Iglesia de Dios de la Profecia, where a police officer was caught beating a suspect on April 27th. Photo by J.N. Arias . By Jeremy Arias I t was a hot afternoon. All week the humidity had driven me out of the house and into the shade offered by the fig tree out front. It was much cooler outside, and aside from the usual squirrel foraging for food from a perch above my shoulder or the occasional blare of a car alarm, there weren’t many distractions. I was reading from one of my textbooks when I heard a man screaming. Although it was the only voice being raised so loudly, I figured my neighbors had gotten into an argument. I tried to focus on my reading again but was compelled to look toward the east where the yelling appeared to come from. “ Get inside! Get inside!” shouted another angry voice, as if yelling at a dog. I grabbed my camera and rushed out to the sidewalk. I saw a man facing the gate in front of the duplex next door to a neighborhood church....

Marisol (Chelsea Rendón) fights Eastside gentrification in Vida . (Erica Parise / Starz) Review by Alci Rengifo Vida follows two sisters as they deal with loss and class conflict in the Los Angeles community of Boyle Heights. This new, vibrant episodic drama from Starz brings a Latinx face to the recent batch of urban-themed shows. In the spirit of recent titles like Dope and Atlanta, it journeys into corners of the country mostly ignored by mainstream television, telling their stories with style and gritty realism. Here, gentrification and the culture clashes that can take place within a community propel a narrative that also features universal themes. But for many viewers this will be the show to watch to understand the lifestyles, struggles and cuisines of that Chicano part of Los Angeles where you really need to polish your Spanish and... your Spanglish. As the series premiere opens, an aged woman named Vidalia drops dead on a bathroom floor. We are then introduced t...

Abuelita wields the almighty “chancla ” with experience and fortitude in COCO. Photo: Disney-Pixar   Review by Alci Rengifo Coco is that kind of family film that manages to tackle a tricky subject with heart and sensibility. Disney and Pixar have scored yet another visual achievement here, but this one is particularly notable for the way it uses Latin American culture to explore themes of death and memory. Visually, it is an enrapturing movie. The iconography of Mexico’s Día de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) tradition is used with elegance and fun, capturing the tradition’s unique mixture of remembrance and celebration. The kind of romance associated with Latin folk culture is beautifully celebrated with dramatic energy. But this is a warm-hearted movie that probes deeper into the meaning of family and independence. It dives into Mexican culture with infectious gusto and joyous music, but its central narrative has a universal power. The story is set in the rural Mexican to...

by Ona Russell My father can hardly contain himself. Since we spotted the Boyle Heights exit, he’s been craning his neck, shifting in his seat, ordering me to turn this way, not that. He’s eighty-five, but reminds me more of my six year-old grandson at the sight of the Disneyland Matterhorn. Or myself at the Nordstrom’s off ramp. (Photo to left: Samuel Kantor) The visit to Boyle Heights, an area once known for its ethnic diversity, is ostensibly professional for me. I am researching it for my third historical novel, set there in the 1920s. Among other things, my story relies on the premise that despite its melting pot status, strong divisions existed among the various working class groups, especially geographically, with neighborhoods intentionally segregated. But narrative considerations aren’t motivating my dad as we drive up the 5, and his reason for accompanying me certainly has nothing to do with fiction. Indeed, he grew up in the community and is simply excited...

a guest post by fraud.fix The police were already assembling alongside activists and community members, having caught wind of our plans to do direct action in the streets of downtown LA against the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA).  The Bus Riders Union (BRU) drum core was prepping marchers with energetic chants demanding that MTA respect our communities “La tierra no se vende! Se ama y se defiende!”  Buses full of Right to the City Alliance (RTTC) activists from all corners of the nation pulled up alongside Father Serra Park, unloading a mass of allies who deal with similar struggles in their neighborhoods and cities. Our allies from Right to the City, representing 43 social justice organizations from 10 states, and 13 different US cities joined East LA Community Corporation (ELACC), BRU, Union de Vecinos, Legacy LA, Proyecto Pastoral, Innercity Struggle, Ko...

by María Cabildo Today’s patriots make self-deprecating jokes about their height and use sports analogies to describe the depths of the foreclosure crisis and the devastation it has caused across the country. Others have floppy salt and pepper hair that rivals my fourteen-year-old son’s worst bed head.  These patriots work at the White House, 2,700 miles away from us. Their names are not household names, but the policies they fight (in less partisan times I would have said ‘work’) to implement and to block have everything to do with our future as a nation. There was no compassion deficit in evidence when I, along with housing advocates from across the country, met with and heard from the President’s economic team, I felt reassured that their hearts and our hearts were in the same place. I came away knowing that the compassion deficit in Washington, ...