Hispanic and Latino Issues

Latino Vote Crucial For L.A. City Hall Candidates

With nearly one in three people in the L.A. electorate claiming Latino heritage, the city election Tuesday could be decided by the brown vote. So says the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO), which notes that 29 percent of registered voters in Los Angeles are Lati ... More >>

Will Underdog Ana Cubas Succeed as the Big Latino Hope in Council District 9 Race?

Things are certainly changing in L.A. City Council District 9, although politicians and certain news outlets may play it down for the public. You see, African American leaders want to keep a black council member in that district -- Jan Perry will be termed out this year -- while Latino politicos wan ... More >>

Eric Garcetti Makes A Play For Growing Latino Vote, But Turnout Is A Challenge

When Antonio Villaraigosa became the first Latino mayor of Los Angeles in modern times, he did it with record-breaking turnout from the Latino community. And since then, Latino voter registration has surged from 22% to about 29% of the city electorate.But without a major Latino candidate on the ball ... More >>

Hollywood's Urban Cleansing

12,878 mostly Latinos are pushed out by City Hall, high rents and hipsters

Dr. Matthew Lin to Sacramento, Stat?

GOP surgeon may beat Dems for first time since '70s in San Gabriel Valley

Latinos Now Biggest Minority at Four-Year Colleges

When we announced last year that Latinos are now the largest minority group on college campuses, some of you Hispanic-haters were quick to latch on to the fact that many of these places were two-year institutions of the community variety. Sure, they're high schools with ash trays. And Latinos are d ... More >>

Lalo Alcaraz: Most Mexcellent

One of the fascinating Angelenos featured in L.A. Weekly's People 2012 issue. Check out our entire People 2012 issue here. Shortly after it was revealed that Mitt Romney's father was born in Mexico, a mysterious alter ego cropped up on Twitter: Mexican Mitt Romney (@MexicanMitt), who wears a huge s ... More >>

Cinco de Mayo Myths Debunked, in UCLA Professor's New Book

When Dr. David E. Hayes-Bautista says the phrase "Drinko de Mayo," he is far from bitter. He doesn't rant about how Cinco de Mayo has been subjected to brutal commercialization and stripped of its authenticity. It is, after all, difficult to really critique the Mexican beer companies for divesting t ... More >>

Hispanics Are Not Hispanic

There was a time when uttering the word Mexican was impolite. Cops in Southern California would call anyone with brown skin a Mexican. And those of us who were born here preferred other terms such as Mexican American, Chicano and Latino. How could you tell if someone was born here by looking at th ... More >>

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Puts Another Leg Into National Politics

By Andra Lim Antonio Villaraigosa continues to get cozy with the Obama Administration. Tomorrow, Villaraigosa and White House big shots -- including U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar -- will meet in Los Angeles with hundreds of local leaders to talk about issues significant to the Hisp ... More >>

Will Ferrell Plays a Mexican Cowboy in Casa de Mi Padre

Why does this film exist?

Millions of Latinos Deny Their Own Ethnicity on Census Forms, USC Study Says

What race is Latino? We've pondered the issue before, and the correct answer is any of the above: Latinos can be black, white and almost anything in between, because Latino isn't a race, it's an ethnicity. That makes things difficult enough for the folks who tally data for the U.S. Census, but now ... More >>

L.A. County Approves Status Quo Redistricting Plan -- Denying Second Latino Seat

Mark Ridley-Thomas​After hearing six hours of testimony, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors voted today to approve a status-quo redistricting map, denying Latino activists' quest for a second Latino seat.The vote hinged on Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, who had proposed a map that would create a ... More >>

Mapping L.A.

Asco at LACMA: Glitter, Face Paint, Velvet and Chiffon in the Name of Politics

Courtesy of LACMA and the Department of Special Collections, Stanford University LibrariesAsco Goes to the Universe, 1975: a glamorous close-up of the collective​ If you imagine David Bowie moonlighting as a Chicano performance artist, you might begin to get a sense of Asco, the radical collec ... More >>

Despite Job Growth, Latinos Are More Scared of Losing Their Jobs Than Other Workers

​The good news for Hispanic workers is that over the past two months there's been solid job growth in industries where Hispanics have a significant presence. But with the good, there's always a bit of the bad. Latinos are more worried about job security than any other workers.

Are There Anti-Illegal Immigrant Latinos In L.A? Hell Yeah ...

Are American-born Latinos in L.A. immigrant bashers too?​Anti-illegal immigrant Latinos in L.A? Yeah, they exist. In our piece this week about how Arizona tourism officials have the nerve to schedule a meet-and-greet with the press later this month in an attempt to drum up travel for the sta ... More >>

Why Doesn't CNN En Español Have Any News Anchors From Los Angeles?

