Nava in Fore of Latinos’ Slow March

It’s almost forgotten now, but Julian Nava was a landmark figure in the history of Latino politics.

In 1967, when Latino political activism was just taking shape, Nava won a citywide election for a seat on the Los Angeles Unified School District board. That was before school board members were elected by district.

Nava, then a young college professor, was ahead of his time, winning when the Latino community was smaller and poorer than it is now. That victory made him an influential Latino leader who, after serving on the school board for 12 years, became ambassador to Mexico in the Carter Administration.

Nava, still a history professor at Cal State Northridge, called the other day to tell me he’s again involved in something hot in Latino politics. It’s more complicated than an election, he said, but just as important.

It would, he said, take some time to explain. But briefly, he wanted to talk about the importance of the growing Latino middle class to domestic American politics and even to politics in Mexico. It’s a subtle development, but one with long-range implications.

Nava today is a quiet, thoughtful man who hasn’t aged much, physically, since I first met him when he was on the school board. A few wrinkles, but no gray in his black hair. With his unbuttoned dress shirt and his big, brown wool sweater, he looked like what he was, a professor who had just given a final.

Nava’s interest in subtleties always created a barrier between him and political writers. Back then, we didn’t have much time for this Harvard Ph.D’s explanations of the complex process of Chicano activism and political growth. All we saw was low Mexican-American turnout, low vote--no clout.

He, himself, is a perfect example of the slowness of the process, elected to the school board but defeated later for state superintendent of public instruction. Still, there has been change. Although we haven’t seen the Latino political revolution predicted by some or witnessed the “Decade of the Latino” promised by others, there has been a steady climb toward power.

The latest development in that climb, Nava said, is the growth of the middle class, including a substantial number of professionals. That means more Latinos have the time and money to financially support political, community and cultural activities.

For example, Nava tells Mexican government officials that the Hispanic middle class in the United States constitutes a potentially powerful lobbying force for Mexican issues, just as American Jews have long promoted Israel’s interests here. Another example of Latino participation occurred in November when Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, who lost for president of Mexico, raised $20,000 from the local Mexican-American community for another run against the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party.

That’s not a huge amount. What was important was that it came from a broad base of donors who attended events like a $100-a-plate luncheon.

One of the sponsors of the Cardenas effort was Joe M. Sanchez, the owner of a large grocery company and a power in the development of a fund-raising base among Latino business people and professionals. He put on a $500-a-plate fund-raiser here to support a Latino FBI agent’s employment discrimination suit against the agency. Ninety-five percent of the crowd was Mexican or Mexican-American and they donated $50,000. The same sort of audience gave $29,000 for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund’s redistricting suit against Los Angeles County.

All this means there’s money in the community when a Latino runs for Los Angeles County supervisor next year or mayor of Los Angeles in 1993. Nava never had that. In 1970, the white liberal leadership decided to back Wilson Riles, a popular black educator, for state superintendent of public instruction, killing Nava’s chances.

Of course, there’s not enough money in the Latino community to totally finance a $1-million-plus supervisorial campaign, or an even more expensive one for mayor. But there’s enough to provide a base upon which to build.

George Deukmejian is an example of the importance of such an ethnic base. Opposed by the Republican big boys in 1982, he began his successful campaign with contributions from proud fellow Armenians.

The Latino community hasn’t come that far. But census maps chart the rising Latino middle class in the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys. The growing number of Latino elected officials, particularly in the San Gabriel Valley, shows how that is being translated into political power. No revolution, no magic decade, just a slow march, and Julian Nava again is in the front ranks.