Xavier Hermosillo

* I have known Xavier Hermosillo for five years. His politics are quite different from mine. I am a moderate Democrat and he is a conservative Republican. I am an Anglo and he is a Latino. Most important, I have never heard him express a bigoted or racist remark in all the time I have known him.

His primary contention is that the needs of Latinos--in almost all aspects of American life (employment, education, career advancement, community services, etc.)--are being woefully ignored. If this brands him a radical then he joins the ranks of such men as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who said: “If a man hasn’t found something he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.”

CLIVE FINCHAMP

La Verne

* The real issue is that although Hermosillo cannot be accused of graduating from the Henry Kissinger school of diplomacy nor labeled a political leader, he has galvanized Latino public opinion by making us realize that we, as Latinos, must stand for our own issues and voice them. No longer can we let others address our concerns through their views. It is we who must now address these issues as we perceive them.

The Latino community and Americans of Mexican ancestry in particular have for too long been led, ring nosed, through the political wasteland. Always providing winning margins for all, always being the docile “coalesced group” that is promised everything yet given very little.

Hermosillo’s comments regarding the taking over of Los Angeles house by house is more a cry of frustration than some sort of guerrilla attack on any ethnic group. Granted his comments are divisive. They are, however, true to the extent that the Latino community is discussing it.

FRANK C. MORENO

Acting Director

Hispanic-American Businesses

of Los Angeles