Mercedes Soler, new Miami anchor for CNNE​Do the math, CNNE: Miami's population might be 20 percent more Latino than ours, but Los Angeles is bigger -- so in the end, we have close to a quarter million more Latino residents than that other palm-tree postcard city, way over there on the muggy s ... More >>

Free Ozomatli MP3: Hey Latinos! Vote Next Month and Stop Politicians and Demagogues like Lou Dobbs from Disrespecting You

R-E-S-P-E-T-O​We sometimes make fun of Ozomatli here because they can be a little...well, NPRish and "Soothing Sounds for Liberals." But that's ok, in their case we kid because we respect--they're all amazing musicians, very open-minded to all rhythms and cultures (hip-hop, in particular, and ... More >>

'LULAC,' Huge Latino Group, Endorses Prop. 19, California's Marijuana Legalization Initiative

A big Latino group on Friday endorsed the legalization of marijuana: Surprised?​Updated again after the jump with some debate about whether the endorsement is official. First posted Friday at 1:17 p.m. Surprise surprise. Latinos are getting behind the California ballot initiative to legalize ... More >>

Richard "Scar" Lopez, Founding Member of Pioneering East LA Chicano Rock Combo Cannibal and the Headhunters, Dead at 65

Richard "Scar" Lopez, founding member of pioneering East LA Chicano rock group Cannibal and the Headhunters died last July 30 of lung cancer, the LA Times reports. Most obituaries about Lopez's life and career (and the band's monster hit "Land of 1,000 Dances") are drawing from a great 2005 artic ... More >>

Welcome to Mi Pueblito: The Small-Town, Family-Farm Lifestyle That We Cherish Is Being Preserved Thanks to Mexican Immigrants

Are Latinos Disappointed With Obama?

State Sen. Gil Cedillo.​Los Angeles-based state Sen. Gil Cedillo, one of President Obama's early campaign supporters, says he's disappointed with president so far, and that he's not alone among Latinos. Cedillo says there are some hard feelings surrounding Obama's promise during his presiden ... More >>

Clippers Owner Allegedly Didn't Like To Rent To Blacks, Latinos; Pays Record Settlement

Tenants at some of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald T. Sterling's more-recently acquired Koreatown properties allege that the basketball magnate weeded out black and Latino residents in favor of Koreans who were perceived as being people who don't "complain" as much, according to one fair-housing ... More >>

Dudamel: The Great Brown Hope

L.A. Phil conductor must inspire Latinos, if it's not too late

Latino Leaders' Clinton and Obama Endorsements: California's Wannabe Kingmakers

Deciphering the payback, ambition and backbiting behind it all

¡Ask a Mexican! a Degree of Success

"My question is in what field of work would someone with a bachelor’s in Chicano studies land? Here are a few jobs I came up with: working at a lowrider or tattoo shop, designing Virgin de Guadalupe T-shirts..."

Milestones in MAP History

From Edward Roybal to Alberto Gonzales

Mexican American Princes: ¡Mas Suave!

They’re handsome, charming and so good to their mothers. They’re Mexican American Princes, and they rule Los Angeles

Shades of Brown

The L.A. Times’ Latino problem

¡Ask a Mexican!

¡Ask a Mexican! Classroom Struggle

To Sad Eyes in East L.A.

Death of an Earth Angel, Dick “Huggy Boy” Hugg, 1928–2006

The Flags Are Back

Naa Na Na Na Naa

How the West Coast Eastside sound changed rock & roll

Ed and Antonio

Ed Roybal and Latino politics in Los Angeles

Gray’s Latino Problem

The Democratic incumbent is losing ground with a key constituency

Gray in His Groove

Primary matters: The false spring of the Republican right, the real spring of the Democratic left

Vel Avaliente Chicano

Bert Corona, 1918–2001

Tensions on Board

Many Latino bus riders at odds with drivers and MTA strike

The Latino Metropolis

Mike Davis on the new, revitalized Los Angeles

Bore and Gush

America’s nominees

This Is Progress?

Cops, land and the legacy of the Progressive era

Dialogue of Slurs

Ethnic insults have no place in school district’s power struggle

One District, Under Genethia

The descent of L.A. school-board president Genethia Hayes from mediator to tyrant

The GOP's Latino Problem

State Republicans talk the talk, can't walk

Reform runs aground on redistricting

Valley Split

Old-School Campaign Hands Alacaron a Razor-thin Victory