For Latinos and blacks, a call for unity, not hate

Earlier this year, I attended one of those sedate conferences writers get invited to every so often. I talked for an hour or so very politely about books, until the audience rose up in rebellion and told me to stop.

I'd been invited by USC to be on a panel discussing the topic of blacks and Latinos in Los Angeles literature. But the mostly student audience didn't want a writerly chat. They wanted to talk about the reality of a divided, angry city.

"There's certain parts of Watts and Compton where blacks can't go," a young black man told us, rising up from his seat to describe Latino gang members' slurs and threats.

A high school teacher rose to his feet, too, to talk about his Latino students' ignorance of African American history and the intolerance he often hears from the Spanish-speaking immigrants around him.

It hurts me deeply to hear of these things. I suppose, like a lot of people, I've been in a sort of denial about what's happening in my hometown.

Earlier this month, a few idiots with spray paint, and hate in their hearts, ran an African American family out of a predominantly Latino neighborhood in Duarte. It was the latest in a series of incidents in which suspected Latino gang members have committed crimes against black people.

These acts of intolerance are obviously the work of a tiny minority of delinquents. And yet they feed a larger malaise among African Americans. A lot of black people feel they're being crowded out and disrespected by the growing plurality of Latinos around them.

I know that mostly our two peoples are working, living in peace and even starting families together. And yet the seeds of a deeper intolerance lie all around us, ready to sprout.

More often than we care to admit, our people segregate themselves from blacks in schools and churches.

And how many of us Latinos have been at family gatherings and heard some obnoxious old uncle drop a racist remark? Generally speaking, do we have the courage to stand up and tell the guy to shut up? No. We're Latinos, and we don't like to make an "escándalo" if we can avoid it.

Still, it is those who publicly and privately speak ill of African Americans whom I address today, because the "escándalo" can't be put off any longer.

Listen up, raza. We're walking in the footsteps of giants. Black people have bled and been beaten in the name of equality, and without their sacrifice, we'd be 30 years behind where we are today.

The long African American struggle for civil rights has blossomed into an oak tree of justice whose large canopy protects all of us, no matter our color. And these days there are more of us Latinos huddled under its branches, seeking shelter from discrimination, than any other group.

Let's start with the basic fact of our citizenship. Like thousands of others Angelenos, I am the son of immigrants. I thus owe my citizenship to Dred Scott, a slave who sued for his freedom in 1857, and to people like Frederick Douglass, who took up his cause.

Scott provoked the Supreme Court into one of the most shameful rulings in American history. Scott vs. Sandford declared that no one of African descent could be a U.S. citizen.

After the Civil War, the black struggle to erase Scott vs. Sandford from American jurisprudence led to the passage of the 14th Amendment, which grants citizenship to those born in the United States. But these days, the children of Mexicans and Central Americans are its chief beneficiary.

Scott and Douglass lived a long time ago, it's true. But they're not the only people who helped pave the way for us.

If you're Latino and have had the pleasure of voting for someone with a Spanish surname, if you live in an integrated neighborhood, you have the dead and battered of 1960s Birmingham and Selma, Ala., to thank for it. Their martyrs are our martyrs too, because their sacrifice made the civil and voting rights we now enjoy possible.

Every Latino civil rights leader knows this. It's why Cesar Chavez treasured the telegram he received from Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, just a month before King was killed.

"As brothers in the fight for equality, I extend the hand of fellowship and goodwill . . . to you and your members," King wrote. "Our separate struggles are really one -- a struggle for freedom, for dignity and for humanity."

Reposted with permission of author Hector Tobar, columnist for the LA Times.

Unlearning Racism: Reflections from a Recovering Model Minority

As a new member of the YWCA's Racial Justice Committee, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself and share how my commitment towards racial justice developed. I will begin by telling you: My name is Joy Lei and I am a recovering Model Minority.

My Chinese American and Asian American identities have affected both how I perceive myself and how others define me. Being “Asian” in the U.S. bestows upon me an essential role to play in perpetuating the racial stratification. You see, Asian Americans have been granted the title of “Model Minority,” which is a myth that emerged during the 1960s in the midst of the civil rights struggles. Prior to the 1960s, Asian Americans were seen as devious, inscrutable, and inassimilable among other negative perceptions. The Model Minority image, however, presents Asian Americans as having succeeded economically and academically in US society, despite past discrimination, through hard work and without government assistance or complaints.

