Cultural Diversity In Local Politics

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Angeles
has one of the most ethnically diverse populations of any metropolitan area in
the country.

What does this ethnic diversity mean for multiethnic coalition building in the
politics of Los Angeles County? Does the changing demography increase the
opportunity for ethnic cooperation? Or, has the ethnic changes increased rather
than decreased the prospects of interethnic conflict?

Introduction

After the 1992 riots, a clarion call was issued from all corners for the
emerging multiethnic majority to take its rightful place in the politics and
leadership of the city. A multiethnic coalition, it ws suggested, could lead the
city to a new multicultural future.

This call was clearly built on the assumption that three divers groups – African
Americans, Asian Pacific Islanders and Latinos – could come together and pursue
a coalition built on their common interests.

But what do we do know about the prospects of multiethnic coalitions? There is
voluminous literature on urban politics. ...

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coalitions.

Alliances forging common interests are not readily evident or clear among the
diversity of racial and ethnic groups in Los Angeles. Moreover, class and ethnic
divisions between and within ethnic and racial groups have structured competing
and cross-cutting interests that, on the face, appear to be overwhelming.

Ethnic groups, for example, have diverse interests based on such factors as
citizenship, ethnicity and class. Latinos are divided by the diverse interest of
an immigrant noncitizen population and citizen native population. This became
evident in the aftermath of the riots when the mostly Mexican Americans,
citizen-based East Los Angeles leadership attempted to ...

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