Debate Rages Even Before Manhattan Beach Holds Policing Forum

EDITOR'S NOTE: Near the end of the article, it was inaccurately reported that the Clinton home was "bombed" when in fact the family awakened to a fire on their front porch. The inaccuracy has been corrected and we regret the mistake.

MANHATTAN BEACH, CA — Different opinions, perspectives, thoughts. That's what Manhattan Beach City Council had in mind when they decided to hold a special City Council meeting on policing in the city. That meeting, called "Community Forum: Policing and Partnerships in MB," takes place tonight from 6-9 p.m. online and by phone. The meeting will be held online via Zoom and is also accessible via phone for voice only by calling 1 (669) 900-6833. The Meeting ID for both the online Zoom and phone version is 983 6568 2559. It will also be live streamed.

What began as an official way to start a dialogue about race and policing in the city has taken a turn, with original invited panelist, Manhattan Beach resident and former MB Mayor Mitch Ward dropping off the panel, sending an email to panel members and city council detailing why. Ward has given Manhattan Beach Patch permission to publish his email in full.

RELATED: Panel On Policing In Manhattan Beach To Answer Questions Live

The idea of the policing forum, which is intended to open a conversation about Black people in Manhattan Beach, has faced its share of comments pro and con. At a recent council meeting on June 30th, community members aired their feelings during public comment. Several residents said they fully support the city's police department as it is. Others said the forum was welcome and necessary. "Black Lives Matter are a non-starter for me if we decide to go with a forum," said council member Suzanne Hadley. “I think BLM is divisive,” said MB resident Lee Phillips, who now sits on the panel after Ward's departure. “It already sets the tone for the conversation.”

“Are we making a problem where there isn’t one?” asked Heather Kim, MB resident. She said she thinks Chief Abell "has done a fantastic job... So I’m not quite sure what more Manhattan Beach Police Department can do for the city of Manhattan Beach.”

Ward was to join panelists Police Chief Derrick Abell, the superintendent of the Manhattan Beach Unified School District, the president and CEO of the Manhattan Beach Chamber of Commerce, a local reverend and rabbi, two licensed social workers, and two Mira Costa High School graduates, Dalia Feliciano and Jemal Williams, who recently organized and held a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest in Manhattan Beach on June 2. Kathleen Terry, an experienced moderator who has led most every Leadership Manhattan Beach class, was announced as the moderator as the forum was being set up.

After Ward withdrew from the panel, panelist Feliciano asked Ward to reconsider. Here is the email he sent in response:

Thank you Dalia for your impassioned request that I reconsider my decision to not participate in the city’s upcoming forum. So we are clear, I am a former elected member of the Manhattan Beach City Council and do not assist with governance in this city. I do still reside here. I apologize my response is long but since we are all supposed to be Covid home-locked today here goes...

First let me say I am impressed with what was accomplished in MB on June 2, 2020 by Black Lives Matter organizers and all participants. I support your peaceful approach for massive and rapid change and I support BLM.

There lies the rub.

I believe the city’s planned forum, highly admirable, personally feels like an attempt to check a must-do-item off a list that the city feel is necessary at this point. They are correct it is highly necessary now. But it also appears there is an attempt to mute or squeeze out unwanted messengers.

The MB forum‘s structure is critically flawed - some participants should not be participating - the forum’s moderator is a lovely woman and locally admired but she is inappropriate to lead a critical and unfiltered discussion on race and policing in Manhattan Beach.

More on the participants later. Stay with me.

The BLM organization has been villainized by some, including some of our elected officials. This is prior to the meeting and prior to anyone even knowing what may be said by BLM.

Press reports I’ve read indicate that BLM participants are a “none starter” for some here in town. This is a wrong approach if one is truly interested in listening to what is occurring right here in our city. None of us should be further fanning the flames of division with what appears to be misguided biases.

City leaders should hear from and focus on how they can make all MB residents’ lives better including the 0.8% of the population here that is Black.

What are they afraid of?

If government leaders do not want to hear from those bringing forth a message that so many of us have shouted for decades (racial equality and justice now), I find that to be unfortunate. In fact I believe city leaders should be the ones listening to folk like you and Jemal rather than being a participant in this forum. We feel we know what they think - they’ve successfully run for office - we hear their thoughts a lot.

Yet rarely is race a topic of discussion by MB city leaders with the exception of the unsolved not talked about Clinton home bombing 2015, Bruce’s Beach renaming in 2006 and most likely there was council discussions after the burning of Charles and Willa Bruce’s property in the 1920s. We all know they talked about and used eminent domain to take the property of the Bruce family and other Blacks in the area.

What our community need is for all city leaders, to step outside their role as an elected official or otherwise for this very first forum and listen! Leaders don’t have to always lead. Besides, none of them have been able to lead us out of this reality of inequality hell that we Black and Brown folk endure daily and have done for hundreds of years.

Regarding participants - I respect religious leaders. My father was a minister before he died. I grew up in the church but we black folk have been praying with religious leaders for 400 years and we are no where near equal in American society.

So all due respect to our religious leaders I would rather hear from the young black man and entrepreneur here in town that text and called me the other day about the many many times he, his wife, two small children have been stopped by the MB police. He described one instance where he was told he was driving “slow”. Let’s let the city council and all us hear those type incidents and while listening we ponder how to address these issues with policies - bring these back at a forth coming forum. One will not be enough.