The dramatic shift in the portrayal of Asian Americans reveals its constructed and strategic nature because the Model Minority image became popular at a critical point in the nation's history to serve as proof of American democracy and meritocracy when the Civil Rights Movement fought to expose institutionalized racism.

The Model Minority myth places Asian Americans in a precarious position and creates the perception that we do not face racism. It also operates effectively by placating, deceiving and disillusioning Asian Americans—It convinces many of us that we can achieve the "American Dream" if we just work hard, it reminds us that we are doing better than other populations of color (so we better not complain) and it tells us that if we are not doing well, it is because we have not tried hard enough or are too foreign and inassimilable to live up to model minority standards.

The myth discourages Asian Americans from critiquing the racist nature of US Society. Furthermore, the myth, which has become a common stereotype, places Asian Americans in a position "higher" than other populations of color on a racial hierarchy, which maintains the racial order by pitting populations of color against each other. With people of color busy vying for higher status on the racial hierarchy, there is less attention paid to challenging it.
As a child and young adult, I bought into the Model Minority myth and tried to live and was treated according to it. Yes, I have been harassed for being Asian and treated as a foreigner, but I believed that, if I did well in school and adopt “White” culture and beliefs, I will succeed. Except…as I matured, things became harder to understand and accept.

When I ask myself where others’ and my prejudices come from, it is clear that they are learned—from family, friends, teachers and textbooks, the mass media and dominant US culture. I see teachers and schools as agencies for positive change. I do not want children in the United States to continue to learn to be passive followers in an oppressive society. I do not want children to continue to internalize, as oppressors or oppressed, the existing social stratification based on race, class, and gender. I do not want a child to ever feel that her voice is less valid than another child's or that her family’s culture is inferior. I want every child to have a truly equitable opportunity to succeed in this country and to accept each other in their commonalities and differences.

Although I no longer believe in or strive to live up to the Model Minority myth, it is a part of my internal and external selves that I am proactively aware of in my everyday thinking, choices and actions. However, I will not feel bad for being Chinese American or Asian American because of how these social identities and representations have been constructed in US society. Instead, I have come to value them, as how I define them and their contribution to my social consciousness.

Joy Lei is a new member of the YWCA Racial Justice Committee and is passionate about issues of equity.

Knowledge is Key to Eliminating Racism

As a long standing Pasadena resident, I have been involved with many persons, agencies, businesses and organizations on numerous occasions for a wide variety reasons. In these experiences, I have gained the knowledge that Pasadenans care deeply about their community. The death of a citizen, whether by illness, accident, old age or violence, brings sadness to those learning of the loss. In the recent fatal police shooting of Leroy Barnes, this death has brought, not only sadness for the loss of life, but also anger, suspicion and mistrust of the police officers. Some of these sentiments are derived from the historical memory of racist behaviors advanced by members of the police force. Additionally, suspicion and mistrust, in this case, were generated by the non release of information and the initial inaccurate statement made by the Pasadena Police Department (PPD).


Much like judging a person for the color of their skin, the community is judging this event by the information on the surface. When verified information is provided, perception can be converted to fact and that outcome could then be addressed. This case is a significant point of conversation throughout the city and these conversations often include much hearsay. Conjecture and assumptions could lead to conclusions which may or may not be real and which could be divisive for the community. This would not be the desired result. The path towards eliminating racism includes knowledge.

Denise Jones is a long time Pasadena resident

Join the 50:50 Coalition and Give Voice to Women

The 50:50 Coalition is made up of women and women’s organizations who have joined together to increase the number of women holding non-partisan offices in Pasadena. The long-term goal is to achieve equal representation (50:50) at the local, state and federal levels, but we have a long way to go.

Nationally, the representation of women in Congress has increased from less than ten percent thirty years ago to seventeen percent today. Representation in the California legislature has increased from nine percent to twenty-eight per cent in the same period. California has only one woman in statewide elected office, and representation in California county supervisor positions is declining.

In the Pasadena area and surrounding communities, representation by women on city councils and school boards has declined or disappeared, although there have been recent increases on school boards.

