Synopses & Reviews
"One of the most persuasive cultural conversations of the history of and#145;blackand#8217; and and#145;brownand#8217; cross-racial formations in Los Angeles from the early twentieth-century to the present day. Josh Kun and Laura Pulido's skill in connecting diverse materials and theories by economists, historians, and ethnic studies scholars, the suggestiveness of many of the essayistsand#8217; insights and their passionate convictions about ethnicity and race in planetary California make
Black and Brown in Los Angeles a timely, exciting, and groundbreaking book." --Josand#233; David Saldand#237;var, director of theand#160;Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity,and#160;Stanford University
"In this anthology, two of the foremost progressive scholars of Southern California draw attention to an extraordinary range of interactions between African Americans and Latinos in Southern California.and#160; From banking and professional football fandom to residential segregation and popular music, Black and Brown Los Angeles does far more than highlight the paucity of conversations based upon the limited language of and#147;conflictand#8221; or and#147;cooperation.and#8221; Rather, this book offers a crucial roadmap for negotiating the complicated terrain of Americaand#8217;s most important racial metropolis." --Daniel Widener, author ofand#160;Black Arts West: Culture and Struggle in Postwar Los Angeles
Review
"The essays all merit individual reviews, which is not possible, but it is just as well because they should be read as one. Highly recommended."
Review
"Exceeds [its] categories and adds to an emerging corpus of comparative knowledge . . . the book shows what interdisciplinary scholarship can do for America's understanding of itself, especially when it comes to culturally promiscuous, ethnically heterogeneous megapolises like LA."
Synopsis
Black and Brown in Los Angeles is a timely and wide-ranging, interdisciplinary foray into the complicated world of multiethnic Los Angeles. The first book to focus exclusively on the range of relationships and interactions between Latinas/os and African Americans in one of the most diverse cities in the United States, the book delivers supporting evidence that Los Angeles is a key place to study racial politics while also providing the basis for broader discussions of multiethnic America.
Students, faculty, and interested readers will gain an understanding of the different forms of cultural borrowing and exchange that have shaped a terrain through which African Americans and Latinas/os cross paths, intersect, move in parallel tracks, and engage with a whole range of aspects of urban living. Tensions and shared intimacies are recurrent themes that emerge as the contributors seek to integrate artistic and cultural constructs with politics and economics in their goal of extending simple paradigms of conflict, cooperation, or coalition.
The book features essays by historians, economists, and cultural and ethnic studies scholars, alongside contributions by photographers and journalists working in Los Angeles.
About the Author
Josh Kun is an Associate Professor in the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. His books include
Audiotopia: Music, Race, and America (California, 2005) and
Songs in the Key of Los Angeles: Sheet Music and the Making of Southern California (Angel City Press, 2013).
Laura Pulido is Professor of American Studies and Ethnicity at USC. Her books include Black, Brown, Yellow, and Left: Radical Activism in Los Angeles (California, 2006) and A Peopleand#8217;s Guide to Los Angeles (California, 2012).
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
List of Tables
Introduction
Josh Kun and Laura Pulido
PART ONE. THE ECONOMICS OF PEOPLE AND PLACES
1. Keeping It Real: Demographic Change, Economic Conflict, and Interethnic Organizing for Social Justice in Los Angeles
Manuel Pastor
2. Banking on the Community: Mexican Immigrantsand#8217; Experiences in a Historically African American Bank in South Central Los Angeles, 1970and#150;2007
Abigail Rosas
3. Black Views toward Proposed Undocumented Immigration Policies: The Role of Stereotypes and Economic Competition
Lorrie Frasure-Yokley and Stacey Greene
PART TWO. URBAN HISTORIES
4. The Changing Valence of White Racial Innocence: Black-Brown Unity in the 1970s Los Angeles School Desegregation Struggles
Daniel Martinez HoSang
5. Fighting the Segregation Amendment: Black and Mexican American Responses to Proposition 14 in Los Angeles
Max Felker-Kantor
6. The Politics of Low and Slow/Bajito y Suavecito: Black and Chicano Lowriders in Los Angeles, from the 1960s through the 1970s
Denise M. Sandoval
PART THREE. COMMUNITY LIFE AND POLITICS
7. Rainbow Coalition in the Golden State? Exposing Myths, Uncovering New Realities in Latino Attitudes toward Blacks
Matt A. Barreto, Benjamin F. Gonzalez, and Gabriel R. Sand#225;nchez
8. Race and the L.A. Human: Race Relations and Violence in Globalized Los Angeles
Ofelia Ortiz Cuevas
PART FOUR. REPORTING BLACK AND BROWN L.A.: A JOURNALISTand#8217;S VIEW
9. More Than Just the Latinos-Next-Door; Piercing Black Silence on Immigration; and Plugging Immigrationand#8217;s Drain on Black Employment
Erin Aubry Kaplan
10. Race, Real Estate, and the Mexican Mafia: A Report from the Black and Latino Killing Fields
Sam Quinones
PART FIVE. CITY CULTURES
11. Landscapes of Black and Brown Los Angeles: A Photo Essay
Wendy Cheng
12. Spatial Entitlement: Race, Displacement, and Sonic Reclamation in Postwar Los Angeles
Gaye Theresa Johnson
13. On Fallen Nature and the Two Cities
Nery Gabriel Lemus
14. and#147;Just Win, Baby!and#8221; The Raider Nation and Second Chances for Black and Brown L.A.
Priscilla Leiva
15. What Is an MC If He Canand#8217;t Rap to Banda? Making Music in Nuevo L.A.
Josh Kun
List of Contributors
Index