Can we all get along?
Since a shaken Rodney G. King first posed that question in the midst of the riots, his plea for peace has been transformed into a watchword for change. In recent months, it has been emblazoned on T-shirts, bannered on magazine covers and repeated like a campaign slogan by politicians around the nation.
In Los Angeles, as in no other city, King's words continue to resonate.
Hundreds of black and Latino high school students come to blows over the type of music played at a homecoming dance, while their elders compete bitterly against each other for jobs. At burned-out liquor stores, Korean-American entrepreneurs wonder if to rebuild is to ask for trouble. In a downtown corporate suite, a Latina associate coins a new term to describe how the riots have made her Anglo colleagues pull tightly together: "white-bonding."
Can we all get along?
The question is misleadingly simple, like a phrase from a child's primer. But it leads straight to confusion. What does getting along mean? Peaceful coexistence? Keeping a safe distance? Does the melting pot exist? Has it ever existed?
Gone are the days of the early civil rights movement, when getting along seemed possible if only segregation were outlawed. Today, many of the legal barriers to equality have been broken down. But other, more fundamental obstacles remain--among them, deeply held prejudices and newly formed stereotypes--that cannot be overcome with the stroke of a lawmaker's pen.
During the past decade, race relations have become a vastly more complicated matter. Discrimination in the workplace, unequal education, neglect of the inner city--all are part of the race debate in Los Angeles today.
Moreover, the number of players has multiplied. Hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Central America, the Pacific Rim and Eastern Europe have come to the city, bringing with them a multitude of customs and biases that have led to misunderstandings and friction.
Faced with these complexities, some residents have begun to rethink past race relations strategies. Instead of reaching out, many blacks and Latinos are turning inward, looking out for their own. To bridge enduring racial rifts, some say solutions of years past may no longer apply.
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According to a Times Poll conducted last month, nearly a third of Los Angeles residents believe ethnic minorities can make more progress by strengthening their own communities than by trying to build coalitions with other ethnic groups.
Rose West is one example. The black Altadena resident, a former bank vice president who now stays at home with her two young sons, says the riots made her think seriously about whether integration works. She began to doubt whether her boys will be best served by schools where theirs are among few non-white faces. Torn, she decided that as soon as they are old enough, she will enroll them in an Afro-centric Saturday school that teaches children about black history and culture.
"Look at how the Korean community has pulled itself together," she says. "They put their money in their own banks; they segregate their businesses. We can learn from that.
"We have to create our own communities and our own support. Then we can say, 'I don't care if you like me. But you will--\o7 you will--\f7 respect me. Because I have my own power base, my own schools, my own banks and my own professionals.' "
One need only look at the fierce competition for seats on the Rebuild L.A. board to see that West is not alone. Determined that their interests be represented and heard, blacks, Latinos, Asians, women and disabled people all demanded a place at the table. Inclusion was the first order of business. Unity came second.
Is it possible to promote the interests of certain groups without causing irreparable fissures between them? Is separatism a necessary first step?
Many people believe that if Latinos, blacks and Asians hope to get their needs met, they must first define their own agendas--a process that itself is complicated by longstanding cultural and economic differences within ethnic groups. But some worry that when these groups finally break out of their huddles, they may find themselves hopelessly at odds.
"The different coalitions that are emerging (must) find the common ground to move together in reshaping our city," said Jorge R. Mancillas, an assistant professor of anatomy and cell biology at the UCLA School of Medicine and a regional representative of the Mexican-American Political Assn. "The danger is that. . . people will not understand that our lives are intertwined and will try to satisfy their needs at the expense of others."
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As if getting along wasn't complicated enough already, the riots, with their harrowing images of racial hatred, only seemed to heighten everyone's awareness of their color. As Carlos A. Chavez, director of community relations at Occidental College, put it: "Everyone is feeling under attack."
