A Test for Black Clout in Politics

A message arrived from the Democrats: The party’s red-hot organizing campaign in South-Central Los Angeles is the great untold story of the election.

Enthusiastic tips like this often come from political managers trying to project the notion that victory is inevitable.

This one was more intriguing. South-Central L.A.’s demographic transformation, from almost entirely black to predominantly Latino in many neighborhoods, has prompted talk about waning black political power.

It was more talk than fact, since most of the Latinos--many of them new immigrants--don’t vote, leaving whatever political power these neighborhoods have with blacks. Still, the speculation continued, further fueled by months of pessimistic post-riot news reports from South-Central. You’ve seen them on television, gloomy interviews with people saying they’ve given up on politics. On top of all this was the announcement by L.A.’s foremost African-American political leader, Mayor Tom Bradley, that he was retiring.

The story was spreading that South L.A. was turning into a political wasteland.

But my informants in the Clinton-Gore headquarters insisted that wasn’t true. Precinct walkers are going door-to-door each night. They’re pitching for the Clinton-Gore ticket and Democratic Senate candidates Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer. They are opposing Proposition 165, Republican Gov. Pete Wilson’s measure to increase his power over state budgeting and to reduce welfare payments. A phone bank is operating nightly, placing calls to Democratic voters.

Tuesday, I talked to Los Angeles City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas about what I’d heard. Ridley-Thomas’ 8th District is a center of African-American political action, and the councilman is an enthusiastic player in the often fierce and complex politics of the area.

He and Councilman Mike Hernandez were leaving City Hall for a rally and news conference for state Sen. Diane Watson, who is running against former U.S. Rep. Yvonne Brathwaite Burke for Los Angeles County supervisor. I joined them, figuring the short trip would provide a firsthand look at the level of enthusiasm.

Watson is supported by the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO. Labor is also backing Clinton-Gore and running the campaign against Wilson’s Proposition 165. Watson’s headquarters on Crenshaw Boulevard, a former auto agency, was plastered with signs advertising the causes and packed with supporters.

“In one week, we are going to elect a Democratic ticket,” Assemblywoman Marguerite Archie-Hudson told the crowd in the old sales room. State Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi, Lt. Gov. Leo McCarthy, Rep. Estaban E. Torres and Assemblywoman Theresa P. Hughes urged votes for Watson and the Democratic ticket.

The battle between Watson and Burke, two well-known African-American politicians, will swell the vote in South L.A., said Mike Davis, who heads the United Democratic headquarters in the Crenshaw area.

Burke and Watson are both supporting Clinton. A powerful Burke supporter, Rep. Maxine Waters, is an official in the Clinton campaign. The labor unions that are supporting Watson are also putting their resources behind Clinton-Gore. As labor and Waters send their troops into the precincts in the six days before the election, interest and turnout is likely to grow.

Arlene Holt, state director of the American Federation of State and Municipal Employees, is in charge of the phone bank, which operates from 5 to 9 p.m. every day. “All of a sudden, people have focused in on the election,” she said. “I don’t believe African-American political clout is dead or dying. What will happen after this election is that African-Americans will continue to be a strong force.”

The current effort has its roots in the spring campaign for Proposition F, the measure to impose more civilian control on the Los Angeles Police Department. The measure won in a landslide, its total boosted by a South L.A. margin of about 9 to 1. The same system of precinct walking and phone banks was instrumental in the big vote.

The voter turnout reached 40% in some South L.A. areas. That doesn’t sound impressive, but it doubled the 20% vote in the same neighborhoods in the 1990 gubernatorial election.

Nobody knows if the current campaign will work as well as Proposition F’s. If it does, if the Proposition F enthusiasm carries over into next Tuesday, the South L.A. vote will show that the black community will be a powerful force in the next election, for mayor of L.A., despite the demographic revolution, the riots and the departure of Mayor Bradley.