Obstacles to Unity Multiply for Blacks and Latinos : Each side claims that gains made by the other in jobs, politics and education will result in losses for their group.

The tragic fire early Saturday at the Jordan Downs public-housing project in Watts that killed four members of a Latino family and which the family says was started by black drug dealers is but the latest in the increasingly bitter clashes between blacks and Latinos.

In Washington, Chicago and Los Angeles, Latinos accuse blacks of discriminating against them in hiring, promotions, political appointments and social services. Blacks in Los Angeles and Miami charge that they have been attacked by Latino gangs and brutalized by Latino police officers.

Apart from the tragedy of lost lives and escalating hostilities, these confrontations have shattered, perhaps for good, one of the most enduring myths of our time: The myth of black-brown solidarity.

Since the civil-rights era, the popular fiction was that blacks and Latinos had a common history of racial discrimination and poverty, so their struggle was the same.

During the 1960s, some black and Latinos formed organizations and raised issues that appeared to mirror each other. There was the Black Panther Party and the La Raza Unida Party, the NAACP Education and Legal Defense Fund and the Mexican-American Legal and Education Defense Fund, as well as dozens of Los Angeles-area black and Latino activist groups.

Blacks and Latinos enjoyed the political honeymoon of the times. Neither wanted to admit that the serious political and cultural differences between them could crack the facade of unity.

But the last decade has presented a new reality. Gone are the black leaders like the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. who were willing to extend their vision of change to other ethnic groups. And for the black middle class, which has grown in size and importance, and the agenda has narrowed to affirmative action, integration and business and corporate advancement. The black middle class seems no longer to need or want alliances with other ethnic groups.

At the same time, through massive immigration and higher birth rates, the Latino population has soared. At the current rate, by the year 2010 Latinos will displace blacks as the largest minority in America.

But it’s not just the numbers. Like blacks, many Latinos have prospered in the professions and business and also expanded their political influence. They now demand that political and social issues no longer be framed solely in black and white.

The changing ethnic dynamics have forced African-American and Latino leaders to ask: Will black-Latino differences spill over into bigger and bloodier clashes? The answer will depend on whether African-Americans and Latinos come to understand that their political and economic needs diverge.

So far, the biggest battles have been fought over three issues: immigration, political representation and bilingual education. Each side claims that gains made by the other in securing jobs, political appointments and educational programs will automatically result in losses for their group.

And then there is the problem of insensitivity. Many African-Americans perceive that Latinos encounter less discrimination and enjoy more mobility and opportunities than they do. They cite the stunning success of Asian and Latino immigrants in business and the professions as proof.

Unfortunately, many Latinos fail to understand the complexity and severity of the black experience. They frequently bash blacks for their poverty and goad them to “pull themselves up like we did.” Worse, some even repeat the same vicious anti-black epithets as racist whites.

But ethnic insensitivity cuts both ways. Blacks have little understanding of the political repression and economic destitution that drove Latinos to seek refuge here. Many have fled from the ravages of war in their countries, face massive problems of readjustment to a strange culture, customs and language and live in constant fear of being “discovered” and sent home.

Despite the obstacles to unity, there is still hope for united action. Government cutbacks in employment and social programs have wreaked havoc on the poor of both.

In some neighborhoods, Latino and black residents have tenuously bridged the culture and language gap and have joined forces to protest crime and school and housing deterioration. Organizations like the National Council of La Raza and the NAACP can keep the lines of communication open and at least discuss strategies for greater employment, balanced redistricting and multicultural education programs.

African-Americans and Latinos are undergoing a painful period of transition. On some issues they will be allies, on others they will go it alone. But no matter what direction their agenda takes them, blacks and Latinos have an equal stake in attaining economic opportunity and social justice.