Blacks losing political clout to Hispanics in Los Angeles

Jet, May 19, 1997

Blacks are losing political ground to Hispanics in Los Angeles, according to news reports.

Hispanics in Los Angeles will become the city's largest single group by about 2020, the Chicago Tribune recently reported.

Since the '60s, Blacks have made Political gains in Detroit, Newark, NJ, and Los Angeles.

But all of that seems to be changing, especially in Los Angeles.

For instance, Los Angeles' first Black Mayor Tom Bradley was replaced by a White mayor, Richard Riordan.

Willie Williams, Los Angeles' first Black police chief, has not had his contract renewed. The retiring Los Angeles Black superintendent, Sid Thompson, will most likely be replaced by a Hispanic man. And a number of other Blacks on boards and commissions are no longer there, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Furthermore, several historically Black congressional and state legislative districts in California are becoming mostly Hispanic, the Tribune noted.

And last month, the number of Hispanic voters for the first time ever, surpassed Black voters in support for Republican Mayor Richard Riordan.

In 1990, 15 Blacks and 11 Hispanics served in Los Angeles County's most Powerful elected an appointed offices, including the City Council, Board of Education an Board of Supervisors, according to a study by the Center for the Study of Los Angeles headquartered at Loyola Marymount University. In 1997, there are 20 Hispanics holding office in Los Angeles, and the number of Black politicians remains at 15.

Yvonne Braithwaite Burke, who became the first Black congresswoman elected from California in 1972, observes the changing minority districts. "Being a Black elected official doesn't mean the same as it once did," Burke, who is now on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, told the Tribune. "Half of the people in my district are Latino. My goal is to still bring the African-American community into the mainstream. But I recognize that I have to be biethnic in terms of my employees and in terms of the issues I address."

And the Hispanic power is hitting other cities, including Chicago, which currently has a Hispanic police superintendent, Matt Rodriguez, who succeeded the city's Black police superintendent, Leroy Martin.

Many Black community leaders are trying to forge ties with Hispanics and Asian-Americans to find common ground on issues such as jobs, schools and crime.