Race Relations Browns vs. Blacks

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Hispanics say that blacks resist any attempts to increase Latino employment. In Los Angeles County, for example, blacks, who make up 10% of the population, hold 30% of the county jobs. Hispanics, who constitute 33% of the population, ! hold only 18% of the jobs. "Blacks think we want to take jobs away from them, so they're fighting us tooth and nail," says Raul Nunez, president of the Los Angeles County Chicano Employees Association. "They are doing the same thing to us that whites did to them."

What leaders in both camps fear most is that some white politicians will try to exploit their divisions by playing off the two groups against each other. Before George Bush selected black Appeals Court Judge Clarence Thomas to fill the Supreme Court seat vacated by Thurgood Marshall, the White House let it be known that a Hispanic jurist, Emilio Garza, was also being considered. Some Latinos believe that the information was leaked mainly to lure Hispanics to the Republican banner.

Some Hispanics and blacks are working to heal the rift between them. Last July, African-American and Latino scholars and politicians met at Harvard University to air their grievances. "We are seeing that it is time for society to pay attention to Hispanics' much delayed political maturation," says Christopher Edley, a black Harvard Law School professor. "The jury is still out on how the black community will respond: Will we welcome the growing strength of a longtime ally, or will we respond by feeling threatened or displaced?"

Events in Los Angeles could provide a model for how the two groups can work together. Last year Hispanic activists won a major victory when a federal judge ruled that the Los Angeles County board of supervisors had gerrymandered election districts to prevent Latino candidates from winning a seat on the powerful governing body, and ordered the lines to be redrawn. The case had been brought under the Voting Rights Act, one of the major fruits of the black civil rights struggle, and it resulted in the election last February of Gloria Molina, the first Hispanic supervisor since 1875.

From the start, lawyers for the Hispanic plaintiffs consulted with blacks to ensure that their voting strength was not diluted by the redistricting. "We shared our plans with them, they shared their plans with us, and we came up with a plan that didn't step on anybody's toes," says Richard P. Fajardo, an attorney for the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

If current trends in immigration and birth rates continue, minorities will outnumber white Americans midway through the 21st century. Under those circumstances, blacks and Hispanics have no choice but to collaborate. They have far more to gain from pooling their strengths than from bickering with each other.

CHART: NOT AVAILABLE

CREDIT: TIME Chart

CAPTION: In 20 years Hispanics will be the largest minority group