Protesters at Construction Sites Demand Hiring of Blacks

About 30 people demonstrated peacefully Wednesday outside two construction sites in South-Central Los Angeles because the firms had no African-Americans working on their construction crews.

A foreman at a construction site at 87th Street and Broadway hired two of the protesters on the spot to work for a day. The protesters showed up at another construction site, at Slauson Avenue and Figueroa Street, which they said they had shut down Tuesday.

The Los Angeles Unemployment Council--a labor advocacy group formed after last year’s riots to ensure that blacks receive their share of jobs generated by rebuilding--has vowed to continue its fight for minority hiring at construction sites in the area.

So far, the council claims to have shut down more than 30 construction sites because of what it perceives as discriminatory hiring practices, especially when it comes to jobs for African-Americans.

“What we want is a lot of our young black youth and gang members out here,” said Coronado Williamson, 19, a member of the council for about three weeks. “The more of them we have out here, the less we’ll have in jail.”

Decked out in a hard hat and boots, Williamson was one of two men hired for a day’s work Wednesday at about $7 an hour to help clean up rubble from a building at 87th and Broadway.

Victor Robles, a Latino who owns Victor Robles & Associates, the construction company working at the 87th Street and Broadway site, said that although he understands the desire of residents in South-Central Los Angeles to have jobs, threatening a site with shutdown is “not how business works.”