” June 16–22]. This is the stupidest review I’ve ever read. “The year is 3028, the film is Titan A.E., and the future of the human race is . . . white.” How can the future of the human race be white if, of all the humans going to the new planet, only two were white? This guy is seriously bitter about something.
DEAR EDITOR:
I want to applaud Chuck Stephens for the Titan A.E. review. It was the only review I’ve seen so far that drew the comparison with anime. I have always found anime entertaining precisely because it addresses sophisticated emotions and has some finesse in telling the story. Titan looked spectacular, but I outgrew Johnny Quest ages ago.
Noise boys
DEAR EDITOR:
Thanks for Erik Himmelsbach’s “Boys Are for Noise” [June 9-15], a positive article on Hanson, one of the most talented bands making music today. Unfortunately, the radio industry hasn’t caught on yet. In spite of the number of requests to hear Hanson’s singles, stations are not giving the band their fair share of airplay. (One station restricts the hours in which Hanson music can be played.) In all my 40 years, I’ve never seen such deliberate discrimination doled out on a decent band.
—Kim Holladay Madison, Alabama
DEAR EDITOR:
I really enjoyed the article you wrote on Hanson. I love their new album, and I am excited to hear adults giving them credit for an amazing job. Thank you again.
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