LA Mayor vows to repair race relations By Kevin Herrera Special to the NNPA
LOS ANGELES- Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has announced that he can improve race relations in the city by improving schools, combining two cornerstones of his administration.Since the mayor has no direct control over the school district, his first step will be hosting an anti-violence summit for youth, with an emphasis on those high schools were disputes between students erupted along racial lines. Other plans include establishing "tolerance centers" at particularly campuses and expanding after school programs."We are going to engage in a battle for our schools," Villaraigosa said, speaking before members of the Urban Issues Breakfast Forum, which is engaged in a five-part discussion on race. "I will submit to you that a lot of what we saw at [Jefferson High School] and Taft was the result of overcrowding, a lack of resources, a lack of hope. And we have to get to the bottom of the root causes of that."I think ultimately the mayor should be the person in charge [of the school district] not because I'm looking for more power, not because I want to have another challenge.. But because I just don't see another way out. I don't see accountability in this school district. When you see 50 percent of our kids dropping out, 50 percent, something's wrong."The mayor said he will use the summit, which has not been scheduled, to solicit ideas and enlist teams of volunteers to get involved, whether it be through mentoring at their local Boys and Girls Club, the PTA or faith-based initiatives.The announcement came as the mayor approached his first 100 days in office, which is considered in politics to be the end of the "honeymoon," where voters start looking for results.Anthony Samad, the narrator of the forum, said the audience wanted to get an understanding of the mayor's commitment to the issue or race relations and see what his plans are."I think that what we tried to do really was try to get to the center of what his agenda was going to be for coalition-building," Samad said. "It's one thing to talk about coalition building in abstract, and it's another thing to talk about what the real piece is going to be beyond just diversity of appointments. Is there going to be mechanisms in put in place? . The issue has to be resourced."Villaraigosa has a history of coalition building ever since his days as a labor organizer up until he was speaker of the state Assembly. The mayor touted his record, referencing his work with Assemblyman Mark Ridley-Thomas and activist Larry Aubrey to from the Black-Latino Roundtable in 1982."What I'm really looking for are people like you, who obviously care enough about this issue to get up at 6:30 in the morning to discuss African-American and Latino relations" Villaraigosa said as he pointed to the audience. The mayor also committed himself to improving economic development, with a focus of getting more African-Americans involved in construction, which has long been source of tension in the black community. Some feel Blacks have been pushed out of the construction trade by day laborers from other countries willing to work for less than union wages."I believe that vocational training is very important to help people have hope," he said.When asked, Villaraigosa said he supported an effort to unionize security guards, most of whom are African-American. Union members said if guards were to join, that could mean an influx of $100 million to South Los Angeles, helping to ease some of the tension created by poverty."This is a city where a lot of the racial conflict has to do with poverty and a lack of resources, a lack of jobs," the mayor said. "This is a rich city and to have poverty is unacceptable."Villaraigosa asked the audience to "not be insular and ethnocentric, but reach out. Right now we need you." _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list [email protected] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
