The Expert Voices of New Voters

I watched the election results on TV earlier this month, listened to all the talking heads, but none of it made much sense to me, especially in post-riot/rebellion L.A. So I went to some real experts to get the answers.

They were names such as Luis Sanchez, Phillip Chance and Vanessa Lizarraga. They were first-time voters and what they had to say should have been on TV.

Most political observers think 1992 may prove to be the last hurrah for African-American politicians in South-Central L.A., an area that used to be overwhelmingly black but is rapidly becoming Latino.

Statistics to document the change are plentiful. For example, in South-Central’s schools, 63% of the enrollment is Latino. Blacks, whose enrollment once reached 90% or more, now make up only 35%.

In the area’s 9th City Council District, which has elected blacks for nearly 40 years, Latinos now comprise about 62% of the population. However, they are only 7% of the district’s voters. African-Americans make up 35% of the 9th’s residents but are a whooping 83% of its voters.

While the biggest buzz on election night was over the tight race between Yvonne Brathwaite Burke and Diane Watson, I wondered how the election outcome would influence the coming political battle in South-Central.

Enter Sanchez, Chance and Lizarraga.

In leisurely conversations on separate occasions, they filled my notebook with hope and anger.

“Will Latinos take over South-Central Los Angeles politically?” Sanchez repeated my question in Spanish. “I don’t think we deserve the power yet. Many of the Latinos around here (He lives near Normandie Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard) aren’t citizens. They just want to work. Well, being a citizen of the United States is a job, too. That’s why I voted.

“Blacks are afraid of Mexicans because we have so many now. Well, that’s true but we’re all in the same boat. We’re all poor. I will vote for people who will make our lives better. I’ll vote for blacks, Mexicans, anybody.”

Sanchez, who came to Los Angeles before the start of World War II from the Mexican state of Sonora, became a citizen in the early 1960s. He decided to vote for the first time this November because of the riots.

“I don’t want to be a sheep anymore,” this new voter in his 70s said. “To vote means you won’t be led around by the nose.”

Chance, a salty-talking African-American and veteran of the 1st Air Cavalry Division in Vietnam, decided to cast his first vote at age 46 because he wants a job.

Although he voted for Clinton, whose winning coalition included blacks and Latinos, he sees a tough road ahead politically for his black and brown neighbors near Watts.

“It doesn’t matter who you vote for anyway,” the former Army grunt said. “The real fight may be in four, maybe eight years. But then, all of these folks you see here on Central Avenue will be brown, not black. I never thought I’d see the day but it’s coming. I can see it.

“I voted for Watson because I think she has the best interests of black people in her heart. She fights for us. But black politicians may not be as powerful with all these Mexicans moving into South-Central.”

Being interviewed by a Latino didn’t help Chance’s disposition, but he hugged me when I told him I had also served in Vietnam.

“We’re brothers because we were in the ‘Nam,” he said, shaking his head slowly. “But here in Watts, you’re getting more brothers here than me. And I’m sorry to say it but that’s pissing me off.”

Vanessa Lizarraga didn’t have any of Chance’s bitterness or gloom. She’s an articulate 18-year-old who wants to be a helicopter pilot for a fire department. Registering to vote just before the October deadline, she voted for Bush because she liked the President’s anti-abortion stand and what he said in favor of family values.

African-Americans should not fear Latinos, she says.

“What is it that they have to fear?” she asked with youthful fervor. “They have been through hell. . . . Did you see the movie ‘Glory?’ (In the Civil War movie, black Union soldiers) fought with guts, even if they didn’t have a chance. Blacks can vote now and prove to be anybody’s equal. Everybody can make a difference if they just try.

“I felt real proud to be able to vote. It was a high. It was a great feeling.”

Like I said, these experts on L.A. should have been on TV.