Move over Steve Lopez…
July 14, 2009
Hector Tobar
It is not my intention to make this blog the Hector Tobar fanclub, but all I can say is that his recent string of witty and truthful editorials on the current state of race relations and their impact on the economy, community building, and more are better than anything Steve Lopez has written since Nathaniel Ayers.
Just today he commented on the city of Duarte’s solidarity function. For those that are not aware, the City of Duarte is nestled in the San Gabriel Valley and has experienced a string of hate crimes. Specifically, the home of a Black family was totally destroyed with graffitti and more. The racial epitaths sprayed on this home were merciless. To come together as a community and provide a unified stance against hate, residents met at a park. Read more about it here.
The week prior, Tobar wrote about a young Latino policy student at U of Chicago who is struggling to find employment in the public education sector, and for that matter any job at all. I can totally empathize with his struggle and was shocked to see how his life’s journey into public service was dwindled down into foolishness, criminality, and ignorance by LA Times commenters. Sometimes, the comments are the juice of the paper. Anways, you can read about the article here.
My posted comments read as follows:
53. I applaud Mr. Tobar for initiating a new vibrancy to the editorial page. Every week I am enlightened about the city I have called home and charged into action on these important policy issues. As a Chicana graduate student of color in public policy, I empathize with Plascencia. Unlike other commentators who choose to be xenophobes, I cannot ignore the issue of the mismatch between the educational needs of the economy and current lack of well-educated and highly-skilled workers. Talent must be nurtured and unfortunately this economy is not at a place to do so, and as a consequence future SSA benefits and pension plans are in jeopardy.
