Churches Strive for a Better Compton

Inside a Catholic meeting hall in Compton, a Baptist minister, the Rev. B.T. Newman, is railing against the demons he says have possessed the city’s politics and government. “Do you know,” he asks the priest, “a good exorcist?”

The audience--of 40 pastors, lay leaders, union shop stewards and neighborhood residents--laughs knowingly. This meeting is itself part of a growing effort by 14 local churches to purge Compton of its perceived anti-Latino bias, its nasty politics and, perhaps, its most powerful political figure.

Ministers such as Newman have turned their faith in God and their distrust of Mayor Omar Bradley into the sort of ecumenical, bilingual coalition that has long eluded community organizers in town.

The cooperation is considered something of a novelty in Compton, a city of 100,000 known for its struggles with gang violence and a higher-than-average unemployment rate. Racial and political harmony has proved particularly elusive. The city’s Latino majority has long complained that the African American leadership is conspiring to prevent Latinos from landing their first-ever seat on the City Council.

“I’ve never seen this many different people come together on the same page before in Compton,” said Salvador H. Briones, 72, a Compton native, neighborhood activist and member of a coalition participant, Sacred Heart Catholic Church.

The coalition--Pastors for Compton--has already cast doubt on the potential outcome of next April’s city elections, once widely expected to reinforce Bradley’s grip on power. The ministers and union officials in the coalition have been registering voters and interviewing candidates with an eye toward toppling the mayor. Bradley’s three leading opponents are supporting the coalition.

Conceived in off-the-record sessions over the last several months, the group is organizing public activities for the next month, including a community forum Dec. 1 and a New Year’s Eve event that will be part vigil, part teach-in.

Included are leaders of African American and Latino neighborhood clubs, the Compton Community College faculty, members of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, the city’s dismantled Police Department and huge congregations such as 1,200-member Mt. Pilgrim Baptist Church and 6,184-strong Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church.

“Yes, this coalition is a power, and, if it lasts, it could have a huge impact,” said Maxcy Filer, an attorney and longtime Compton political observer who is critical of Bradley but is not part of the coalition. “And for the first time, I think that the mayor is vulnerable, that the whole city government could change.”

Bradley, an administrator in the Lynwood Unified School District, was first elected mayor in 1993. Since then, he has become the most polarizing figure in town. A political showman, he is credited by some with promoting economic development and reducing crime. He is reviled by others who accuse him of nepotism, bizarre public statements and threats against political opponents. Until recently, those opponents have been too divided to pose a threat.

The mayor professes no worry about the ministers’ coalition. “The people will make that decision [in the election], not the pastors,” he said. “I am the most successful mayor in the history of Compton. I will win next year’s race with 68% of the vote.”

But with the ministers working together, few other politicians are as certain. The pastors say Bradley and his council allies permanently alienated many in their congregations last spring by shutting down the Compton Police Department and signing a contract with the county sheriff--without putting the decision to a citywide referendum.

Leading African American pastors such as Newman, the Rev. Boyd Esters of Community Baptist and the Rev. Richard D. Sanders of Mt. Pilgrim Baptist--all of whom have supported the mayor in the past--came out against Bradley on the police issue.

Father Stan Bosch, the priest overseeing Our Lady of Victory and Sacred Heart, a parish overflowing with new Latino arrivals to Compton, joined the conversations with those ministers. Bosch had organized demonstrations at City Hall on the matter.

At meetings in a private room at the city’s bus terminal, the pastors quickly jumped from the Police Department to other topics. With Bosch jotting notes on an easel, the group slowly sketched out an agenda for a more open and accountable city government. On issues from housing to crime, the ministers say they want the city to make more documents public and provide clearer explanations of policies in both English and Spanish.

“We started by trying to create a group where issues could be discussed openly, and then use that as a model for how the city should conduct its business,” Bosch said. “The political culture is so secretive here.”

Coalition Is Still Fragile, Pastors Say

Ministers caution that the coalition is still fragile, and hardly seamless. There is disagreement about whether the group should endorse specific candidates for office next year. (Several want to support Councilwoman Marcine Shaw, a former aide to the late county Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, as an alternative to Bradley.) And despite entreaties from the coalition, the Rev. Jerome Fisher, respected pastor of 3,000-member Little Zion Baptist Church, has declined to join.

“You respect the mayor as long as he’s there, so I’m not in their fight right now,” Fisher said.

At the same time, however, the ministers have found common cause with public employees unions, which are concerned that the Sheriff’s Department contract might augur privatization of other city services. The Service Employees International Union and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees have indicated a willingness to work with the coalition.

“Compton is very much a focus for us next year,” said Ray Cordova, chairman of the South County Labor Council, which is sanctioned by the AFL-CIO-affiliated county Federation of Labor. “Omar Bradley has really brought labor and ministers together in Compton, in much the same way that Pete Wilson unified the Latino vote,” Cordova added, referring to the former governor’s controversial immigration policies.

Bradley and the coalition have already faced each other once. At a meeting in September, the mayor lashed out at the clergymen for 20 minutes. Bradley says the pastors called him a dictator, and he complains that Newman, a friend turned foe, likened him to Hitler. The ministers say they listened to the angry mayor without interruption and prayed for him afterward.

“It’s not personal,” said the Rev. Sanders. “I talk to the mayor and consider him a friend. I would just like to see somebody else be mayor. . . . And so we will continue to organize.”

Coalition meetings are part prayer service, part political seminar. Bosch conducts the gatherings at rapid-fire speed, translating each sentence spoken into Spanish. Those in attendance are encouraged to make brief comments on each subject, which are then recorded on a board.

Recent meetings have ended with fiery speeches from Newman. He urges people to start political action committees at their churches. “News of our coalition is infiltrating like wildfire,” he said. “Turn over every rock. Look behind every bush, and let’s get them out to vote. God will show us the victory.”

“Can you imagine if the mayor was here to see this meeting?” he added. “He wouldn’t sleep for a week!”