Rebuilding Excludes Latinos, Leaders Say : Unrest: Letter of protest to Mayor Bradley is signed by two councilmen and Rep. Roybal. They call for parity with blacks in jobs and aid.

In a sign of growing ethnic tension in the city, a group of Latino leaders, led by Councilmen Richard Alatorre and Mike Hernandez, has sent a letter to Mayor Tom Bradley protesting what they call “an effort to exclude the Latino community” from efforts to rebuild Los Angeles.

“While it is appropriate to demand that African-Americans receive adequate employment opportunities, this should not result in the exclusion of any other ethnic group,” the letter states in a thinly veiled reference to highly publicized protests launched by the Brotherhood Crusade about the absence of black workers in post-riot construction jobs.

In at least two instances, Brotherhood Crusade President Danny Bakewell has shut down job sites in South Los Angeles where a number of workers were Latino and no African-Americans were employed.

“The changing demographics of the inner city must be recognized,” said the letter, which was dated Wednesday. “As such, it is only just that both the public and private sectors make every effort to ensure that jobs, funds and all other resources are distributed in a fashion that strives to reach parity with the ethnic composition of the very communities we are attempting to restore.”

Latinos now outnumber African-Americans in Los Angeles.

While the letter states that it is “not intended to diminish the travesties which have been perpetrated against the African-American community,” it could exacerbate tensions that have been developing for weeks.

“The whole way the rebuilding process is developing, it might end up as a cannibal feast as groups end up competing over insufficient resources,” said Mike Davis, author of “The City of Quartz,” a critically acclaimed study of Los Angeles.

“We’re standing on the edge of full-scale, New York-style, inter-ethnic warfare when people have the greatest need to unite,” Davis added. “The issue that should be welding blacks and Latinos together is defense of the schools and the rest of the public sector from the firestorm of cuts coming from Sacramento.”

The letter was signed by Latino leaders ranging from Rep. Edward R. Roybal, the retiring Democratic congressman from the Eastside who was the first Latino to serve on the Los Angeles City Council in this century, to younger figures such as Leticia Quezada, recently elected president of the Los Angeles school board.

In fact, the only major Latino elected official not to sign the letter was county Supervisor Gloria Molina, a longtime rival of Alatorre. The letter has been circulating for several weeks among Latino leaders and was given to The Times on Thursday.

“We implore you to intervene and put an immediate stop to this divisive campaign,” the authors urge Bradley, without specifying what is being protested. “Our communities should be working together to address the need for additional resources and to ensure that the distribution of these resources does not create additional friction by upsetting the delicate interracial balance which currently exists in South-Central Los Angeles.”

Alatorre said in an interview that he circulated the letter because he is concerned about attempts “to dictate who would end up working in the affected area and who wouldn’t. . . . I don’t think the actions of Danny (Bakewell) or anyone who would perpetuate that are healthy at this time.”

Hernandez said he could understand what Bakewell did. “We have to fight for employment; so do they,” the councilman said. But he said that there is alarm in the Latino community about the job-site actions and a host of other issues, such as how federal aid is allocated, that could bring African-Americans and Latinos into conflict

“The leadership has to have a discussion about divisiveness and how do you become one city,” Hernandez said. “I’m sorry to say that is a phase that we have to go through because there is so much misunderstanding.”

Bakewell said he did not view the letter as an attack on him. “I speak for a community that has been left out,” he said. “I am clearly standing for the interest of African-Americans but I have no problem recognizing the needs of other peoples at the same time. I’m not going to fall for the ploy of divide and conquer. There is room for all of us to work together to make sure we’re all included and make sure our interests are covered.”

Other signs of friction emerged this week. Assemblywoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Los Angeles) sent a separate letter to Bradley expressing her concern that “the Latino community is being ignored” in the rebuilding process.

And a Latino organization called Alianza, largely made up of Mexican-American business and professional groups, released a statement calling on Rebuild L.A. Chairman Peter V. Ueberroth to appoint Xavier Hermosillo, an outspoken businessman, and Lee Baca, deputy chief in the Sheriff’s Department, to the Rebuild L.A. board. The statement contends that Bradley and his allies have attempted “to dictate who the Latino community’s representatives will be” on the board.

Rosa Marin, executive director of the Latin Business Assn., said the composition of the Rebuild L.A. board is a primary reason she signed the Alatorre-Hernandez letter. She said 22% of the board--11 members of 50--are Latino. “If anything, we want at least parity with the ethnic composition of the city, which is 40% Latino.”

Fred Mac Farlane, Rebuild L.A.’s spokesman, said Ueberroth has been meeting daily with potential board members from the Latino community and will continue to do so.

Mayor Bradley’s spokesman, Bill Chandler, said of the Alatorre-Hernandez letter: “These leaders are preaching to the choir. Tom Bradley submitted the names of more than 250 community leaders who are well suited to serve on the Rebuild L.A. board and then publicly called for Supervisor Gloria Molina to be added to the board.”

Gerry Hertzberg, a Molina aide, said that Molina had expressed to Bradley and Ueberroth concerns similar to those in the letter. He said that he had not had time to show the letter to her. But both Alatorre and a Hernandez aide said Molina had a chance to sign the letter and declined.

Times staff writer George Ramos contributed to this story.