The socioeconomic changes that have occurred over the past 20 years, in an area once brimming with racism and rage - and once called South Central L.A. - are discussed.
LOS ANGELES — When racially charged riots blazed here two decades ago, South Central became a national symbol of rage in a poor black neighborhood.
But the population of the area has changed significantly in the time since the acquittal of white police officers in the Rodney King beating inflamed racial tensions across this city.
Today, immigrants from Mexico and Central America live on blocks that generations ago were the only places African-Americans could live. In the former center of black culture in Los Angeles, Spanish is often the only language heard on the streets.
The article is an education on a time and its changes. I do not think most readers realize that the word "central" was omitted from the city name years ago, or that the resulting South Los Angeles has a Latino majority.
In the 1990s, black residents made up roughly half the population in South Central. Today, Latinos account for about two-thirds of the residents in what is now called South Los Angeles — “Central” was officially scrubbed from the neighborhood’s name by the City Council in 2003. In the 20-some square miles that make up the area, stretching southwest of downtown from the Santa Monica Freeway to the Century Freeway and as far west as Inglewood, there are 80,000 fewer blacks than there were in 1990.
These changes are lamented as blacks are moving out of the area, leaving behind a rich history of culture and heritage.
Even now, it is easy to spot signs of the deep history of the black community here butting up against change. Across the street from the Hotel Dunbar, once the best-known hotel for black elites, is a mural created in 1984 featuring black leaders, including Biddy Mason, a former slave who became one of the first black women to own land in Los Angeles. At one end of the mural is a small sign reading “Don’t move, improve,” a reminder of the campaign some leaders waged decades ago to stem the tide to the suburbs.
The struggle between positivity and negativity is largely evident throughout the body of the article, ending by taking note of the economic strife experienced since 1992.