The Rift
Evidence of a divide between blacks and Hispanics mounting
By Susy Buchanan
One after another, the reports have rolled in. From Florida to
California, Nevada to New Jersey, even as far away as the state of
Washington, the news is getting harder to ignore: There's trouble
brewing between blacks and browns.
At Hug High School in Reno, Nev., an emergency task force began work
last October after a series of fights between black and Hispanic
students that interim Schools Superintendent Paul Dugan said reflected
"definite racial tensions." In Monroe, Wash., similar tensions shot up
after a Mexican flag was torn down and thrown into a bathroom and
several off-campus fights broke out. In Chicago, seven students were
arrested after an interracial brawl in January left teachers and
security guards injured and parents complaining of mounting racial
strife.
But it was in schools in California, where so many of the nation's
trends first take shape, that this disturbing conflict was most
obvious.
On Nov. 8, hundreds of black and Latino students got into two separate
battles in the streets around Wilmer Amina Carter High School in
Rialto. Two days later, another interracial fight broke out on campus,
and four days after that a huge battle erupted in the lunchroom,
leaving 57 of the hundreds of students involved injured. At around the
same time, more than 20 police officers broke up a series of street
fights between black and Latino students outside Fremont High School in
Oakland that involved as many as 150 participants and bystanders. In
San Jacinto, a riot at San Jacinto High School between black and
Hispanic students resulted in three arrests, six suspensions and the
lockdown of 1,700 students. Some 500 students were involved in the
fight, and police reported some arriving parents added fuel to the fire
by shouting racial slurs and urging their children to keep up the
battle. Similar racial conflicts hit Crenshaw, Manual Arts and Jordan
high schools in Los Angeles.
The Presumed Alliance
Traditionally, black and brown activists have seen themselves in a
natural alliance in a country historically dominated by whites - an
alliance of mostly poorer, darker-skinned minorities whose struggles
are not dissimilar. But like the civil-rights-era alliance between
blacks and Jews, the black/brown coalition has grown more and more
strained. Many blacks resent what is seen as Hispanics leapfrogging
them up the socioeconomic ladder, and some complain of the skin-color
prejudices that are particularly strong in some Hispanic countries,
notably Mexico. Just this May, the Rev. Al Sharpton bitterly demanded
that Vicente Fox apologize after the Mexican president made what some
blacks interpreted as a racist comment. Similarly, many Hispanics say
they are treated in racist ways by blacks, some of whom have apparently
singled out undocumented immigrants for robbery and worse.
The conflict is growing, as mainly Hispanic immigrants, legal and
illegal, pour into neighborhoods that were in many cases previously
dominated by blacks.
Many blacks say Hispanics generally will not hire blacks in their
businesses, even though many cater to black customers. Many Hispanics
say they are being targeted for robbery by blacks who pick on
undocumented workers, a group far less likely to report crimes to
police. Both groups worry about the implications of blacks' 2002
displacement as the largest minority in America for the first time in
history.
Nicol=E1s Vaca, author of The Presumed Alliance: The Unspoken Conflict
Between Latinos and Blacks and What it Means for America, said black
radio talk show hosts have been hot to discuss his 2004 book. "Most
thought that it was time that someone spoke about the elephant in the
room," Vaca told the Intelligence Report.
The elephant reappeared in the halls of Jefferson High School in South
Los Angeles this April 14. A minor spat exploded into a lunchtime
mel=E9e involving about 50 Latino and 50 black students. Four days
later, police were sent in for a second time, this time to quell a
battle involving some 200 students. Two students were arrested, four
detained, and six hurt in minor ways. One broke a hip. Officials
changed school schedules to keep the factions more separated. Metal
detectors were installed. A Nation of Islam official offered protection
to black students. Mayoral candidate Antonio Villaraigosa even
addressed a forum called to discuss the strife, begging parents to
"model for these young people black and brown unity."
It didn't happen. Less than a week later, a rumor that a violent
Hispanic gang would be exacting retribution from black students the
next day coursed through the school district. In the end, an
astonishing 51,000 students stayed home.
Sizing up the Elephant
Tensions between blacks and Latinos are certainly not new. They have
surfaced in major ways in Miami, where a relatively wealthy class of
Cuban exiles has won far more political power than the city's blacks,
and Houston, where blacks and Latinos have often been on opposite sides
of political races. ("There will be a Libertarian in the White House
before there is a black-brown coalition in Houston," Orlando Sanchez,
who lost a close 2001 mayoral race to a black candidate, wryly told the
Houston Chronicle this spring.) While the recent school conflicts have
brought the issue to the fore, some writers have been trying to point
it out for years.
In 1992, Jack Miles wrote a long essay about race in Los Angeles for
the Atlantic Monthly magazine, "Blacks vs. Browns." He was one of the
first to describe competition for jobs, suggesting Hispanics were
gaining the upper hand. "America's older black poor and newer brown
poor are on a collision course," he wrote.
In 1995, Dallas Morning News columnist Richard Estrada, noting
conflicts between blacks and Hispanics over hiring practices at a
public hospital, warned of "contentiousness" between the two groups
"that seems destined to grow."