The 50:50 Coalition concentrates on increasing the number of women at the front end of the pipeline. We identify and encourage qualified women to run for local offices (city council, school board, community college board) and we get out the women's vote on Election Day.

Nearly 80 women have already signed a pledge to vote and to get 10 others to vote in local elections. This represents a significant number of votes in low turn-out elections, a number that can mean the difference between winning and losing. We invite you to join us by signing the pledge form below and returning it to us either by email or snail mail. (Either way please be sure and give us your contact e-mail address so we can stay in touch.)

Jeanette Mann, jxmann@earthlink.net

Susan Kane, skane1@charter.net

50:50 Coalition

How You Can Help!

_______________________________________________________________

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Signature E-mail

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Please place a check in the boxes that apply:

____ I pledge to vote and to get 10 other people to vote in the March, 2009 local elections.

____ I give permission to use my name as a member of the 50:50 Coalition.

What's the Difference?

On this historic day of the inauguration of President Barack Obama, we would be remiss if we didn't address this question.

Because, for at least this one day, we are not Republicans or Democrats or Independents. We are Americans. We are not African-Americans or Japanese-Americans or Chinese-Americans. We are simply Americans. We are not Christians or Jews or Muslims or non-believers. Again, we are Americans, connected and united in this great country of ours.

Tomorrow, we'll no doubt go back to our labels and designations, and there's nothing wrong with that. We define ourselves with these labels. I just hope that the differences aren't as important.

The Conservative Gardener

Who knew that a nostalgic gardening piece I wrote for the Home & Garden section of the LA Times could set off a firestorm of political comments on another site, Lucianne.com.

The first commenter led with a quote from Thomas Jefferson and then concluded, "I suspect more conservatives than liberals are gardeners!"

Others soon jumped on the conservative gardener band wagon. One decided that Republicans garden for food and Democrats garden for decoration. Another compared Democrats to garden pests.

Of course, I find all of this absurd, but I think I've been guilty of the same faulty, illogical thinking. We start off by thinking that gardeners (or another group) share the same set of values; therefore, they must also share the same political values.

Another person looks likes us or belongs to the same organization; therefore that person must think like us. Someone else doesn't look like us; that person must not think like me at all.

Let's make a deal. Whenever we see ourselves falling into this trap, let's remember the absurdity of the "conservative gardener" and change our thinking.

Now, are there any theories about the political affiliation of ferret owners?

What Color (or Religion) is Fraud?

A few months ago, I did some pondering after I read a Pasadena Star News story, "Woman pleads not guilty in fraud case, about a black woman who defrauded members of the African American community in a Ponzi scheme.

At the time, I questioned the need to reference the race of the alleged fraudster and her victims. I posed these questions:

• Why did the writer of the SEC complaint include references to the black community? Was it necessary or relevant to include this information in the complaint? If the targeted investors were white, would it have been equally relevant? What about if they were senior citizens?
  

• Why did the Star News article include references to the black community? Was it necessary or relevant to include this information in the article?

Now that Bernard Madoff, a member of the Jewish community, has defrauded his mostly Jewish
investors out of $50 billion, I find myself asking the same questions.

My answer, however, is now a little different. I now understand that the race or ethnicity or religion of the fraudster and victims is part of the story. The cons who perpetrate these schemes have learned that it's easier to pull the wool over the eyes of someone in their own group - whether that group is religious, ethnic, elderly or professional.

The practice is so common that there's even a name for it: affinity fraud. The SEC website includes this warning:

"Affinity fraud refers to investment scams that prey upon members of identifiable groups, such as religious or ethnic communities, the elderly, or professional groups. The fraudsters who promote affinity scams frequently are - or pretend to be - members of the group. They often enlist respected community or religious leaders from within the group to spread the word about the scheme, by convincing those people that a fraudulent investment is legitimate and worthwhile. Many times, those leaders become unwitting victims of the fraudster's ruse."

Madoff's victims talk about the feelings of "betrayal," but they aren't the first group to feel these emotions. It comes with the territory of a good con man gaining trust.

Susan Carrier, a resident of Altadena, is a marketing consultant and a member of the board of the YWCA Pasadena-Foothill Valley.