NEW COALITION SEEKS HEALING BLACK, LATINO LEADERS JOIN HANDS FOR GOOD WILL.

Byline: Dan Laidman Staff Writer

Clutching the emblematic red flag of the United Farm Workers movement, the Rev. Al Sharpton on Monday launched a new coalition aimed at quelling racial tension between Los Angeles' black and Latino communities.

The New York civil-rights figure and political power broker joined several West Coast groups to form the Latino & African American Leadership Alliance. The formation of the group follows a number of incidents of violence between black and Latino students at area schools and seeks to reduce tensions ahead of the beginning of school next month for most students.

``We don't have the luxury of school opening and our kids planning now how to be at each other's throats and we do nothing about it,'' Sharpton said.

The coalition will sponsor community forums, outreach to churches, school assemblies, and partnerships with influential radio stations and hip-hop performers, organizers said.

``The young leadership in L.A., we're spearheading this,'' said Najee Ali, of Project Islamic Hope.

Speaking at an art gallery in Leimert Park, Sharpton was joined by Oscar Gonzales of the National Hispanic Environmental Council and Christine Chavez of the United Farm Workers. Chavez read a supportive telegram Martin Luther King Jr. sent to her grandfather, Cesar Chavez, when the UFW founder was on a hunger strike in 1968 to call attention to the struggle of California field laborers.

``Here in Los Angeles there is a growing need for unity, peace and friendship between our communities,'' Chavez said.

The group's first event will be a march on Aug. 11 that will start at the flash point of the Watts Riots 40 years ago and end at the site of the July 10 shootout that left Susie Pena dead. Officers killed the infant while trading fire with her father, Jose Raul Pena, who was holding her in his arms.

Sharpton, who often visits the sites of racially charged incidents outside his home state, came to Los Angeles in the wake of the Pena shooting. He said he was disturbed at the undercurrent of tension between African-Americans and Latinos.

Recent months have seen fights between students of different races at several high schools and racial taunts have flown back and forth at community meetings.

Given the climate, any attempt at coalition-building should be seen as positive, said Rabbi Allen Freehling, the executive director of the Los Angeles Human Relations Commission. While he welcomed Sharpton's input, he said he also ``would hope that ... the leadership would come from Angelenos themselves.''

Dan Laidman, [phone]

dan.laidman(at)dailynews.com

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The Rev. Al Sharpton and Christine Chavez, an official of the United Farm Workers and granddaughter of UFW founder Cesar Chavez, announce the formation of a coalition aimed at easing tensions between L.A.'s black and Latino communities.

Evan Yee/Staff Photographer