Boyle Heights Is Where Democracy Happens
Celebrating a Los Angeles Neighborhood Nexus for New Arrivals, Community Organizing, and Creativity
The Los Angeles neighborhood of Boyle Heights has long demonstrated the resiliency, openness to immigrants, and commitment to democratic action that the United States desperately needs now, said speakers at a Zócalo event last night.
The event, titled “Can Boyle Heights Save America?” streamed online. But it was deeply grounded in the small details and larger meanings of a neighborhood—sitting above the Los Angeles River, across from downtown and between the 10 and 5 freeways—that has long been a place for Southern California’s new arrivals.
USC historian and professor of American studies …
