Commentary: A failed run club 'takeover' of Leimert Park shows what's at stake for Black L.A.
This is read by an automated voice.Please report any issues or inconsistencies here.
See more from the L.A.Times in Google Search.
Set us as preferred When I saw a video of a run club called Barrio Athletics promising that it would be “taking over” Leimert Park on Sept.6, I thought: Here we go again.An online flame war soon erupted over one of the most explosive allegations in L.A.: Latinos are trying to drive out Black people.It came in an election year that will bring the city down to just two Black councilmembers for the first time since the early 1960s, with two Latino candidates facing off for a South L.A.
seat.It came four years after secretly recorded audio emerged that captured some of the city’s most powerful leaders, all of whom happened to be Latino, scheming about how to dilute Black political power.
South L.A., long the epicenter of Black life in the Southland, has been majority Latino for decades.The 2020 census places Black Angelenos at just 8% of the city’s population, the fifth census in a row where the community’s share has shrunk.
In a sign of gentrification, Realtors regularly cold-call longtime Leimert Park residents with cash offers for their homes.“When you see folks post up in your space and say, ‘Get ready for a takeover,’ you see it and think, ‘OK!’ ” said Karen A.Clark, treasurer of the Leimert Park Merchants Assn., which represents business owners in the economic and cultural heart of Black Los Angeles.
We stood inside the Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center, which Clark co-owns and where she serves as creative director.Her group reached out to Barrio Athletics founder Henry Gallardo soon after the video emerged, to let him know that he had to pull permits to hold a public event, just like everyone else.“But before they could respond,” Clark said, “it just took on a life of its own.”Gallardo, 25, the son of Guatemalan immigrants who grew up in South L.A., moved his event to Elysian Park —...