JOIN US AT NCLR IN LA!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

OP-ED: Why I Did Not Resign; Outgoing Council Member Issues Righteous Reality Check

Image
  By Los Angeles City Councilman Gilbert Cedillo (Ret.)  Special to Brooklyn & Boyle Most people find the subject of redrawing political boundaries based on census data about as exciting as watching paint dry. In Los Angeles, however, a year-old, illegally recorded conversation about the subject touched off a political firestorm. On the tape, City Council President Nury Martínez, Councilman Kevin de Le ó n, County Labor Federation head Ron Herrera, and myself—all Latinos—spoke frankly about how districts based on the 2020 census could best represent the city’s evolving ethnic balance. At one point, the discussion turned to the jarring discrepancy that Latinos are half the city’s population but hold only four of 15 seats on the Council. That led to assessing which Council members might support expanded Latino representation and who might see that as a step back for other communities, particularly districts represented by African Americans. Balancing Black and Latino interes
Read more

Ceremony & Celebration: La Virgen de Guadalupe

Image
By Abel Salas Between midnight and 4 a.m. in the historic center of Mexico City, the darkness is severed by taxi cab headlights. Overhead streetlamp glows catch on bicycle wheel reflectors spinning round and round. With almost digital regularity, bike riders pump past in either direction, the brick-paved plaza a waystation on their route, a bio-friendly nocturnal sacrifice in honor of Mexico’s patron saint, La Virgen de Guadalupe. They are among thousands who have traveled to Mexico’s capital from across the republic for the December 12th commemoration. The bicyclists, many with heavy, glass-and-wood framed portraits strapped to their backs, disappear into the early morning dark. One group of devout teenagers pedaling by has opted to wear cloth capes bearing the image of the Blessed Virgin instead. The eerie sight of Virgen capes fluttering in the breeze under the glare of a stray vintage Volkswagon Beetle taxicab headlamp has distracted me somewhat from the task at hand, the “vela
Read more