To the editor: Since you are intent on giving people in red states (especially Tennessee) a platform to bash Los Angeles and California, I trust you will give voice to the “other side” as well.
While Californians have much better things to do than worry about what Southerners imagine our problems to be, they seem to be obsessed with us. So, a comparison of how our states stack up in key measures is in order.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2021 the firearm death rate per 100,000 people in Tennessee was 22.53, the nation’s 10th highest. California’s was 9, ranking it 43rd. California’s maternal mortality rate is the lowest in the country; Tennessee’s is one of the highest.
Tennessee has a much lower gross domestic product per capita and is much more dependent on federal government funding than California. It is a so-called taker state. California is not.
Finally, Tennessee and other Southern states still don’t have climate action plans, much less made any progress on lowering carbon emissions, as we have. Therefore, some of the blame for the disastrous climate-related fires in L.A. County this year arguably lies at their feet.
Judy Pang, Palos Verdes Estates
