LOS ANGELES — As Inauguration Day nears, minority communities are looking to rebuild bridges after political experts say there was a seismic shift in Latino support for President-elect Donald Trump. This left many in the Black community who voted for Vice President Kamala Harris feeling betrayed and abandoned.
Dominique DiPrima is the first Black woman to host a solo-commercial talk radio show on KBLA during the morning drive in Los Angeles. She said she doesn’t take that responsibility lightly.
This morning's show features many perspectives and DiPrima’s work focuses on issues concerning the Black community. It’s why she says she’s so active in the political landscape, not only campaigning for Kamala Harris but also speaking out against Donald Trump leading up to the election.
When he won, DiPrima said she and many in the Black community felt abandoned by other races after seeing the statistics of who voted for Trump.
“I put up a number of posts being disappointed, with white women, being disappointed with Latinos, because it seems like they often expect us to be in solidarity with them around issues of immigration, around issues in the schools, etc. and yet they were not in solidarity with us," she explained.
Exit polls revealed a significant increase in support for Trump among Latino voters. In the days following the election, this data drew a strong divide between the minorities across social media.
"You could say it's not personal, except when it comes to Trump, and I'll tell you why," DiPrima said. "It's a paraphrasing of what James Baldwin said: 'I support your right to a difference of opinion, except when your difference of opinion threatens my very safety and existence.'"
While the sense of betrayal is understandable, USC Professor of Sociology and American Studies and Ethnicity Dr. Manuel Pastor said there’s also a level of misunderstanding at play here.
He said the Latino political identity is still under construction and isn’t necessarily aligned with the experiences of Black voters.
"I think some of the reaction saying, 'Gosh, how did Latinos abandon us, is a reaction that should instead be — what is the political work that Latinos need to do to forge that coalition?" Pastor said. "And what's the political work we all need to do to reinforce a sense of common interests?”
They're common interests that David Hernandez, chair of the Los Angeles Hispanic Republican Club, said he’s found among other Latinos who supported Trump.
After conducting extensive research, Hernandez said he found Trump was the only choice to restore the economy, one of the top issues that drove voters to the polls this election.
"The economy was so much better, the cost of food, the cost of fuel, which impacts everyone," Hernandez explained. "I mean, that was what people really need at this point in time.”
As he and his friends walk through a street lined with Mexican-owned businesses headed to a community meeting in the Alvarado District, David said he supports any candidate he feels will do the most good for the people and the only way forward is to find unity.
"If we want to come together as a community, the more we identify what we have in common as far as dealing with local issues, the better it's going to be," he said.
To the issue of finding micro issues to find common ground on, Dominique agrees, saying she implores everyone to take their education into their own hands.
"At the end of the day, we must go forward with hope and not backward by fear and division," a Jesse Jackson quote DiPrima read as she closes her show, saying it is more relevant today than ever before.