A Search for Unity: Rudy Lozano and Coalition Building in Chicago

A New Higher Stage

It is through political action that we will be able to make those fundamental changes in our society to end the exploitation of man by man. Rudy Lozano, Speech on May Day 1979 

 

Latinx Chicagoans had long been involved in the city’s politics both as progressive grassroots outsiders and as power brokers who worked alongside the entrenched Democratic Party machine. Neighborhoods like Pilsen and Little Village had large Latinx populations, but these groups represented only a small percentage of active voters. In the early 1980s, Latinx activists and community organizers turned towards electoral politics. They argued that their communities should run their own candidates for office and turn out more voters to have their voices heard within City Hall. The Near West Side Independent Political Organization formed in 1982 to organize campaigns that would challenge machine candidates. The group elected Lozano as its vice president.  

In 1983 Lozano ran for alderman of the 22nd Ward, which represented Pilsen and Little Village. He also worked on behalf of Harold Washington’s campaign for mayor. Lozano helped form a multiracial coalition based on “unity among Black, Latino, and white workers” that propelled the city’s first Black mayor to office. Although Lozano lost his bid for alderman, he began working with Washington’s transition team and was expected to play a key role in the new mayor’s administration.  
 

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Una nueva etapa superior

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