The La Canada Flintridge Tournament of Roses Assn. members are a
dedicated, hard-working and talented group of people who annually
produce a float that I have always believed is worthy of a prize.
Therefore, I hope they'll be willing to take a step back and
decide that they could improve this year's float by heeding the
requests of firefighters and others who would like to see more ethnic
diversity on the float and to see the lone female in something other
than the lone subservient role.
Sometimes it comes more naturally in this country to create
characters that are white. That's why we see so few Hispanics, Asians
and blacks in movies compared to their percentage of the population.
It might never have occurred to the association members, who appear
from the list on their Web site to all be white, that they should
make an effort to reflect both their community and that of the
greater Los Angeles area.
Indeed, the 2000 Census shows that more than 25% of La Canadans
are non-white, and more than 50% of Los Angeles County residents
are non-white. It wouldn't take much of an effort to change the
colors of the flowers to add a few darker hair and skin tones to one
or more of the children on the float.
As for the little girl, the young females I know are just as
likely to climb atop a fire truck and spray another child as the
young males are. If it were up to me, I'd put the girl up top. But
it's not up to me; it's up to the association.
I hope that this New Year's Day, I'll once again be rooting for my
community's float to win the grand prize.
KATHY HERNANDEZ
La Canada Flintridge
PC can go overboard, yes, but sense, good taste don't
I was about to agree with every word of John A. Samuel's letter
(Community Forum, Aug. 2) regarding the political correctness of the
La Canada Flintridge Rose Parade float -- at least the first half.
Then I read the second half, making fun of the first part.
He's right that the whole world does watch the parade on TV, and a
float is a great opportunity to make a political statement. Too bad
the statement was so tacky.
Honoring our heroic firefighters is not, in my opinion, reflected
by two little bully boys hosing down one little girl (I won't even
touch the Freudian slip). When in doubt about political correctness,
simply reverse the gender order of the situation. How funny would it
be to Samuel for two little bully girls to be hosing down a little
boy, sitting on a blanket with his teddy bears?
The question of racial insensitivity should also be addressed. The
