Abcarian: In that racist leaked recording, L.A. sees its true reflection — and it's ugly (via latimesopinion)
. Which is why it’s doubly upsetting when Latinos who have made it to the top rung of power would kick the ladder out from other people of color.
While the Black population of the city, which has fallen steadily over the years, hovers around 9%, the Black membership of our City Council is 20%. That’s 3 out of 15 members. I’ve always thought it was healthy for our city that Black Angelenos are well represented on our City Council., the council had four Latino members. Martinez stepped down in disgrace last week. If De Léon and Cedillo resign, as they are under intense pressure to do, there will be one, Monica Rodriguez.
If you, like our besieged Latino quartet, think that race is the only thing that matters when it comes to political representation, then sure, you could argue that since half the city’s population is Latino, the group is underrepresented at City Hall. In the zero-sum game they embraced, if someone wins, then someone else has to lose.
And yet, every few decades, the curtain is pulled back and Angelenos are violently reminded that, far from the racially harmonious paradise we’d like to believe we have, our city suffers from the same racial hatred that has afflicted this country since the very beginning. No matter how far we’ve come, the stench of racism lingers. Too often, it expresses itself in the way our communities are developed and policed, and the way our schools are run.
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