In the heart of Black Los Angeles, the future of Latino political power emerges
Her bid for the 57th Assembly District, a historically Black swath of South Los Angeles that is now predominantly Latino, aims to build Black and brown solidarity and the political power of both groups. Elhawary, a 36-year-old former teacher and community organizer seeking public office for the first time, is herself biracial, the daughter of Guatemalan and Egyptian immigrants.
“If people learn that stuff,” the deputy campaign manager said as she flipped through a Powerpoint presentation, “they’ll vote for us every time.”
Elhawary is running against Efren Martinez, a 44-year-old business consultant and fellow Democrat, at a dynamic and sensitive moment for South L.A., whose complex ethnic politics were central to a leaked racist recording about redrawing council districts that shook the city two years ago.
The neighborhood that elected the first African-Americans to the California Legislature a century ago is now, after decades of immigration, finally poised to send a Latino member to Sacramento — a triumph for the local Latino community, which has long lagged in political representation, but one that could come at the expense of a platform for the state’s shrinking Black population.
Race is not the main campaign issue in a district where housing affordability and homelessness, unemployment and crime are everyday concerns. It’s also unavoidable. Both candidates are making explicit overtures to the diverse electorate — Martinez visits Black churches on Sunday mornings, Elhawary hands out posters declaring that she is “uniting our Black & brown community” — that they can be trusted to represent everyone and won’t leave Black or Latino residents behind.
“The world expects you to choose,” Elhawary said in an interview in her upstairs office at the Unity House. Read more >>>