Valley Latinos, Jews Hope Festival Mends Fences

Somewhere between the mariachi bands and the cantors belting out songs today at the San Fernando Valley’s first Latino-Jewish festival is an attempt to find harmony between two groups whose political ambitions have occasionally clashed.

State Sen. Richard Alarcon (D-Sylmar), who organized the event, knows the perils of ethnic politicking as well as anyone. Now the Senate majority whip, Alarcon won his seat two years ago against former Assemblyman Richard Katz in a Democratic primary, a contest that strained ties between Latinos and Jews.

The animosity of that election has faded somewhat--Katz is even listed as a member of the “Fiesta Shalom” festival’s honorary committee--but the demographics behind the clash remain fluid. As the clout of Latino voters expands in an area whose leaders have long included an array of Jewish politicians, many observers believe that any move toward unity is a good one.

“It benefits both communities to make peace with the other and to cooperate politically,” said Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a political analyst at Claremont Graduate University.

“Quite frankly, many leaders in the Latino community understand that the Jewish vote is an important one. . . . On the other hand, I think there are people in the Jewish community who understand that the future of Southern California lies with the Latino electorate, and they too have to make accommodations,” Jeffe said.

Alarcon said the festival was timed to fall between Mexican Independence Day, Sept. 16, and Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year, on Sept. 29, and it came at the suggestion of an aide. After a trip last year to Israel, Alarcon said, he began to reflect more deeply on Jewish history and culture, recalling the positive roles Jewish teachers and coaches have played throughout his life.

“Given the recent prominence of Latinos and the dramatic transition in terms of their representation of the community, I think it’s crucial that we build relationships,” he said. “The Jewish community, quite frankly, has always been there for Latinos.”

Ten years ago, Latinos made up about 30% of the San Fernando Valley’s 1.56 million people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That proportion increased to almost 39%, even as the total Valley population climbed to 1.64 million by 1997, according to a Cal State Northridge study released last year.

The 20th Senate District--Alarcon’s turf--has witnessed one of the most seismic shifts: The proportion of registered voters who are Latino soared from 15.8% in 1992 to 27% in 1998, said Alan Clayton of the Los Angeles City/County Latino Redistricting Coalition. The Van Nuys-centered district stretches west to Reseda and north to Sylmar.

While Alarcon’s 1993 election to the Los Angeles City Council marked the birth of modern Latino political power in the Valley, Jewish politicians such as Los Angeles City Councilman Joel Wachs, county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Mission Hills) have long held sway here.

That is partly because of a significant Jewish population in the Valley, and partly because of the drawing of political district boundary lines that resulted in Valley turf for Westside-based Jewish politicians, including Yaroslavsky and City Councilman Mike Feuer.

Alarcon’s state Senate seat, moreover, formerly belonged to Herschel Rosenthal, a Jewish politician who was forced out by term limits. The area was represented by Alan Robbins, also Jewish, until he resigned in 1991.

Several Jewish politicians in the Valley, including Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks) and Berman, represent districts with surging Latino populations. Latinos almost doubled to 14% of registered voters in Hertzberg’s 40th Assembly District during the 1990s.

And Berman’s 26th Congressional District has seen a 13.5% jump since 1992 in the percentage of voters who are Latino, while that of whites has dropped 11.7%, according to the Latino Redistricting Coalition. At last count in 1998, almost 34% of the district’s voters were Latino.

“Howard Berman knows his days might be numbered, in terms of whether a non-Hispanic can retain that seat,” said veteran Democratic political consultant Joe Cerrell. The real fight, he added, may come next year, when legislative boundaries are redrawn on the basis of the 2000 census.

Campaign Reflected Broad Power Struggle

The campaign brawl between Alarcon, who is Mexican American, and Katz, who is Jewish, may have simply brought the broader power struggle into crisper focus. Some say the primary race was less an emblem of ethnic rivalry than a hard-fought campaign “that got out of hand a little bit,” as Wachs put it.

The divisive propaganda included a Katz mailer featuring a photo of dirty hands, with the headline: “It’s more than Alarcon’s hands that are dirty.”

Another mailer, sent by Alarcon supporters to thousands of newly registered Latino voters, falsely linked Katz to a 1988 Orange County incident in which Republicans posted security guards at polls to intimidate Latino voters. In the end, Alarcon won by just 29 votes out of 113,000 cast.

“It seems that Latino political gains have been at the loss of some other groups, and if that’s not the reality, that’s certainly the perception,” said Xavier Flores, past president of the Valley chapter of the Mexican American Political Assn. “And it’s caused a lot of resentment.”

Privately, community leaders and politicians from both groups admit that some hard feelings have lingered after the bruising Alarcon-Katz campaign. One prominent Latino leader said he initially underestimated the damage the Alarcon mailer wrought among some Jews, only to find people bringing it up again months after the race.

Others say the controversy did no lasting damage to a Latino-Jewish political alliance that has spanned decades of immigration, labor and civil rights battles.

Ties between the groups date to at least the 1920s, when Jewish and Mexican immigrants joined the same Eastside Los Angeles trade unions. Throughout most local campaigns since, both have been squarely in the Democratic camp.

“What happens with individuals usually stays with individuals and their friends and supporters,” Katz said. “It’s very unusual for the whole community to take on what happens between individuals.”

Alarcon, for his part, has been trying to make amends. He apologized to Katz for the controversial mailer, and last year he created a Latino-Jewish Cultural Committee to plan the cross-cultural festival. “The healing process has started, and this is part of it,” said Saundra Mandel, a committee member who works for the Jewish Federation/Valley Alliance.

The effort makes political sense for Alarcon, several observers noted. “It might be that he’s saying, ‘If I ever want to go anywhere beyond the state Senate, I’d better mend fences.’ There are always people who hold a grudge,” said political consultant Cerrell.

“At this point in time, [Jews and Latinos] appear to be the most important factors in the political equation of the Valley,” analyst Jeffe said. “I think we’re not ever going to see gefilte fish tacos, but there has to be an accommodation [between the groups].”

The festival, however, is largely a cultural affair. Though it features a panel discussion on relations between Jews and Latinos, much of the day revolves around music, food and craft booths highlighting each culture. The free event, with Alarcon and Councilman Hal Bernson as co-chairmen, will run from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Sierra Quad at Cal State Northridge, at 18111 Nordhoff St.

Alarcon expects at least 1,000 people to attend.

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Times research librarian Ron Weaver contributed to this report.