Columnist Hector Tobar: For Latinos and blacks, a call for unity, not hate

Without blacks' sacrifice, Latinos would be 30 years behind in the fight for civil rights, writes Hector Tobar

Earlier this year, I attended one of those sedate conferences writers get invited to every so often. I talked for an hour or so very politely about books, until the audience rose up in rebellion and told me to stop.

I'd been invited by USC to be on a panel discussing the topic of blacks and Latinos in Los Angeles literature. But the mostly student audience didn't want a writerly chat. They wanted to talk about the reality of a divided, angry city.

"There's certain parts of Watts and Compton where blacks can't go," a young black man told us, rising up from his seat to describe Latino gang members' slurs and threats.

A high school teacher rose to his feet too, to talk about his Latino students' ignorance of African American history and the intolerance he often hears from the Spanish-speaking immigrants around him.

It hurts me deeply to hear of these things. I suppose, like a lot of people, I've been in a sort of denial about what's happening in my hometown.

You can read Tobar's full column here.

Comments

[Mike]

This article makes the Latinos seem as the aggressors.
There are some areas where Latinos cannot go in Compton and Watts. Blacks are also ignorant about Latino history and culture. How are Latinos ignorant about Black history if that history is what is bombarded to all students? Due to that most teachers are black, Latino history is denied to all students.