{"id":13221,"date":"2023-08-07T02:16:19","date_gmt":"2023-08-07T02:16:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/?p=13221"},"modified":"2023-08-07T02:16:38","modified_gmt":"2023-08-07T02:16:38","slug":"a-new-generation-of-young-latinos-is-making-coachella-a-must-visit-stop-for-2020-democrats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/?p=13221","title":{"rendered":"A new generation of young Latinos is making Coachella a must-visit stop for 2020 Democrats"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Gustavo Arrellano<\/em>, Los Angeles Time<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

It\u2019s the last office that this group of friends \u2014 children of Mexican\n immigrants who grew up in Coachella, went off to college, then returned\n \u2014 needs to cement the transformation of their hometown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Latinos \nhave been a strong influence in Coachella politics since the mid-1960s, \nwhen a majority of the City Council was of Mexican American descent, \namong the first cities in California to reach that milestone. But \nCoachella largely stagnated amid neglect from its regional, state and \nfederal representatives, who were almost always white and Republican.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When\n out-of-town politicos showed up in the Coachella Valley, they\u2019d \ninvariably stick to the western side, in wealthier cities such as Palm \nSprings and Rancho Mirage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the days of the self-proclaimed \u201cCity of Eternal Sunshine\u201d as an afterthought are over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Agricultural fields, palm trees and the San Jacinto Mountains dot the landscape on the outskirts of Coachella. (Allen J. Schaben \/ Los Angeles Times) <\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Presidential candidates have sought and won the endorsements of Coachella-raised raza<\/em>. Riverside County Supervisor V. Manuel Perez is going with Michael R. Bloomberg. Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia (D-Coachella) has cut statewide commercials for Tom Steyer. Romero is undecided. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bernie Sanders campaign opened a field office in downtown. \nCoachella\u2019s council members hosted him at a raucous rally in December to\n unanimously endorse the Vermont senator \u2014 the only city council in the \ncountry to publicly do so. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The diversity of endorsements hasn\u2019t \ncaused stark fissures here, although 36-year-old Mayor Steven Hernandez,\n who also is chief of staff for Perez, jokes that the \u201cXers\u201d (as in \nGeneration X) in town are too scared to publicly support Sanders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut\n the fact there is connections to other campaigns speaks to the gains we\n have accomplished as a community,\u201d he said. \u201cThat means there\u2019s \nsomebody in the camp that\u2019s talking to them, and we\u2019ll coalesce after \nthe primary.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Volunteers
Volunteers work inside the Bernie Sanders campaign headquarters in downtown Coachella (Allen J. Schaben \/ Los Angeles Times) <\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Coachellanos now fill the positions of mayor, county \nsupervisor, assembly member and congressman. A new generation is winning\n seats on school boards and water districts, and joining city \ncommissions. All have the same mission: build a city with amenities and \nopportunities that didn\u2019t exist when they were kids. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This \nCoachella has emerged over the last 15 years, a time when the city\u2019s \nfame exploded due to its namesake music festival (actually held in \nIndio) even as its population has remained overwhelmingly immigrant and \nworking class. In an era when Latinos make up a plurality of \nCalifornia\u2019s population, but still lag in political representation, \npower brokers local and national are noticing what\u2019s happening here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\n Coachella politicians \u201cunderstand the sacrifices of growing up in the \nfarm-working world,\u201d said Luz Gallegos, community programs director for \nTODEC Legal Center, which runs citizenship workshops across Riverside \nCounty. \u201cThat\u2019s why est\u00e1n super-prendidos.<\/em> [They\u2019re super-motivated].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They\u2019re\n \u201cnot only making people pay attention to their community, but also make\n us ask questions about who\u2019s on the inside and who\u2019s on the outside,\u201d \nsaid Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood). \u201cNot only do we want \nto know what Coachella thinks, but now we also ask what San Bernardino, \nBakersfield, Fresno and Merced think.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if a revolution now runs this city of date palms and weathered shopping centers, it\u2019s one that\u2019s a work in progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Assemblyman
Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia (D-Coachella) walks by a mural in downtown Coachella. In the eastern Coachella Valley, a generation of Latinos who grew up in the area \u2014 internationally famous for its agriculture and namesake music festival \u2014 have assumed political power. (Allen J. Schaben \/ Los Angeles Times) <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Garcia, a former Coachella council member and mayor who replaced \nPerez as the eastern Coachella Valley\u2019s assembly member in 2014, points \nto a revitalized downtown, a new library and community murals that rival\n anything in Los Angeles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHave things gotten better? They have,\u201d the 43-year-old said. \u201cIs there work to be done? Without a doubt.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\n are few indicators here that a presidential primary is happening next \nweek in California. Instead, nearly all the lawn and street signs around\n the eastern Coachella Valley plug Romero, with only a handful for her \nmain opponents, Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez (R-Lake Elsinore) and \nPalm Springs resident Joy Silver, a Democrat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Billboards \nsupporting Romero loom over both directions of old California 86, which \nconnects Indio to Coachella and ends in Mexicali, Mexico, where Garcia\u2019s\n family is from. Cruising down Indio Boulevard onto Highway 111, past \nbustling restaurants and boarded-up businesses, he makes note of what he\n says is proof of the area\u2019s change in fortunes \u2014 parks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miles Park in Indio. Bagdouma Park in Coachella. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"
Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia (D-Coachella) speaks in favor of Elizabeth Romero, a Democratic candidate for California\u2019s 28th Senate District, center, during a rally in Indio (Allen J. Schaben \/ Los Angeles Times) <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Then Garcia stopped at Rancho Las Flores Park, which opened in 2012 \nwith the help of a $5-million state grant. Its three soccer fields and \nevery possible swath of grass were swarming with youngsters channeling \ntheir inner Chicharito. Paleteros<\/em> hawked Mexican popsicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis was a dirt lot,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cThis was going to be all houses. But that\u2019s not what the community wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his time in Sacramento, Garcia wrote a bill that allows home cooks to legally sell their food<\/a>\n and co-authored a $4-billion parks bond passed by California voters in \n2018. Both, he said, were inspired by the informal economy and lack of \nparks he and too many others grew up with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Garcia and his \npolitical peers all tell the same origin story: They were the students \nat Coachella Valley High School in Thermal who left for college in the \nbig city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coachella Valley Unified trustee Maria Machuca went to \nSan Bernardino. Perez and Garcia to Riverside. Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-Palm \nDesert), UCLA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s when everyone realized they grew up on the wrong side of the proverbial tracks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\n knew things were going on, things here that weren\u2019t right, but couldn\u2019t\n put it together,\u201d said Machuca, who still lives in the unincorporated \ncommunity of Mecca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019d come back and drive 20 minutes down the\n road, and you\u2019re in Indian Wells,\u201d Ruiz said. \u201cYou\u2019d ask yourself, \u2018Why\n the disparities?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The former classmates formed a group<\/a>\n that held spoken-word nights and community workshops, where residents \ntold them they felt they had no voice on the council. They then began to\n run for school boards and council seats before scoring a series of \nprominent upsets \u2014 Perez beat a former Palm Springs police chief for an \nAssembly seat in 2008, while first-time candidate Ruiz won the congressional office held by longtime incumbent Mary Bono Mack in 2012<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\n old guard is still adapting to this new reality: Not a single member of\n the board of directors for Democrats of the Desert, the official club \nin the Coachella Valley, is Latino or was born in the region. But as \nthey\u2019ve assumed power, the Coachella class has learned to work with \nopponents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perez cites his close relationship with Brian Nestande, a fixture in Southern California GOP circles and a former assembly member who is Riverside County\u2019s deputy chief executive. \u201cIt\u2019s easier to get what you want when you talk to people in good faith,\u201d Perez said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lupe Ramos Amith, 56, has served on the Indio City Council since 2004\n and cracks: \u201cI\u2019m old enough to be the aunt\u201d of Coachella\u2019s politicians.\n A supporter of President Trump, she left the Republican Party last year\n and is now unaffiliated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet she has worked with Garcia, Perez \nand others to bring opportunities to the East Valley: a satellite campus\n of the College of the Desert in Indio, the expansion of the Desert \nHealthcare District \u2014 which governs public hospitals and clinics in the \nregion \u2014 beyond the West Valley. Her bipartisanship has drawn the ire<\/a> of local GOP politicians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She says those critics don\u2019t get it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\n can stand up regardless of our political differences, because we grew \nup here,\u201d Ramos Amith said. \u201cWe get what our hometowns need, and we all \nwork in our own way toward it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For millennial politicians such as Indio Councilman Oscar Ortiz, his older colleagues have set an example to build upon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"492520_a-me-latino-politicians-coachella_6_AJS.JPG\"\/
Juan Gallegos walks through Veteran\u2019s Memorial Park in Coachella.
(Allen J. Schaben\/Los Angeles Times) <\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The 31-year-old heads Sanders\u2019 campaign office for the region. Born \nin Mexicali and raised by a farmworker father and a mother who cleans \nhouses, he graduated from Stanford University with a degree in chemistry\n before running for City Council in 2018. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have the privilege \nof seeing these movements before us,\u201d he said outside the Sanders \nheadquarters, housed at Casa del Trabajador, a historic building in \ndowntown Coachella where Cesar Chavez once organized agricultural \nworkers.
\u201cThey opened up the gateway.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mural
People walk by one of the numerous community murals in downtown Coachella at dusk.
(Allen J. Schaben \/ Los Angeles Times) <\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At a December rally in front of the Casa del Trabajador, Mayor Hernandez introduced Sanders to the crowd. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTio Bernie, as we refer to him in Coachella, knows that it\u2019s time to create a new chapter in America.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A more equitable chapter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI tell a lot of my friends: You see those private planes flying over us?\u201d Hernandez said. \u201cIf those well-to-do individuals want to call the Coachella Valley home, we can\u2019t be eager to run out of here. So why can\u2019t we work toward making it for us instead of them?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gustavo Arellano is a features writer for the Los Angeles Times, covering Southern California everything and a bunch of the West and beyond. He previously worked at OC Weekly, where he was an investigative reporter for 15 years and editor for six, wrote a column called \u00a1Ask a Mexican! and is the author of \u201cTaco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America.\u201d He\u2019s the child of two Mexican immigrants, one of whom came to this country in the trunk of a Chevy.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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