Literally.

A lot of our liberal friends in Venice might not like what I have to say about their boy Bonin but who cares. In a Venice era where Black, Brown, and working-class people are being exponentially displaced what do we have left to lose? Orthodox respectability politics hasn’t garnered us any substantial political leverage or footing to defend ourselves. All we have left to lose is our chains.

Mike Bonin doesn’t care about Black people.

Yea I said it. Someone has to say it.

Oh, please. Don’t tell me you’re fooled by his political theatrics, opportunism, and tokenism of Black and Brown people. Whether its his coordinated arrest protesting ICE in July, his recent political rally theatre performances, or his adoption of a Black child. Guess what Bonin, you can’t walk out of this one.

Tokenism is simply covert racism. Racism requires those in power to maintain white supremacy (a political ideology that perpetuates and maintains the social, political, historical or institutional domination by white people) by exercising social, economic and/or political muscle against people of color (POC). Strong terminology I know. However, we must use brutally honest language for the brutal reality of displacement and culturcide we Black, Brown, and traditional working class people of Venice are facing. It is what is. Tokenism gives those in political power the facade of appearing as saviors of diversity because they recruit and use POC as racialized props.

I really don’t know what Bonin is thinking. He already has a strong reputation in the community for lying, deceiving public relations posturing, being a shill for developers, and his cowardly (lack of) engagement with the Venice community. I’m confident he is aware of this. Even still, despite knowing his reputation our First Baptist Church of Venice (FBCV) Coalition still had faith that he wasn’t going to bullshit us this time. Before I continue though, let us be clear—this is a historic and beloved African-American landmark in the Venice community we are talking about. It is the symbolic crown for the African-American legacy, struggle, and resilience in Venice. This is a historic community period.

Back in August 2017 at the “Love Not Hate Rally” we started our awareness campaign for the First Baptist Church of Venice (savevenice.me). Mike Bonin postured on stage with his remarkable skill for political theatre. He acknowledged his white privilege, systemic racism, and declared that he would help save the church. You can view the video here vog.news/bonin-aug19-2017 and vog.news/bonin-fbcv-promise-2 . He is keenly aware of what racism is and how it works. These videos are almost comical in the sense that, when it has come down to it, he has doubled down in the opposite direction of what he was preaching. In the videos you will notice there was no talk about only saving the structure, the frame, and façade of the church building. When we finally did get a chance to meet with him in August of this year (2018) he backtracked on his words and said he never promised he would help save the Church. He lied. But, more details on that grand finale later.

Fast forward 6 months to February 2018. There is zero follow up or support from him about the FBCV. Albeit, to his credit he (his office) did, at our inquiry, supported our Black History Month event early that month by donating $300 for poster printing costs. While it was a kind gesture it means nothing when one lies, evades, and subverts our efforts to restore the epitome of Black History and legacy in Venice in its most critical moment.

Later that February his office had arranged a meeting with our group and the Penskes but little did we suspect that it would be a false mediation by his office. In our correspondence with his deputy Taylor Bazley before the meeting date an agenda was never set, nor was there a set premise for the meeting. The meeting to our knowledge was for a general dialogue with the Penskes. When we got to the meeting we soon realized the premise for the meeting was “how to best honor the African-American community” by discussing a memorial plaque for the community. We never discussed anything of the sort in our correspondence. When we clarified this to Taylor he replied with “This is what we’ve been talking about in the email.” When we raised our objection to his lie Mr. Penske laughed out loud. The exact reason he laughed is uncertain but being that we were there regarding a heartfelt issue pertinent to the survival of our community it was enough to offend the elder with us who got up and walked out of the meeting, and which signaled the end of the meeting.

I would like to note that during the meeting with the Penske’s something that stood out to me was the narrative and arguments the Penskes were pushing and defending themselves with. The argument points were almost verbatim what VNC Board Member and systemic racism advocate Will Hawkins was spewing the past 6 months on social media. Coincidence? There’s more.

Two months later in April we had received word that Bonin made a statement regarding the church which he did not make us privy to. We sent him emails asking for a copy of his statement and calling for a meeting with him considering he has been silent about the church (at least to us) since he first, and lastly, proclaimed his solidarity back in August of 2017. This silent and evasive behavior would prove to be a pattern he displays over this course of our effort to save the FBCV.

Before our August meeting with him in 2018 (a year after he last spoke to our group) he has spoken to newspapers and other White gentry in Venice about the church while refusing to speak with us Black & Brown community leaders despite our numerous requests to meet with him. In his statements to the gentry not only did he perpetuate false narratives (lies) about the FBCV, he also decided to make himself the voice of the Black community by declaring what he thinks is best for us and our history, a top-down hierarchical behavior that is a key characteristic of systemic racism. Again, as shown earlier, he is conscious of systemic racism dynamics and is choosing to reinforce and perpetuate them.

To date his office has been absent at all the city hearings regarding the church. Silence is the privilege of the powerful. An institutional culture that stays silent on issues pertaining to non-White peoples will not only make environment for POC to be tokenized but it also places us in a position of forcing us to either
1) subjugate ourselves to the implicit control of the leadership (in this case Bonin) or
2) speak out at the risk of being accused of being divisive and/or confrontational,
a place I believe we currently find ourselves.

Finally, after a year of evasive and undermining shenanigans we did get to meet with Bonin in early August before the second episode of our West L.A. Planning Commission hearing. This time 6 people from our Save Venice group attended, mostly African-American women elders including Jataun Valentine. Strangely, he had his adopted African- American son posted in the room where we were supposed to meet. He couldn’t find a place for his son to wait but we agreed that it didn’t bother us having him in the room. It was Bonin, his 5 (?) year old son, and his assistant Krista Kline.

His demeanor was very closed off and he repeated many of the same argument and false narrative points that VNC Will Hawkins, the Penskes , and their attorneys have iterated over the past year on social media, at meetings, and at the hearings. Safe to say they are all reading from the same script.

He continued to lie and say he never promised to save the church but rather, save the frame and structure of it. There was also some defensive back and forth about misinformation his office and City Planning was giving us. They were defensive of course because we’re on top of our game with that.

The long awaited meeting with Councilman Bonin ended abruptly when he was asked, “What in all the years that you have represented Venice (18 years including his work with Rosendahl), have you done to support the Black community and the history of African American contributions to the Venice Community? What will you tell your son…” Before we could finish our statement he responded by abruptly grabbing his son (who was clueless to the conversation) and charging out the room— never to return. On top of his silence and lies that already spoke volumes, his walking out on a meeting filled with Black elders in the community was as profound an answer to the question as could be made.

I am confident after becoming aware of this article he will double down on his PR efforts to tokenize additional POC in order shield himself from criticism about his conscious decisions to, not only stand against the historically marginalized Black community of Venice, but to once again subvert the voice of the Black community and the working class people of Venice.

Bonin is shilling for temporary Bridge Housing at the MTA yard (that most neighbors don’t want) while he has Measure H/HHH and other network accesses that he can better utilize to buy the FBCV properties. He could collaborate with us and create something that everyone could live with. Perhaps some low income, permanent Bridge housing or a mixed use community space with a spiritual worship space, historical museum, and a community library just to throw some ideas out there.

But he’s stuck in sell-out mode.

By going against the historic Black community in Venice and advocating for the Penske’s mansion, he is also consciously creating a detrimental precedence for the mansionization of Venice to go along with the racial/class cleansing and community displacement agenda he has been usher to for decades now.

Bonin is not only being disrespectful to the Historic Black community of Venice, he is also mocking the power of the Venice people in general. He underestimates the power of the Venice people, it is time we make him remember.