‘The Politics of Race’ …Revising the Legacy of Tom Bradley

CORRUPTION WATCH-I recently saw a documentary titled “Bridging the Divide: Tom Bradley and the Politics of Race" that was shown on PBS. What was supposed to be a documentary was little more than a gratuitous fluff piece distorting the true record of Tom Bradley. 

While Tom Bradley did very well for Tom Bradley, his effects upon the racial divide that existed within Los Angeles and specifically South Central Los Angeles were effectively ignored. The implication that the racial divide that existed at the time Tom Bradley took office was altered by his tenure in office as mayor directly contradicts the facts. 

Tom Bradley became a politician after being a policeman for more than 29 years. Bradley was fully aware of the civil rights violations that African-Americans received at the hands of the LAPD. Almost 20 years after he had taken office the abuse by police continued in the City of Los Angeles and was the primary cause of the 1992 riots. 

The thing that grew most under the Tom Bradley administration was a proliferation of gangs in South Central Los Angeles. The debilitating poverty that existed within South Central Los Angeles was not improving at all under the administration of Mayor Tom Bradley. The ongoing poverty and lack of expectations of any improvements was a leading factor in driving young black men to the gang life. The do-nothing politicians, such as Tom Bradley, did not in any way improve the quality of life in the most difficult part of Los Angeles. 

The documentary chose to ignore the behavior of Tom Bradley in fighting black investment within South Central Los Angeles. It is one thing to ignore a people who are in trouble and it is another thing to take an aggressive approach to prevent them from improving themselves. This was the behavior of Tom Bradley during the development of cable television. The attempt by black businessmen to utilize the cable television operation to provide jobs and educational opportunities through the advanced technology was aggressively fought by the Bradley administration. 

The United States Supreme Court in 1986, in the case of Preferred Communications vs City of Los Angeles, ruled unanimously that the City was subject to the First Amendment when it came to determining who would be able to construct and operate cable television systems. This is known as a civil rights violation.  It appears that civil rights violations don’t count when the perpetrator is the same race. The city spent more than $10 million to prevent African-Americans from owning and operating a cable television system that could have improved the lives of many. This is the politics of race.  

Preventing South Central Los Angeles from accessing the latest technology in 1980 would allow the ongoing characterization of African Americans by media without input by those affected.  The technology divide started with cable television.  Real history will confirm the effects of being excluded from technology. 

The program was full of complementary statements being made by other politicians about Tom Bradley. Most of these politicians were the do nothing clones of Tom Bradley.  African American politicians continue improving their lives at the expense of an entire race of people. 

The people of South Central were well aware that Tom Bradley was doing nothing for them and when it came to his race for governor they were not the supportive enthusiastic kind of voters that you would've expected. Tom Bradley led in the polls before the election but was narrowly defeated in his race for governor of California. While the media dubbed his loss as "the Bradley effect" attempting to blame white voters who had said they would vote for Bradley but did not. The same effect fails to address the indifference of many African-American voters, who believed the polls, and took Bradley's victory for granted. 

The problems that existed when Tom Bradley took office are even more visible today in our society. Tom Bradley was merely a figurehead that gave the impression of racial advances in Los Angeles while masking the true facts underneath. Everyone in South Central continued to wonder why nothing improved despite the rhetoric of improvements that was supposed to be taking place because of the black mayor. The presence of Tom Bradley was merely an excuse to avoid doing anything within South Central Los Angeles. 

The underlying attempt in this documentary to pretend that Tom Bradley somehow improved the lives of those who have suffered in South Central is revisionist history. This revisionist history is merely a way to blind us to the current harsh reality that is now the new South Los Angeles. 

 

(Clinton Galloway  is the author of the fascinating book “Anatomy of a Hustle: Cable Comes to South Central LA”.    This is another installment in an ongoing CityWatch series on power, influence and corruption in government … Corruption Watch. Galloway is a CityWatch contributor and can be  reached here.) 

 -cw

 

 

CityWatch

Vol 13 Issue 71

Pub: Aug 31, 2015

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