Counterterrorism Forum Puts Focus on Local Issues

By Charles Donaldson

November 15 -- International politics and local emergency preparedness plans grabbed the attention of a room full of guests last week at the Santa Monica College Bundy Campus as the League of Women Voters of Santa Monica hosted its “Safer, More Compassionate World Forum.”

Speakers representing the police department, fire department, Santa Monica Red Cross, Santa Monica College and the Santa Monica Human Relations Council approached the topic of counterterrorism from five different viewpoints.

Mixed in with the philosophical were status reports and such down-to-earth practical suggestions as not to forget to use the car radio when usual communications are disrupted.

The car radio not only provides a wide range of reception, it also “doesn’t need Edison to power it up,” said Fire Chief Jim Hone.

Hone was joined on the panel by Santa Monica’s deputy police chief Phillip Sanchez, Red Cross executive director John Pacheco, SMC Academic Senate president and political science professor Dr. Richard Tavildaran-Jesswein and Human Relations Council vice chair Dr. Jody Priselac.

The Thursday, November 8 forum was moderated by retired Santa Monica city manager Susan McCarthy.

Sanchez noted that the best defense against terrorism is “a culture of security.” He said ordinary citizens are the eyes and ears of homeland security.

The deputy chief cited last year’s incident on the Santa Monica Pier when a woman noticed men taking pictures of the pier structure, but she was hesitant to tell the police and waited days before filing a police report.

Her suspicions were aroused immediately upon seeing the men, and she even made the effort to photograph them, which led to a thorough police investigation.

Sanchez said people should not be afraid to make these kinds of reports and should not worry about being labeled a “snitch.”

Hone spoke of how area fire and police departments are prepared to deal with natural or man-made disasters.

Mutual aid strategies are in place and have been since 2001. All 88 cities in Los Angeles County and its 137 unincorporated communities are linked and can share police and fire fighting resources swiftly.

The fire chief said about $400 million in homeland security grants have come to Los Angeles County to pay for equipment and planning that strengthen disaster response.

The county, with a population of 10 million, is larger in both population and square miles than many states.

The county’s Los Angeles to Long Beach region is regarded as the number one target for terrorism in California, Hone said, because of a concentration of major international and municipal airports, popular beach destinations and Hollywood studios.

“Terrorism is just one disaster to be prepared for,” Pacheco said.

Red Cross chapters “respond to about 65,000 disasters a year across the nation,” he said, and fires, floods and hurricanes frequently strike.

“What can you do? Create an emergency communication plan so you can keep in touch with each other. Create a disaster supply kit and a first aid kit, something you can pick up and take with you,” he said.

“If you had 20 or 30 minutes to evacuate your home, what would you take with you? You also need to be prepared in your work place. Many persons working in Santa Monica might not be able to get home.”

Pacheco stressed the need to learn first aid and CPR techniques because paramedics may not be able to get to reach you in a disaster. He particularly suggested taking the city fire department’s Disaster Assistance Response Team training program.

Tavildaran-Jesswein stayed closer to the compassionate element in the forum topic. The professor stressed the need to appreciate global citizenship.

“We are being viewed as being more militaristic than compassionate by our fellows outside the boundaries of the United States,” he said. “We have to gain knowledge of worlds other than our own. We have to stop dehumanizing others who do not think like us.”

He said that for the cost of keeping troops in Iraq for 40 days, the United States could pay the health care of all the children in the United States who cannot afford it.

How the U.S. spends its limited resources on expensive, never-ending international military campaigns while letting domestic programs on education and poverty languish sends a strong message to the rest of the world.

“We have to ask the right questions in the next election,” Tavildaran-Jesswein said. “The president of the United States is the face of the country. We have to do serious thinking about what that face should be.”

The nation also needs a Lincoln-Douglas style debate between candidates, he said, adding that California “deserves what Iowa is getting and what New Hampshire is getting” in the primary election season.

Priselac provided a very telling anecdote about perceptions of the U.S. and perceptions within the U.S. when she spoke of a letter written by a fifth-grade student whose world was changed by the American reaction to the 2001 terrorist attacks.

One theme of a Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District literature and arts program in 2006 was: “True peace is not merely the absence of tension. It is the presence of justice.”

When the fifth-grader was in third grade, a teacher had asked each student what his or her religion was.

“I proudly said that I was Muslim,” wrote the student. “Later that day, a kid came up to me with mean remarks. He said since I was Muslim, I was responsible for 9/11. At that moment, I was angry and ashamed.

“Why weren’t people of Christianity blamed for the Oklahoma City bombing? Muslim people are also peace-loving people, just like most of the world. They shouldn’t be labeled for the wrongdoings of a handful,” the student wrote.

Priselac said that a safe and compassionate society is a society in which people have and take paths to civic participation, find common ground, build coalitions and feel a sense of responsibility to other individuals, to their neighborhoods and to their communities at large.

“We can promote inclusiveness and reduce interracial tensions in our community through programs that address issues of diversity, equity, respect and justice,” Priselac said.

Charles Donaldson sits on the board of directors of the League of Women Voters of Santa Monica.