The Hushed Tones of Racism

I am used to two types of racism:

1) The boisterous, over-the-top jokes, inneuendo, and slurs that clearly represent satire more than a longing for segregation and lynch mobs. (My brother provides most of this for me.)

2) The silent disdain for other people that manifest itself in dirty looks, shaking heads, and the crossing of the street so as to avoid passing someone looking "thuggish." (This comes from just about everyone in Los Angeles, regardless of their own race.)

I figured the days of newspaper editorials and vocal racist tirades had passed, at least in diverse communities like Los Angeles County.

I was wrong.



My hometown has been involved in a little controversy over the past year that came to a head this week with the opening of a Vallarta Supermarket in a shopping center that has been without an anchor for over a year. The previous tenant, Albertsons, high-tailed it out of the center to spaking-new one in a massive, cookie-cutter development. Vallarta Supermarkets expressed an interest in bringing their Hispanic-themed / targeted store to the Santa Clarita Valley. The Santa Clarita Valley may seem small by L.A. standards, but it is home to about 200,000 people and in Southern California, I believe it's safe to assume that a few of them my be hispanic. And of those that aren't, I think its further safe to assume that a good number enjoy hispanic foods and culture.

Of course, a hispanic market means that busloads of illegal immigrants will be coming in to buy groceries, loot neighborhoods, sign kids up for gangs, deal drugs to lonely housewives, and other unwhite activities that subvert our good Christian homes and God-given Americanism. (I really like that word, Americanism. That and "truthiness.")

Naturally, the righteous went to the Internets and set up shop at SaveOldOrchardShoppingCenter.com. How exactly you save a shopping center by blocking its newest, largest tenant and thus force most of the center to remain vacant is beyond me. What's more interesting are some of the priceless criticisms of the coming Vallarta:

"Food Stamps Accepted." -- Assuming, of course, that no other grocery stores accept Food Stamps, which isn't the case. Ralphs, Vons, the previous Albertson, and even Pavilions and Gelsons all accept Food Stamps.

"The Vallarta Market will not serve me. I want a market that serves all of the communities." --Assuming, of course, that Trader Joe's would serve all of the communities! The small, trendy chain was touted as a better alternative by critics, despite the fact that in over a year the chain never expressed interest in moving in to the slot or that there's another TJ's just a short drive away. And while I like TJ's, I don't think it really serves the majority of grocery shoppers. It's the single people's store.

Check out the Vallarta web site. You may notice that it's an attractive alternative for an already crowded grocery environment. You may also notice that the web site is in English with no Spanish option. Fear not, mighty racists of Valencia.

Vallarta fills a great niche in Southern California -- an area littered with Spanish and Latin influence. For crying out loud, the new store is in the City of Santa Clarita. That's ain't German, people. It should be welcomed.

And the NIMBY's should be shot.