Black & Brown Unity Summit

by Daniel French

April 8, 2006

On Saturday, April 8, 2006 an estimated 100 people gathered in Korea Town, Los Angeles, for an ethnic unity event entitled: ‘Black and Brown Unity: Towards a Common Agenda’. The event opened with an energetic and colorful presentation from an indigenous dance and drum group named Harmony Keepers. The event included a panel discussion amongst reverends, college professors, labor organizers, and a Santa Monica High School student, amongst others. Many panelist’s focused on the shared history, struggle, and labors of African and Latin American peoples. It also included breakout sessions in which various themes were discussed, analyzed, and then action items were proposed. These breakout sessions focused on economics, shared history, youth conflict resolution & leadership, faith, and education.

I sat in on the youth conflict resolution and leadership session, which was facilitated by Santa Monica High School student Alejandro Rodriguez and Oscar De La Torre of the Pico Family Center. This group of 30 people discussed some of the challenges surrounding black and brown unity; including gangs, prison culture, inadequate education, inadequate economic development, negative media portrayals of youth, drugs, and the absence of parents. “More young Latinos and African Americans in L.A. county die of violence, especially of gun related homicide, than of AIDS, smoking, and car accidents combined. So why not have a public relations campaign on how to de-escalate youth violence?” commented De La Torre. Among the top actions decided upon were to: enact a city wide public relations campaign promoting ethnic unity, encourage school boards to implement curricula emphasizing the collaborative histories of ethnic minority groups, and create dialogue across the city.

“This was a great event today. It was a historic event,” said De La Torre. “We should have a city wide day of dialogue to continue this. And the city government should invest money, resources, and staff to make this happen.”

When asked, “What happens next?” summit co-organizer Paul Vizcaino, an organizer for the United Farm Workers, stated that another summit should take place within a couple months.

Many expressed desires to do more in the meantime, rather than simply waiting for the next Black and Brown Unity Summit. Panelist, Dr. Reverend Lewis Logan II of Bethel AME Church, mentioned his hope that the summit be replicated throughout Los Angeles. And organizers and participants of the event brainstormed how to best network across the black and brown divide until the next summit.

An overview of participants and organizers includes members and leaders of: Bethel AME Church, Cesar Chavez Foundation, Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, United Farm Workers, SEIU, United Teachers Los Angeles, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater L.A.

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Eldridge Cleaver was a major influence on the Chicanos that began the Chicano Movement. Eldridge Cleaver grew up in a Chicano Community and knew we were all brothers and sisters.

Our efforts have to join now, this is not about race, but unity. White, African, Asian, Native, Islander, Latino, Jew, Arab and everyone that makes up our diverse culture called Americana all come together now . . .

It's on, we have had enough!

Although I couldn't attend, I am very pleased that this happened. I am especially pleased that Danny Tabor of LA ANE (the Los Angeles Alliance for New Enterprises) was present. This organization was instrumental in stopping Wal Mart from building a megastore in Inglewood. This was possible through a black and brown coalition that the media completely ignored. LA ANE is also working hard right now on a campaign to organize hotel workers on Century Blvd. near L.A.X., a campaign that once again involves Black and Brown faces. In addition, the South Central Farmers have benefitted from support from local African American as well as Latino residents in the Alemeda corridor.

In summary, African Americans and Latinos have been working together for a while now. Sure there are tensions that stem from the penal systems influence on our youth and the limited resources that the system forces us to fight over. But other than that brothers, sisters, hermanos and hermanas are working it out on a daily basis. The difficulties are agitated by the mass media, especially the local L.A. news media, which continually exploits any tension between the two groups. Part of the issue is that the news media operates off of problematic approaches to presenting the news as "entertainment" which entails presenting stories as defined by conflict or "two sides" (the FOXNEWS channel has mastered this technique of course), even in situations where such a simplistic division doesn't exist. Ive see so many stories on the five o'clock news and in the Los Angeles printed press that exploit Black and Brown tensions without never a mention that many African Americans and Latinos work together and get along every day. The divide and conquer has to stop and it begins with efforts like the one described above and when LA residents finally unplug the bullsh%t.