Photo: PATRICK T. FALLON / AFP / Getty Images
By: the Editorial Board of La Opinión Updated 10 Dec 2022, 14: 10 pm EST
Today, Sunday 10 of December, after a decisive victory against a candidate who invested 10 times more than her, Karen Bass assumes the mayoralty of Los Angeles.
With this, Bass is the first woman in office. She is also the second African American person.
This is, in itself, good news for the city, among other reasons, as a result of the problematic relationship between the Afro-American community and the Latina in the city with the largest Hispanic population in the entire country.
It is an unnecessary crisis, generated by the highly racist terms uttered by three Latino councilmembers (and a union member), recorded and published before the elections, especially against African-Americans.
In announcing its support for Bass’s candidacy and calling on its readers to vote for her ahead of the November election, the editorial board of La Opinión opined that “Karen Bass gives us hope that solidarity and joint solutions are feasible and that positive change is possible.”
Today the Latino community of Los Angeles participates in this change.
“Karen Bass recognizes” – we said in the statement of support – “…that to win the elections, the Latino vote must win, because, She said, “Los Angeles cannot prosper unless our Latino community also prospers.”
And in an interview with this editorial board, Bass promised that “Latino representation will be in all aspects of the administration.” We take note of it.
So because of her social justice convictions and her career as a community activist, state legislator and congresswoman, Karen Bass is he won the support of Latinos.
And Latinos have trusted her, in her message of unity and change, in her ability to create coalitions that serve the people.
We welcome you and wish you success in the difficult task of running this city of nearly 4 million people.
From this moment Karen Bass will have before her the plans that she explained during the electoral campaign and that will have a strong impact on the lives of our community .
She has promised to solve the problem of homelessness – the huge number of homeless people who have lost their homes – with an emphasis on building affordable housing. It is the correct path. It will also benefit the thousands and thousands of working families in all communities, who cannot make ends meet due to high rental rates or mortgage payments, or who are forced to live far away.
These homes should also be built in wealthy neighborhoods.
It cannot be that the city of Los Angeles is an inaccessible bastion for these families.
Bass has also promised an urgent response to the increase in crime, with emphasis on strengthening the neighborhoods where it abounds and a relationship of trust between the population and the police. For this, it is necessary to continue the policies of de-escalation of conflicts, preservation of life at all costs and others, to reduce shootings with agents involved.
We look forward to your initiatives.
We trust that you will also play an active role in the leadership, prevention and fight against hate crimes , which have recently multiplied in our city and county and those suffered by African Americans, Latinos, Jews and LGBTQ people.
La Opinión, with the good of the Latino community as its north, will continue as it has done since , with his scrutiny of the management of the people in power; Thus, we will closely monitor and report on critical issues in the city.
Welcome, Karen Bass.