And three years after that, a book called Neighborhood Voices
chronicled the feelings of black and Latino residents in Northeast
Central Durham, N.C., where Hispanic immigration had transformed a
formerly black part of the city. Many of the voices from both
communities were remarkably bitter in their assessments.
But it was an article in the Charlotte Post, a newspaper in North
Carolina that caters to black readers, that may have most starkly
described the conflict. Published in March 2001, "When Worlds Collide:
Blacks Have Reservations About Influx of Hispanic Immigrants" quoted a
whole series of racist comments about Hispanics from blacks in the
city. Writer Artellia Burch dispelled in no uncertain terms notions
that blacks necessarily felt empathetic toward the struggles of
Latinos.
E-mails and letters poured in. Fox News sent a camera crew. Post
Publisher Gerald Johnson felt compelled to defend his reporter's story,
suggesting it showed that "racism is systemic" and blacks were "no
different than anybody else."
That wasn't enough for many. BlackPressUSA.com removed the story from
its Web site, saying it didn't condone "stereotyping." Raul Yzaguirre,
the president of the National Council of La Raza, called on black
leaders to denounce the story "in the strongest possible terms."
(Earlier, however, Yzaguirre had co-authored a calmer paper on
black-Hispanic relations that concluded that "growing tension between
the two communities ... threatens the ability of blacks and Hispanics
to develop strong, sustainable coalitions.") Others also attacked the
Charlotte Post piece.
None of this surprises Nicol=E1s Vaca, author of The Presumed Alliance.
Early on in his book project, Vaca learned just how controversial the
topic of black/brown relations was, and how incendiary. Merely
discussing the project with two attorney friends ended a friendship as
one stormed out of a restaurant.
"Why dig up dirt, ruffle feathers, destroy the illusion of unbroken
unity between Blacks and Latinos, bleeding the colors of the Rainbow
Coalition by giving the dreaded gringo the ammunition my former friend
told me I was providing?" a dispirited Vaca wrote. "The simple answer
is the ethnic landscape has changed."
The Intelligence Report found the same reluctance to discuss the issue.
Although the magazine contacted numerous black and brown thinkers and
scholars to comment on the matter, virtually none would talk about it
publicly.
Robbery, Racism and Reaction
Last summer, in the region around Plainfield, N.J., The New York Times
reported that at least 17 Hispanic men were severely beaten by young
black men and, in one case, killed. Some black leaders said they
believed the attacks were about money, not bias, and there was no
consensus among police as to the motive.
But the violence of the attacks seemed excessive, even when money was
taken - a classic hallmark of a hate crime rather than simple
robbery. "To hit someone with a baseball bat, you have to hate
someone," Michael Parenti, chief of the North Plainfield Police
Department, told the newspaper. "To beat a guy for a few dollars never
made a lot of sense to me. It looked to me like a bias incident."
Unfortunately, available hate crime statistics are not much help in
trying to gauge conflict between blacks and Hispanics. While national
figures show around 100 black-on-Hispanic hate crimes for each of
several recent years, there is virtually no doubt that that number
vastly understates the violence. Moreover, the fbi has no similar
statistics that would cast light on Hispanic violence against blacks.
The most that can be said is that these types of hate crimes seem
anecdotally to be rising.
Last September, a similar series of attacks broke out on the streets of
Jacksonville, Fla. Again, it was hard to say definitively if robbery or
hate was the main motivation for these crimes. What was clear was that
in at least 28 different assaults, the perpetrators were black and the
68 victims Hispanic. Two people were murdered, while another eight
people were shot but survived their wounds.
The Hispanic community, about 8% of Jacksonville's population, was
outraged. The local Spanish-language paper demanded an investigation. A
press conference was held, and rumors of Hispanic retribution ran
rampant.
A man named Nicol=E1s is one of the victims.
Last fall, Nicol=E1s and his father were robbed by a black man with a
gun who walked into the family restaurant they were preparing to open.
Nicol=E1s says he's not a racist, but the steady stream of young black
men who walk through his parking lot on their way to and from local
low-income housing has him concerned. And after the attack on him, once
he got past his depression, he bought a handgun.
"There are good morenos [blacks], but there are also some that live off
the government, welfare or disability, without working," he says. "The
vast majority of morenos are hard workers, but the rest of them want to
live for free."
Several hundred miles to the north, Shaneesha, a black student in Tanya
Golash-Boza's class on "Race and Ethnic Relations Between Blacks and
Hispanics," suffers from some of the same kinds of suspicions, as seen
from the other side. She is studying in Chapel Hill at the University
of North Carolina, a state Census figures show had a nearly 700% growth
in its Hispanic population between 1990 and 2000.
"I've heard that Latinos don't pay taxes, that they're illegal, that
they're ignorant, that they'll stab you," Shaneesha says, although she
adds that she was brought up to judge individuals on their merits
alone. Studying at a university that in just the last few years has
seen its support staff go from all-black to about half Latino,
Shaneesha also worries about the possibility of economic competition
from Hispanics. "As an African American, I can see how it could
threaten me."
