Signs of Rebuilding, From the Bottom Up : L.A.: While Anglos in affluent areas fret about the future, a reinvigorated inner city is reshaping the social landscape.

A year after the worst urban rebellion in our nation’s history, the underlying forces responsible for that event have barely changed: Joblessness and poverty are at unacceptably high levels, the social and commercial health of the affected areas remain poor and interethnic relations appear to be tense. Even with the hiring of a black police chief and a guilty verdict in the recent trial, a full rapprochement with law enforcement has yet to occur. But despite these gloomy notes, signs of hope are budding in the flurry of activity and community engagement that have appeared in the wake of the rebellion.

While most of the attention has focused on RLA (formerly Rebuild L.A.), we have missed the heartbeat of the real rebuilding that must come--and is beginning to come--from the grass-roots level. Moribund and stagnant organizations that had lost their way have been reinvigorated by the flames that engulfed their communities. New organizations have sprung up to give hope to the disenfranchised and alienated. And some sectors of government have become more responsive to everyday needs of disadvantaged residents.

While Anglos from affluent parts of Los Angeles still speak with skepticism about the city’s future, inner-city communities are actively engaged in reshaping the social landscape for themselves and their children. There is a keen awareness among these communities that Los Angeles can be a community of opportunity for all. Residents pursue these idealistic notions in full recognition of the grave obstacles that stand in the way of achieving these goals. But the real consequence of the rebellion can be seen in the redoubling of the efforts of people to transform their streets, neighborhoods and city.

For example, before the rebellion, inner-city residents viewed black gangs as the most destructive force in the daily lives of their children and the community. The unheralded story since the rebellion has been the remarkable success of the gang truce in which the ones based in Watts have moved from the illegal to the formal economy. Hands Across Watts, a coalition of gangs, mostly out of the public housing projects, is providing recreational activities for youth in those areas.

While not all gangs in the city are involved in productive endeavors, those who are show the power of the rebellion to refocus even the most alienated elements in the community.

While government has for the most part abdicated its responsibility for the rebuilding effort, two City Council members have made important linkages with local efforts. Mark Ridley-Thomas and Mike Hernandez have reached out to their constituents and provided a broad range of support to community activity. Ridley-Thomas, in particular, has worked with grass-roots organizations to develop an “empowerment” structure for people in his 8th District. These activities promote rebuilding from the bottom up, as opposed to top-down.

Finally, while the media still report negative attitudes in the area of race relations in the city, people at the grass-roots level are confronting the conflicts of race and class because they know that any strategy to transform local neighborhoods must be multiracial and multiethnic. To change South-Central or Pico-Union, one cannot just attend to the needs of blacks or Latinos. The efforts of the Community Coalition for Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment and the Asian Pacific Planning Council concerning the reopening of liquor stores in South-Central, for example, have forced interethnic tensions to the surface where they have led to a difficult yet creative search for common ground.

These examples of activity barely scratch the surface of social ferment that has become a legacy of the rebellion, but these efforts have the potential to be the conduits for a true rebuilding of South-Central and Pico-Union.

Contrary to popular perceptions, the infusion of new funding into these communities since the rebellion has been virtually nil, and many local organizations are teetering on the edge of financial survival. If the city as a whole wants to maintain hope in these communities, then we all must support their efforts.

It was a solemn reminder of the obstacles before us when, on the day before the announcement of the guilty verdicts that applied a soothing salve to our city’s open wounds, President Clinton bowed to Republican pressure by cutting 25% from his economic stimulus package. Unfortunately, it is resources like the stimulus package that many of these community-based rebuilding efforts must depend on for their survival. The structural changes limiting the economic opportunities of inner-city residents cannot be transformed by community activity alone. We need a national urban policy that supports an economic infrastructure of opportunity as well. This is the only way to keep the hope alive and to avert “the fire next time.”