Latinos Unite in Self-Defense on Prop. 187 : The thousands who massed at City Hall see danger for citizens, too, if the initiative passes.

Last Sunday, the people whom Gov. Pete Wilson has been vilifying to get reelected showed how personal they take his relentless attack. By the tens of thousands (CNN estimated 150,000; the police, 70,000) Latinos and supporters from other ethnic groups marched along Avenida Cesar E. Chavez to a mass rally at Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles’ City Hall. It was the largest social-justice march in L.A. history, but were we heard?

In their typically myopic view, Wilson and the pro-187 cabal dismissed the massive demonstration as having no impact on the November elections. We were, they said, a vocal minority, “nationalists” and “separatists,” as shown by the marchers’ Latin American flags.

Can’t these politicians understand the affirmations of cultural pride that their racist attacks have produced? Their denying the significance and the implications of the movement that spawned the march is a gross underestimation of how personal the political issue of Proposition 187 has become in the Latino community.

Wilson’s blind pursuit of reelection based on the fantasy of fighting for Californians by attacking Latino Californians is irreparably damaging the future of race relations in this country. Latinos on both sides of the border view the immigrant-bashing of 187 and the Wilson campaign as state-endorsed racism.

In the Latino community, there is widespread understanding that, while the immigrant-bashing nominally targets the undocumented, it is in fact, given the reality of this segregated city, a direct attack on everyone of Latino heritage.

The anger against Wilson runs deep. It cuts across all sectors. If Wilson has accomplished anything, it is in giving racism a face--his own.

The response in the Latino community has been increasing solidarity. Sunday’s march was a manifestation of that. While it was but a single event, it demonstrated the surging unity for self-defense and survival that Wilson and Proposition 187 have unwittingly promoted. Indeed, there is growing mystique in the barrios that we are all Latinos, we are all Mexicans, we are all undocumented and we have to stick together to resist the onslaught. It is a community version of the labor movement axiom, “An injury to one is an injury to all.” Significantly, this sentiment is cutting across social and economic lines. Sunday’s marchers were not only undocumented immigrants; they also were citizens and permanent residents. There were not only minimum-wage workers, but also skilled workers, trade-unionists, professionals, entrepreneurs, employees and employers, men and women.

This unity and solidarity cuts across generational lines as well. Young people were the overwhelming majority at the march. Young Latinos have been very active in voicing their opposition to Wilson and Proposition 187. In recent weeks, Latino students have demonstrated with walkouts and conducted teach-ins at several Southland high schools. And they have organized precinct walks to register voters. This has important implications for the electoral future of California. These young Californians are the voters of the next 40 years or so, and they will certainly remember witnessing the use of racism as a force in California’s electoral politics. Sadly, their vote in the future may reflect this lesson being taught so well by Wilson and his ilk.

The charge of the pro-187 forces that Sunday’s march was an expression of Mexican nationalism is a classic example of ignorance. For Latinos, persecuted and rejected, many unable to express themselves through the ballot box, what could be better than to seize the protection of the U.S. Constitution in order to speak out against passage of this punishing initiative?

But perhaps most important to history, the marchers on Sunday became in that one single event the active conscience of California voters. While white voters may be unable to put a human face on the potential victims of Proposition 187, our community can. The demonstration may at least alter the trend reported by the latest polls that show heavy support for 187 among Latino voters. The marchers reminded us all that this racist campaign is personal: It is an attack against our relatives, our children, our neighbors, classmates and co-workers who are the potential victims of 187’s inhumane denial of medical services and education. And when the official witch hunts start, none of us will be spared the hate crimes that this racism will spawn.

Ultimately, we must rely on those who will cast the ballots on Nov. 8: Will the electorate respond with a human face?