The Chamber of Commerce is scheduled to participate as I see. I took my local business out of the Chamber of Commerce many years ago because I was told the chamber was, in part, funding the national Chamber of Commerce’s political and lobbying efforts which were fundamentally in opposition to my business, personal ideals and livelihood as a Black man in many instances. I certainly didn’t want to fund my own demise.

Now locally I don’t know one black member of the Chamber of Commerce. This may have changed since I last looked. I however would rather the Chamber listen at a forum like this - learn from the black business owners in town that do not have a powerful advocate group working on her or his behalf. Embrace those small businesses and lobby for political policies that do not seek to run them out of business.

Our school leadership has been generally tremendous. Yet the colossal leadership embarrassment and failure that was on display recently which resulted in what looked like 100s of Mira Costa teenagers pretending to be in a BLM protest was sickening. We’re dying out here and they are pretending.

So I believe our educational leaders need to listen as well. Know that I’ve received numerous complaints over the years from families of children who have been racially bullied on school campus. This implicit racist and generally taught bias has to stop and educators can help to stop it by recognizing it and crushing it. Listen to the problem first.

I support the demilitarization of police departments in general. When some Americans left Iraq and Afghanistan, many joined police forces but they didn’t leave the us vs the enemy mentality over there. This coupled with bad police policies, mean Black and Brown folk suffer too often as a result.

I support a local and rotating civilian review board that is put in place to oversee police practices and procedures after a catastrophic police involved event. In Manhattan Beach hopefully they will never have to meet.

I support reallocating police funding to assist other agencies that specialize in mental and domestic events whereas police may be less trained or equipped to address these.

I support the use of city staff to intervene in local residential quality of life conflicts and disturbances etc. rather than using our police. The city staff should be available seven days a week for this. Sometimes a call to a police officer by a Black or Brown person doesn’t end well for the Black or Brown person.

The weight of trying to survive our racist society is a nightmarish and exhausting burden we minorities endure. I for one want to hear from you Dalia, Jemal, and others including BLM people. Finally we may be able to change this - a new way, new approach.

As Dave Chappell said “I am very proud of you. You kids are excellent drivers. I’m comfortable in the back seat of the car. So, carry on young ones.”

If you get tired call me up front and I’ll drive a little.

Black Lives Matter.

Peace.
Mitch Ward

Asked about Ward's withdrawal, Mayor Richard Montgomery told Manhattan Beach Patch, "No situation regarding Mitch. He explained why he declined." MB Patch has emailed council member Suzanne Hadley for comment, as well as Feliciano and MBPD Chief Abell. As of publication time, responses had not been received. MB Chamber CEO and President Kelly Stroman said, "I am on the panel and look forward to listening, learning, and representing the MBCC and the business community."

Moderator Terry did get back to MB Patch, writing,

"First and most important: This is a first step in creating an opportunity to have a conversation where each of the panelists will be sharing their thoughts about police policies and practices, how the MB police are working with mental health and homeless agencies, the school district,business community and faith based organizations to address the important issues regarding race in our community. There will also be four panelists who will share their personal experiences living, working, or going to school in our community as a black person.. They will be speaking for themselves and others may have a different perspective or experience. Part of the value of a forum like this is to listen and learn from the experiences and viewpoints of others.

There are so many other individuals and agencies that could be on this panel and hopefully they will have a chance to participate in future forums or events. I hope this will not be the last forum and will be the start of many other events, discussions, and programs that can address these critical issues regarding race and implicit bias. Each of the issues we will be discussing could easily be given more time. I hope that the community will recognize the complexity of these issues and be open to listening and learning from the panelists. All the people on this panel are excited and committed to share their knowledge and experiences.

I really hope that people recognize that more forums of this type need to occur and hopefully this forum will serve as a starter for future discussions to take place.

Regarding Mitch, I respect his decision to not participate in this forum."

Council member Hildy Stern, said by email,

"I have known Mitch for many years and have the upmost respect for him both as a leader in MB and as a man of great integrity. I asked him to participate in the forum after having had an unrelated conversation with him to learn more about the history of Bruce's Beach. At that time he was very interested and willing to share his experiences and perspectives. I still think he is ideally fit for the discussion about implicit bias as a resident, business owner, and leader in this community. It was never my intention to hold this forum to just 'check the boxes'. Having an open and honest conversation is an important first step to learn what we do in Manhattan Beach and what we can do better. I have attended other similar forums and found them to be quite informative. I can't speak to the intentions of others nor can I speak to why he feels that way. However, I don't begrudge him the decision to not participate if he feels it won't be productive. Rather than questioning his decision, I think we should learn from it. I hope he will continue to be in this conversation in other ways because we do have a lot we can learn from him.

I look forward to listening and learning tonight and expect the forum to be very informative. I appreciate all those who have contributed to this program - the panelists, moderator, city staff, council and many others who have been helpful and supportive of this program."

In addition to Phillips, Malissia Clinton has been added to the forum. In 2015, the front door of Clinton and her family's Manhattan Beach home was set on fire. Her husband Ron awakened around 2:30 a.m. to a "loud boom" and found the fire outside his front door. The crime has not been solved.

Here's the Zoom link for tonight's forum. Meeting ID is 983 6568 2559. Or call (669) 900-6833, Use Meeting ID 983 6568 2559 for the call. The forum is also being live streamed here.

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