Homogeneity Prevails in East LA

"On one corner was a Starbucks with armchairs, Christmas carols on the sound system, and middle-class professionals circulating a petition. On another, a shrine of fresh roses at the spot where neighborhood lore says a man cheated the Angel of Death.

At the same moment, on the same busy day, the people of unincorporated East Los Angeles celebrated the completion of an "independencia" petition drive for cityhood and the annual pilgrimage of the Miracle of the Bleeding Street Vendor."

"After studying Census Bureau surveys from 2005 to 2007, Doug and I concluded that about 1 million people live in Los Angeles County communities that are 90% or more Latino. And more than 800,000 of them are in one contiguous area that stretches from MacArthur Park to Pico Rivera and from the fringes of downtown's Garment District to South Gate."

"But it's hard to feel either outrage or pity when you walk among people who look you in the eye and tell you that they are protected by a higher power, and who dare to imagine a renaissance is just around the corner."