The first Hispanic Los Angeles mayor in a hundred years, Antonio Villaraigosa, says he’s a peacemaker. Tragically, he has been given his first test.

On July 10, 2005, a 19-month-old Hispanic child, Suzie Marie Pena, was shot to death as her father, Jose Raul Pena, held her in his arms. The police said the father was using the baby as a human shield and they had no choice in shooting her. A story contradicted by the child’s mother, witnesses and other relatives.

What incenses me, besides the fact that any human being would shoot 90 rounds at a man holding a baby, is the city officials’ determination to treat this whole hateful incident as a matter of business as usual. The LAPD released a report exonerating the 11 officers involved, to no one’s surprise. It seems to me the community should have been given, along with the results of the investigation, an honest, sincere public apology from all high-ranking Los Angeles officials. Instead, after having been exposed to an ugly, vocal display of self-defense, governing arrogance and denial, they were subjected to a deafening indifference.

I understand the official class’s motivation in upholding the actions of their respective police forces. Showing support for them encourages community respect, aids in law and order, and sends a signal to law officers that their considerable contribution to our society is appreciated and honored. But city officials should not find themselves knee-jerking this response as if they were little more than feudal warlords flexing the strength of their local armies.

The power of the American governing class is not only in the strength of those they gather for law enforcement but in their ability to influence people to have understanding and compassion for different community groups other than their own. And this influence should extend not only to the members of the community but to the law officers who police those communities. A necessity to keep our cities and towns from disintegrating into a collection of warring factions along with those of many other countries around the world.

Because this country is diversifying so quickly, and not assimilating as rapidly as in the past, there is a potential danger of this, even if only initially on a much smaller scale. It seems to me to offset new risks it is essential to change the traditional view of the police force as infallible. People know that police officers are human beings and human beings make mistakes, but they also know sometimes they do things that are not just mistakes but are the willful evil acts of people who should not be in uniform. And that is

This incident further shows that the LAPD is in need of current reform. In the past bold police chiefs have forced out dozens of corrupt officers and restructured the department’s policies. It appears that now what is in need of reform, more than anything else, are the hearts of not only the police officers involved, but the entire LAPD culture that is seeking to justify their actions.

Hopefully, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will help hold these officers accountable. Perhaps, he will call into question the words of a boorish police chief who has not even sense enough to apologize.

If this were an isolated event, it would still not have been understandable, but the previous death of an unarmed thirteen-year-old in February warrants closer inspection as well as the LAPD's historical record when dealing with disenfranchised populations.

I understand Mayor Villaraigosa view of his role as a peacemaker, but too often people of ethnic groups elected to office have used this as an excuse to do nothing. It’s called the “go along to get along” policy and feckless politicians of, admittedly, any race do it. I would ask him, though, to consider this: Having been elected the first Hispanic mayor in a hundred years, has he considered that he has been elected to office at this time for a reason? That perhaps he was providentially selected to finally give a voice to people who have none. And that maybe he was elected to deter Los Angeles from manically racing down a road that will inevitably lead it to pockets of anarchy.

Because Villaraigosa is Hispanic, I would also hope he would view his ethnicity, not as irrelevant as so many do, but as an opportunity. Different cultures do enrich each other, in more ways than just through entertainment and sports. They add a richness of meaning by helping their counterparts to see things in new dimensions, enlivening linear thought processes that have long since been deadened by the scourge of sameness. I would hope that he would help his administrative counterparts to see this tragedy as an opportunity to help bring about real opportunities within the community, real reform within the LAPD, and real change in the thinking of the local governing body, which is long overdue.

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