In Detroit, politicians decided to do something about that.
African Town
"The issue of immigration is roiling within Black communities and has
the potential to soon become a divisive issue of historic proportions,"
says Claud Anderson, president of the black think tank Harvest
Institute and one who does not shy away from expressing disdain for
Latinos. In a January 2004 report, Anderson claimed that Hispanic
immigrants come to this country for the "public service benefits
available to them because of the Black Civil Rights Movement."
Anderson says these Latinos invade black neighborhoods, and then use
language and culture as barriers to economic integration. "Immigrants
operate their businesses in Black communities, but they will not buy
from black businesses and they rarely hire blacks as employees,"
Anderson writes. For him, these Hispanics are deliberately trying to
"push blacks off the upward ladder of success."
Claud Anderson even has a conspiracy theory, claiming that the National
Hispanic Party - a party no one else seems to have heard of -
"declared a population war on Black Americans in the early 1970s at a
mid-west meeting and crafted plans to numerically surpass and supplant
Black Americans by the year 2000."
No matter that Anderson sounds like a racist.
No matter that he openly advocates racial discrimination.
To many Detroit politicians, Anderson is the man with a plan. Last
year, a majority of the city council commissioned a $112,000 economic
development study from Anderson. His recommendation was that the city
spend $30 million to develop something called "African Town" - an
inner-city business enclave created for blacks that would keep them
from spending money in immigrant businesses.
Anderson and others argued that the city had provided incentives to
Mexicantown and Greektown, two neighborhoods marked by ethnic
businesses and restaurants. Why shouldn't it do the same for black
businesses? After all, blacks made up 86% of Detroit's population, and
black business needed help. Anderson went further. Hispanics, he said
in the kind of comment that lit up many citizens of Detroit, "have
surpassed Blacks now and made them third-class citizens."
In July 2004, the City Council passed a resolution approving African
Town and the $30 million in casino revenues that it planned to disburse
as grants and low-interest loans to "historically depressed documented
residents of Detroit who are members of the city's majority
under-served population" - blacks, in other words.
The blacks-only funding plan outraged many.
Detroit News columnist Nolan Finley wrote that the Harvest Institute
report "mimics the language of the most fascist, right-wing
anti-immigration groups, with headings like "A Majority Should Dominate
and Act Like a Majority," and segments that warn of the dangers of
Hispanics gaining a political voice. It could have been read on the
public squares of Berlin in 1934 or on the Capitol steps of Birmingham,
Ala., in 1964." L. Brooks Patterson, an elected official from a
neighboring county, told a reporter that African Town was "one of the
dumbest ideas I've ever heard about and frankly insulting. How would
residents of Detroit feel if I were to propose a Honky Town in [my
county]? I would be run out of office, and rightfully so."
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who is African-American, vetoed African
Town last fall. But the council overrode his veto, although it did
ultimately strike the requirement that all African Town subsidies be
limited to black applicants.
Unity, Politics and Progress
Nicol=E1s Vaca devoted an entire chapter of his book to the 2001 mayoral
race in Los Angeles, which pitted James Hahn, son of a well-known white
politician who had very strong ties to the black community, against
Antonio Villaraigosa, who was a relative newcomer. Hahn boasted
endorsements from Earvin "Magic" Johnson, U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters
(D-Calif.) and other important black figures - along with the support
of the much more conservative white business community.
Hahn's black support sunk Villaraigosa. Hahn won with 59% of the
overall vote - and a remarkable 80% of the votes from the black
community.
It was a different story this year. In his first term, Hahn had fired
popular Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard Parks, who is black. Many
black leaders felt that Hahn had ignored them, and Johnson, Waters and
others who supported Hahn the first time around now threw their support
to Villaraigosa. For his part, Villaraigosa worked to build up his ties
to black voters. Time after time, he stressed that blacks and Latinos
had more to gain by working together than against one another.
It worked. On May 17, Villaraigosa became the first Latino mayor of Los
Angeles in a century by a 17-point margin. He did it with half the
city's black votes.
Much divides blacks and Latinos in America. The most recent figures
show that median net worth for Hispanic households is $7,932 - almost
$2,000 more than the $5,998 median for blacks. But when compared to
whites - who, at $88,651, own more than 10 times either amount -
the difference pales into insignificance.
The same could be said about many social issues that divide the black
and Hispanic communities of the United States. Earl Ofari Hutchinson, a
black Pacifica News Service commentator who wrote a radio editorial
about the racial conflicts at Los Angeles' Jefferson High School this
spring, may have said it best. "A couple of days after the Jefferson
High clash, several hundred black and Latino parents and students held
an anti-violence forum at the school," Hutchinson said. "Speaker after
speaker denounced the fighting and pledged to work for peace. The hard
truth, though, is that blacks and Latinos are undergoing a painful
period of adjustment. They will find the struggle for power and
recognition to be long and difficult. The parents and students who
pledged to work for peace made an important start."
Intelligence Report
Summer 2005
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