While Scientology’s private eyes were tailing us around a different part of Los Angeles yesterday, one of our tipsters kept an eye on Sheriff Lee Baca’s appearance in Inglewood to promote L. Ron Hubbard’s 1980 booklet, The Way to Happiness.
We have a couple of photographs of the event, as well as some notes about who attended — which included the voice of Bart Simpson, actress and Scientologist Nancy Cartwright!
As you can see above, Baca showed up to the event not wearing his uniform. County Sheriff is an elected position in California, and Baca can make this kind of political appearance all he wants.
And over the years, he’s showed himself to be very sympathetic to the Church of Scientology. But we’re not really sure how many voters Baca expects to pick up with a photo op like this one. This odd event was put together by the Rev. Alfreddie Johnson (in the white cap and bow tie), a rather unusual character who promotes the ongoing alliance between Scientology and the Nation of Islam.
Billed as a biker rally to promote peace and unity in gang-infested areas of Los Angeles, the “United in Peace Festival” featured motorcycle enthusiasts handing out plastic bags containing a Nation of Islam pamphlet and Hubbard’s slim volume of anodyne life advice (“take care of yourself,” “do not murder,” etc.).
Baca heartily brandished the publications, as you can see in the photo above.
We’re told that besides Johnson, the event was also graced by Nation of Islam/Scientology promoters Tony Muhammad and Hanan Islam. The latter figured prominently in a charter school debacle in Florida earlier this year that became the subject of a brilliant series of stories by Tampa Bay Times reporter Drew Harwell.
With bikers handing out Nation of Islam and Scientology propaganda in an effort to quell gang violence, you might think things could really not get much weirder.
But then Bart Simpson showed up. Or at least, the voice actor who brings him to life, Scientologist Nancy Cartwright, seen here greeting Baca…
Cartwright once gave $10 million in a single donation to the Church of Scientology, and our readers will also remember her for a classic interview she gave to Australian journalist Bryan Seymour, during which she admitted that she enjoys L. Ron Hubbard’s teachings because it’s enabling her to become a deity in her own right.
Well, on her way to godhood, Nancy deigned to help out at the rally…
We look forward to your thoughts on this innovative approach to crime suppression.
