EL SEGUNDO HERALD August 27, 2020 Page 3
Japanese Farmers in El Segundo
By Dr. Don Brann
In the mid-1920s, there were immigrants
from Japan living and working in El Segundo.
They farmed the land in the agrarian sector
and didn’t venture west of PCH (first Arizona,
then Sepulveda) into El Segundo.
There is a false story in El Segundo that
has been circulated for decades. It’s about the
Japanese and their impact on the boundary
line between the El Segundo school district
and the Wiseburn school district. The boundary
line is and has always been PCH, never
Aviation, the City’s eastern boundary.
The story that goes around El Segundo is
that the school boundary was established at
PCH to prevent Japanese students from attending
El Segundo schools. The Japanese
resided east of PCH near El Segundo Blvd.
So, these children went to the Wiseburn
School that served families living east of PCH.
Here’s what’s wrong with that tale: the
district boundary was set in 1911, but the
first Japanese student enrolled in Wiseburn
in 1924. Case closed!
Japanese people were not popular in
America in the first half of the 20th Century,
even less so in late 1941 after the Pearl
Harbor bombing. In 1942, they were taken
away and placed in rural internment camps
across the U. S. But, the story that these
students were deliberately prevented from El
Segundo schools by establishing the boundary,
Douglass
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Letters
Do Better
While reading the article about the city
council meeting published on August 20, it
was stated that both groups, El Segundo for
Black Lives and Mass Resistance, referred
to the other as hate groups. What was left
out, however, is the fact that only one of
these groups, Mass Resistance, is officially
designated as a hate group. This omission
drastically changes the context of these statements
and is reminiscent of President Trump’s
statements that there were “good people on
both sides” regarding the Neo-Nazi rally in
Charleston years ago. Implying that each
groups’ assertions are equal in this regard
is dangerous and simply untrue. Do better.
– Jessica Leigh
How to Spread Covid-19
I would love for this to be in the form of an
editorial. I was walking home from Fantastic
Cafe and had crossed the street at the gelato
shop. I put my mask on as a man walking his
bicycle approached me with his mask down.
Behind him was a woman walking a dog with
HER mask down. I turned the corner an was
approached by an Asian teen with no mask
and as I approached the next intersection, a
man approached me wearing no mask. It is
a sad commentary that those five minutes
are a microcosm of this statewide pandemic.
Some Californians are dangerous people. They
should be considered narcissists and it is best
not to approach them. They have to have their
way. Things have to be done their way or
else. Drivers will cut you off for no reason.
They have to be first or next. They will jump
in front of you for no other reason than to
make up one car length. They will NOT wear
a mask because it infringes on their constitution
rights. Beware of Californians when you
walk in El Segundo. Protect yourself.
– Philip Schermerhorn
MassResistance Stands
Against Hate
Why is the El Segundo City Council
spending $10,000 for Diversity and Inclusion
Commission? El Segundo residents
of diverse backgrounds have shared that
they love this city, and they have never
endured discrimination. Shouldn’t the city
remain committed to hiring and promoting
people based on merit, not skin color, as
the defining factor for success? The city finances
are hurting because of the COVID-19
lockdown. Why waste time and money on
a commission?
“El Segundo for Black Lives” claims that
they do not want to defund the police, but
one of their members clearly told me otherwise.
They chant the same slogans and push
the same ideological points as Black Lives
Matter--same group, different packaging.
As for “Hate Group” labels, the fault lies
with Black Lives Matter, El Segundo. They
smeared MassResistance (founded by an
Orthodox Jew) as a “hate group” by quoting
a real hate group, the Southern Poverty Law
Center (SPLC), which projects racism, sexism,
and bigotry onto organizations like ours which
promote constitutionalism, natural marriage,
and family. The SPLC has slandered Muslims,
Jews, immigrants, and sued to close charter
schools which serve black students. Even
left-wing Mother Jones Magazine rejects the
SPLC, but BLM El Segundo treats them as
a reliable source. That is truly hateful.
For the record, many black communities
support natural marriage and the nuclear family.
Black Lives Matter wants to disrupt the
nuclear family and promote harmful behaviors
to children (homosexuality, transgenderism).
If anyone proves that “Black Lives Matter”,
it is MassResistance.
– Arthur Schaper, Organization
Director, MassResistance •
Burkley Brandlin
Swatik & Keesey LLP
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In last week’s city council article (8.20.20)
the following errors were made: Arthur
Schaper’s last name is spelled “Schaper”,
not “Shaper” and the organization he works
for is MassResistance, written as one word.
We regret the errors. •
Correction
where it remains today, is not true. That
line was determined in 1911, many years
before the Japanese arrived at a truck farm
in El Segundo. When the Japanese were
finally released from the camps, many of
them settled in Gardena, Lomita, Torrance
and Palos Verdes. They annually met for
decades to celebrate their positive experiences
in “Western Hawthorne.”
So, why is the eastern El Segundo school
boundary (PCH) different than the eastern
El Segundo City boundary? When the El
Segundo Land Improvement Company laid
out the town, they placed the east boundary at
Aviation. They limited the residential section
to stop at PCH on the east. More than 20
years before El Segundo was incorporated
as a City, the Wiseburn School District
began in 1896 and went west to the Pacific
Ocean. So, when El Segundo annexed land
to begin its own school district, it was only
interested in setting the east line at PCH
since no residential uses would be east of
there. Also, without any families to serve,
the County ruled that the Wiseburn western
boundary would be shifted from the beach
to PCH. When El Segundo schools appealed
the boundary to Los Angeles County in the
early 1930s, the County rejected their arguments.
Who knew the eastern portion of El
Segundo would eventually develop into the
aerospace capital of the world? •
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