Which Way, L.A.?

Race in Los Angeles and the Presidential Campaign

Race in Los Angeles and the Presidential Campaign

In one of the world’s most diverse cities, blacks and Latinos get along for the most part. But the prejudice of a few is compounded by economic and political competition. There’s racism in some schools. In prisons, racial tensions are so high that inmates are segregated. Gang murders most often are committed by one racial group against its own members—but race is the likely motive in a spate of recent killings.

LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and LAPD Chief William Bratton have been reluctant to attribute gang murders to racial animosity. Eighty-seven percent of the suspects in Latino killings are Latinos; sixty-five percent of suspects in black killings are black. But after a recent spate of vicious attacks reported nation-wide, they conceded there has been a racial element at play.
Guests:
  • Fernando Guerra: Professor of Political Science at Loyola Marymount University and Director of its Center for the Study of Los Angeles
  • Joe Hicks: Vice President of Community Advocates
  • Rick Orlov: City Hall Bureau Chief for the Los Angeles Daily News
  • Khalid Shah: Executive Director of 'Stop The Violence, Increase The Peace'; Chair of the Regional Violence Prevention Coalition
Links:

Underwriters

Which Way L.A.? is made possible in part by the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, the Nathan Cummings Foundation, and the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation, which supports study and research into policy issues of the Los Angeles region.

 

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