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Your location states that you're in SoCal...but did you grow up here? Do you live in the Los Angeles area? Hell I grew up in Alhambra...high concentration of both Latinos and Asians. I also lived in the city of Los Angeles....went to Horace Mann Jr. HS, the entire population of the school were Af-Am and Latinos....
Hell all my life my best friends have been Latinas
so I question this statement and say ITS WRONG
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Born and raised in Compton and have lived in Riverside, Tustin, Fullerton, Long Beach, Van Nuys, South Central LA, Los Feliz and currently Palos Verdes. I taught in LAUSD for 3 years before I became a college professor in Southern California.
If Blacks and Latinos were so familiar with each other in Southern California as your post implies, what accounts for all the racial tension in SoCal between these two groups? Black and Latinos in Spanish Harlem have never experienced the same type inter-racial conflicts that we have out here in California. Blacks and Latinos live side-by-side on the East Coast and in Chicago while in Los Angeles, usually what happens is that Blacks move when a sizable number of Latinos move in.
Even in Inglewood, there is almost a clear line between the Latino section (south of Century Blvd) and the predominantly Black section (north of Century Blvd). In Southern California more than Northern California, there are distinct pockets of Black folks and Latinos. Competition for low wage work is one issue that keeps these groups from unifying as does gangs based on racial identity. Sure, there are mixed groups but that is more the exception than the rule. Of course, with Black flight out of Southern California to the South, the few Blacks that do remain will have to interact with Latinos if they are to survive. I'm not basing my comments solely on personal observation but also on demographic statistics, incidents of hostility between the two groups and why so many Black folks initially refused to vote for Villaraigosa for mayor (when he was running against Hahn the first time). Blacks fear that with the growth of the Latino community that they will be pushed out. Just check out the message board on BlacknLA.com and see page after page of Black folks complaining about Latinos being favored over Blacks. I'm not weighing in on that debate but I can tell you everything between Blacks and Latinos in Southern California ain't peachy.
If you don't believe me: Google "tensions between blacks and Latinos in Los Angeles". You'll find page after page of articles about job competition, clashes over language and gang violence between the two groups.
PhDiva
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