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Before coming to Claremont and learning more about Los Angeles, I had always gotten the impression that Victor Villaraigosa was a pretty good guy; he had grown up in East Los Angeles, went to UCLA and became a labor organizer.  I later chose to do a research paper on how Villaraigosa won the 2005 mayoral election after he was defeated by the same opponent, James K. Hahn, in 2001.  

                What I found was that James Hahn had won in 2001 by mobilizing the Black vote.  He did this by reminding Black voters how his father, Kenneth Hahn (someone who was mention in our readings) had supported many civil rights issues while he was county supervisor.  James Hahn even boasted about growing up in Crenshaw, even though the community was primarily white when he lived there.  Ultimately, the Black community was credited with giving James Hahn a boost in defeating Villaraigosa.  After the election, it was suggested by the Los Angeles Times that Villaraigosa show the black community that the high Latino population would not destroy the political participation of African Americans.   

                However, during James Hahn’s days in the mayoral office, he chose to fire Bernard Parks, the Los Angeles Police Chief, and also a prominent figure in the Black community.  With this decision, many of the people in the African American felt betrayed by Hahn.  And so, in 2005, Villaraigosa showed the black population that he could represent them by meeting with popular leaders like Parks and other political members in their community.  That is not to neglect the great impact Latino voters had on helping Villaraigosa win.  In 2005, the Latino population came out in the highest numbers than ever before, the most being in East Los Angeles where Villaraigosa grew up. Villaraigosa had become the first Latino mayor of Los Angeles in over one hundred years.

                The reason I bring up Villaraigosa’s victory is because it always seemed to me that he represented Los Angeles in many ways.  He was born and raised there, he was a minority, and even worked to improve the situation of his fellow community members.  I believed that he would have a great impact on the city, being that he grew up on those streets and saw the injustices taking place.  However, when I went to see The Garden, I realized how much one could change when politics come into play.  The Garden exposed Villaraigosa making deals with forever 21 to support his campaign, the same company who was planning to build a factory on the community garden.  Sure, Villaraigosa talked a lot about how he supported the farm workers, but he never acted on it. Instead, he watched the trees come crashing down.  Throughout many of readings and films, we have seen the huge impact politicians have on various movements, and how they could make or break a certain cause.  What we tend to see is that most times (not all the time) the main concern is how the political figure is going to get re-elected.  What that boils down to is who is receiving the most money in their campaign, no matter how much one is supposed to be connected or involved in the community.