NEWS
Blacks, Latinos Seek Common Ground on Divisive Issues
Leaders announce June 3 conference at USC on gangs, jobs, healthcare and immigration.- By Teresa Watanabe, Times Staff Writer
May 5, 2006
Latino and African American activists announced
plans Thursday for a national leadership conference in Los Angeles to
ease tensions and build unity over such hot-button issues as
immigration, jobs, education and gang violence.
The Rev. Al Sharpton and Christine Chavez, the granddaughter of United
Farm Workers founder Cesar Chavez, will headline the June gathering,
which was announced at a Leimert Park news conference by Najee Ali of
Project Islamic Hope, Earl Ofari Hutchinson of the Los Angeles Urban
Policy Roundtable and others.
"There's a big lack of communication between the
two communities," Chavez, a candidate for the 45th Assembly District
seat, said in a phone interview. "This conference is about
reconnecting on common issues of education, healthcare and jobs."
The conference is the latest effort to find common ground between
Latinos and African Americans, who share many neighborhoods throughout
South Los Angeles.
As Latino immigrants reshape those historically black areas of town,
some African Americans allege that they are being shut out of their
fair share of jobs, housing and educational services. Violence has
erupted between the two communities in schools and jails.
Reflecting such discontent, homeless activist Ted Hayes, an African
American, recently announced a campaign to stop illegal immigration by
recruiting blacks to join the Minuteman Project in monitoring the
U.S.-Mexico border.
Since then, however, several black leaders have denounced Hayes and
announced alliances with Latinos.
Last week, for instance, black and Latino labor, religious and
community leaders pledged to work together on issues of joint concern.
Some of the group's African American members, including Nation of
Islam Minister Tony Muhammad and the Rev. Lewis Logan II of Bethel
African Methodist Episcopal Church, marched on May Day through
downtown Los Angeles.
At the same time, some Latino labor leaders have begun to address
African Americans' concerns about access to jobs — the biggest
flashpoint between the communities.
Maria Elena Durazo, interim executive secretary-treasurer of the Los
Angeles County Federation of Labor, said that demands for recruiting
and hiring more blacks will be pressed this year during contract
negotiations in a dozen cities involving 60,000 workers with the Hotel
Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union.
Mike Garcia, president of Local 1877 of the Service Employees
International Union, said his largely Latino union is actively
organizing African American security guards to press for better wages
and working conditions.
At the Leimert Park news conference, Hutchinson rejected arguments
that immigrants take jobs from blacks.
He said blacks would still have problems finding jobs even without the
presence of illegal immigrants because discrimination, failing schools
and criminal records also work against them.
The national conference, scheduled for June 3 at USC, has been
endorsed by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and several other
elected officials in Los Angeles, Compton, Inglewood and Lynwood.
Los Angeles Councilwoman Jan Perry, who supports the conference, said
reports of tensions between blacks and Latinos have been exaggerated.
At a meeting with Los Angeles high school students Thursday, she said,
blacks and Latinos reported that racial tensions were less of a
problem than a lack of after-school activities and jobs.
Chavez said she hoped to recapture the close ties that her grandfather
built with African Americans, whom she credited with supporting the
union's grape boycott and providing a model for nonviolent protests.
She said the two communities could unite and be a powerful force in
the fight for a higher minimum wage, access to healthcare, better
schools and safer streets.
"I think both of our communities realize we're fighting over crumbs
when we should be asking for a bigger piece of the pie," she said.
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