Race and Politics in South Los Angeles.

The paper begins with an analysis of how local political institutions, through the lens of Los Angeles City Neighborhood Councils, have responded to the rise of Latino immigration. The central thesis of this chapter can be summarized by the phrase "playing the same old game with a few new players". This phrase aptly captures the dominant and pervasive manner in which city politics in South L.A. have been shaped by ethnic change. The phrase implicitly denotes what has persisted and what has changed. Three key elements of South L.A. politics which have persisted, include: 1) ideology, 2) the traditional players and 3) the framing of policies in black and white. The chapter concludes that the biggest change in local politics has been the gradual emergence of new Latino players in tandem with the emergence of the newly established L.A. City Neighborhood Councils. I suggest that these two factors have had the most noticeable effect in transforming politics in South L.A. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]