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Latinos now outnumber blacks 2 to 1 in South Los Angeles

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In 1990, Latinos and African Americans each comprised 47% of the population of South Los Angeles; today Latinos outnumber blacks 2 to 1, reports John L. Mitchell.

But that ethnic transformation is one of the few dramatic changes in an area that for decades has known one constant: poverty. According to a newly released report by UCLA’s School of Public Affairs, almost one-third of the area’s residents have been living below the poverty line since 1990.

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‘The small, wood-frame house in the shadow of the Watts Towers was no home buyer’s dream. But back in 2004, Victor Agustiniano and his wife, Remedios, were in a frenzy to become homeowners. And despite warnings about neighborhood crime, they snapped up the two-bedroom house with the big yard for less than $300,000. ‘Agustiniano, a 35-year-old home improvement store worker, was familiar with South Los Angeles. In the early 1990s, he dropped out of high school and made a living as a street vendor there, selling corn on the cob smothered in mayonnaise and cheese. ‘During the 1992 riots, he and his wife -- childhood sweethearts from Mexico -- hunkered down in their apartment near Vermont Avenue and watched the unrest on television. ‘Today, the family lives in a three-bedroom addition Agustiniano built behind the small house, which is now a rental property.’

Read the rest of the report on Latinos and African Americans in South L.A. here.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

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