Mexican-Americans: Two Myths Fall, and Hopes Rise

Two myths about California’s Mexican-American population died last week. But one will be laid to rest more easily than the other.

The first is the notion that Los Angeles’ large Latino community can’t get its political act together. The second is the scenario of California being burdened by illegal aliens from Mexico.

The first myth died when Assemblyman Richard Alatorre (D-Los Angeles) routed six opponents, including five other Latinos, to win a special election for the City Council seat representing the 14th District, which includes the heavily Latino Eastside.

It will make little difference inside City Hall when Alatorre takes the seat vacated by Councilman Arthur K. Snyder, who resigned. After 13 years in the Legislature, Alatorre is no firebrand. He understands the rules of the political game and plays them carefully and well. But Alatorre’s victory may quash the cynical assumption that Los Angeles’ Latinos are politically impotent, which has lately been part of the conventional wisdom in local politics.

That thinking grew out of several bruising political battles on the Eastside in the 1960s in which Latinos lost out. The first was the failure to replace Edward R. Roybal with another Latino when he was elected to Congress in 1962. A black, Gilbert Lindsay, was appointed to fill out Roybal’s council term, and he has held on to that seat ever since. Another painful setback for Latinos was the defeat of Assemblyman John Moreno in 1965. His loss was blamed on a rival Latino’s candidacy splitting the ethnic vote, allowing an Anglo candidate to win.

The stereotype of political impotence was solidified by the phenomenon of Snyder’s unshakeable tenure even after reapportionment in 1972 gave the 14th District a 65% Latino population. The stereotype overlooks the demographic realities of the 14th District. When the council drew the district’s lines, it included a bloc of conservative Anglo voters in Eagle Rock who consistently turned out to support Snyder against all Latino challengers. Even today, although Latinos account for 75% of the district’s population, about half of them are not citizens or are too young to vote.

Which brings us to the second myth. Its persistence must be credited to a long campaign by federal officials to muster public support for tighter immigration controls. To this end, they have drawn a scare scenario, cynically called “the silent invasion,” of the nation being overrun by illegal immigrants who presumably will undermine civilization as we know it with foreign languages and alien ways.

Two researchers at the Santa Monica-based Rand Corp. did a brilliant job of refuting that myth in a report made public last week. Under the sponsorship of the California Roundtable, an organization of business leaders, demographer Kevin McCarthy and economist Robert Valdez studied the state’s Mexican population for 18 months. They concluded that widespread concern over Mexican immigration is unfounded because California actually benefits from the flow of workers back and forth across its southern border.

Mexican workers, the report found, have been an important factor in the state’s economy remaining strong while other areas of the nation are undergoing difficult economic readjustments. By taking low-wage, unskilled jobs, Mexican workers not only help California agriculture; they also keep light manufacturing and the service industry in urban areas competitive with industry in foreign countries.

The Rand study also found that the Mexican population here is not homogeneous. Some Mexicans are temporary migrants who work here for a short time and return home. Others establish ties with particular employers and return regularly, maintaining their permanent residence in Mexico. And some eventually settle in California, legalizing their status and bringing their families north to join them.

The study estimates that there were 1.2 million permanent Mexican immigrants here in 1980. More important, the Rand researchers found that these Mexicans are assimilating into life in this country in much the same way as previous immigrant groups did. While the new arrivals are poor working people who speak little English, their children learn the language rapidly and start moving up the economic ladder.

Many of those recently arrived Latinos live in the 14th District. And while they can’t be as politically active as other city residents, someday their children will be.

A good example is Alatorre, whose grandparents immigrated from Chihuahua in 1917. Like most first-generation Mexican-Americans, his parents were working-class people. But Alatorre went to college, became a teacher and then discovered an aptitude for politics. His years as a respected and well-connected legislator in Sacramento, and his $300,000 campaign fund, gave him the inside track in the City Council race.

Alatorre is a good example of the Rand report’s assessment: With hard work and education, Chicanos are a community of achievers. His election victory killed one myth. It will be up to open-minded community leaders from here to Washington to bury the other.