It’s a sad day for race relations in Culver City

The scene was a special City Council meeting held Tuesday, March 13, to consider handing the Culver City Police Department the authority to do two things: to hire the company Vigilant to place license plate readers (cameras) around the city, and to purchase drones.

As readers can imagine, these proposals were concerning and even alarming to many residents and non- residents, especially Brown and Black people of all ages.

Here’s one glaring example: Vigilant has a separate contract with ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and could conceivably share information gained from the license plate readers with other jurisdictions and thereby with ICE. We are a sanctuary city, and even though there was specific language in the drone and license plate reader policies to address our Sanctuary policy, the ACLU and many residents didn’t believe it was effective enough, protective enough–or even enforceable.

I am greatly troubled by what I saw and heard that night. When our city placed on the agenda items about the purchase of, essentially, surveillance cameras and the purchase of drones, why couldn’t or didn’t our city council members, police chief and other staff anticipate how fearful and tense many residents would become? Why couldn’t council members and staff look for ways to mitigate the anxieties of residents who undoubtedly would appear before the council?

Councilperson Meghan Sahli-Wells had requested that these proposed purchases be considered during a community discussion rather than a city council meeting. This was the format that had been used when Culver City was considering becoming a sanctuary city, and it worked. Residents testified, expressed their points of view and asked questions that were calmly and carefully answered. So, why this time was the request to use this valuable format ignored?

In advance of the March 13^th council meeting, City Council members and staff knew that Vice Mayor Thomas Small would be absent do to hip surgery. It had been requested that they wait until his return, and yet they moved forward quickly and unnecessarily.

That night, Councilperson Sahli-Wells spoke gently and compassionately, directing her comments to the audience. But she was alone. After the meeting, she spoke with a young, sad Black woman who had approached her.

Imagine if City Councilperson Meghan Sahli-Wells or Vice Mayor Thomas Small had been chairing that council meeting. How differently it would have gone.

The night of March 13, why were residents allowed only 90 seconds apiece at the microphone, when the Vigilant representative and the police chief were given an unrestricted length of time? Being rushed only increased the tension level.

Quite a few People of Color–in particular young people, parents, and grandparents–expressed themselves. Their anger, anxiety and fear were palpable.

At first there was little cursing coming from the speakers. I don’t blame Mayor Jeff Cooper for having been uncomfortable with the cursing; I would have been too. But couldn’t the cursing have been anticipated?

When one woman spoke about the evils of slavery and how those had led to the racism of today, and when another spoke about Culver City’s ugly history of racial profiling, our mayor could have acknowledged what they were saying and stated that he was doing his best to understand residents’ concerns. But he didn’t.

When he heard the cursing, he could have tried to ignore it. But he didn’t.

Instead, he angrily told the speakers not to curse. And when they cursed anyway, he threatened to have the police escort them from the council chambers.

Escalation of emotions is something most adults are familiar with. We’re taught ways to avoid that escalation, which can occur in a variety of situations.

And yet here was an angry white man, the mayor, threatening residents. The cycle of threats and cursing had begun. The more residents shouted obscenities, the more times the mayor threatened to have police take them from the chambers. Five times? Six? Seven? In retrospect, it wasn’t surprising that one woman shouted “Dictator!”

For some present that night, the memories will fade. But I assure you that for many People of Color, their impressions of Culver City, the city that’s their home, have changed for the worse. Their memories will not fade.

And so I recommend to our city council members and staff:

1. Apologize to the people of this city.
2. As soon as possible, arrange for all city council persons to be trained by experts in how to deal with anger expressed by residents during council meetings. And how to deal with their own anger.
3. Anticipate, anticipate, anticipate!
4. Schedule community meetings, rather than council meetings, when an agenda item is controversial.
5. Give residents more than 90 seconds apiece to speak.
6. Out in the community and from the dais, listen respectfully, and respond with kindness and compassion.

I write these things as a Culver City resident, a compassionate human being, and founder of Together, a human relations non-profit organization.

— Rebecca Rona-Tuttle