Letter Writer Describes The Manhattan Beach He Knows And Its Good

MANHATTAN BEACH, CA — The Content of Our Character, Not the Color of Our Skin.

Dear MB Residents:

I'm sorry, but I'm tired of people trying to label our community as a racist community. Manhattan Beach is not a racist community, of that I'm certain. I am just as certain that acts of racism do occur and I know we still have progress to achieve in regards to eradicating such acts of racism.

The assumption that Manhattan Beach is racist because we are predominantly White is patently absurd and defies logic. There are plenty of communities that are predominantly Black or other ethnicities, yet we shouldn't assume they are racist either. Making such an assumption is reckless, unreasonable and wrong.

Our community has made a lot of progress over the years in making Black people and people of color welcome in our community. That's a fact!

Let me tell you about the Manhattan Beach of the 2000s that I know.

When a MB Black family had their home firebombed, 500 of our residents attended a vigil to support the Clinton family and let them know they were not alone. Our view was that an attack on them was an attack on all of us. And, those that came to offer love and compassion were MB residents, overwhelmingly White. I’ve never been more proud of our community!

I believe that if we bring the spirit of that Clinton vigil every day, in every way, we can move forward when discussing racism.

When hurricanes devastated New Orleans and Texas, and Black people were the most impacted, our residents answered the call. Our residents lined up to donate to the victims of those disasters and we even caravanned in trucks to personally make the delivery.

I believe the vast majority of our residents are accepting, caring and respectful to all. In fact, our greatest asset as a community is not our weather or our schools, it is our residents and the way they treat people.

In the 1980s, Manhattan Beach had a reputation as a racist community, and Black people certainly did not feel welcome. Just take a look around today, you can see that Black people and people of color are welcomed in our community.

As a community, our residents of 2020 are much more progressive than we were in the 1980s. That’s a good thing!

Mark Burton
Manhattan Beach resident currently running for City Council in the Nov. 3rd election