Ominous Signs of Racial Unease

In an 18-month study released last Monday on Orange County’s needs, it was noted that “there was a sense among many people that race relations were gradually getting worse as the Hispanic, Indochinese and other minority population increased. Some interviewees perceived growing racial problems ‘bubbling just beneath the surface and ready to boil over. . . .’ ”

We have had the same sense at times. We did again last week when we reported some of the insults the audience hurled at Latinos who were appearing before the Santa Ana City Council trying to get the city to ease its tough building code interpretation that Latinos believe discriminates against them. We sensed it again in reporting how Santa Ana police were harassing some Latinos in a crackdown on the use of a street corner as a makeshift employment center.

Police were responding to complaints from angry residents in the neighborhood of Euclid and 5th streets, where the workers gather to wait for someone to drive by and offer them jobs. But there are reports that police have issued citations to people sitting on a bus bench blocks away, and to someone doing nothing more annoying than eating lunch outside a supermarket.

A more constructive approach would be to locate an area where the sidewalk employment center could function without disturbing residents and merchants.

The city could also take a more constructive approach by loosening its interpretation of what constitutes overcrowded living space instead of sticking to its hard-line approach of applying the state formula for living space only to bedrooms. Some Latino activists contend that if living-room space was also included, more people would be allowed to live in each apartment. The city’s failure to do so, they claim, discriminates against Latinos who have larger families and will result in the displacement of 150 families. It also could create an impression of officially sanctioning discrimination. An immigrants’ rights group is seeking a court ruling on the legality of the city’s approach.

It’s disappointing to see such official and individual intransigence. People struggling to find work and affordable housing should be getting all the encouragement and help a community can muster, not harassment tinged with racial rejection.