Posted inLA Elections

HENRY PEREZ, and his social justice group ask Kevin de León to resign

Kevin De León has served as the LA City council member for District 14 since 2020 and said his resignation is not an option. “I have a moral obligation to my constituency, to give them a voice,” he told Smiley. But for Henry Perez, associate director of Inner City Struggle, a social justice non-profit organization in CD-14, de León no longer represents the community of the Eastside.

Posted inPolitics

Senate Bill 1387, UCLA LPPI seek Latino equity in Executive office

The California Latino Legislative Caucus, HOPE,  UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute (UCLA LPPI ), and California State Senator, Monique Limón, believe the state’s political appointments must deeply reflect the state’s population. They fear the underrepresentation of Latinos in executive branch appointments can have severe repercussions for the future of the state’s civic engagement, public trust and equitable policy development

Posted inJustice

EDITORIAL: CA needs more diversity in statewide appointments of power

Researchers at UCLA’s Latino Policy & Politics Institute released a report this month that analyzed appointees across California’s executive branch, including those on the state’s governing boards, commissions and departments. The report found that Latinos make up 18% of appointees from the governor and legislative leaders even though Latinos are 39% of the state population. Whites are over-represented at 36% of the state population but 48% of all appointees.

Posted inPolitics

CAROLINE MENJIVAR, daughter of Salvadorian parents, now a top candidate in State Senate District 20

Menjivar grew up in San Fernanco Valley, where her mother cleaned private homes and her father worked as a waiter at a Studio City country club. Menjivar recalled attending Encino Charter Elementary School, a public school in the high-priced suburb of Encino, CA. She immediately felt out of place, she said. “I was going to an affluent school where my classmate’s homes were big and they had big screen TVs,” Menjivar said. “That’s when I started [wondering] why my classmates had so many cool things, big houses, expensive things and we didn’t? As a kid, you don’t know what all that means. You just know that the inequity doesn’t feel right.”