Column: Reparations for Chavez Ravine families? Not so fast, say some descendants

Larry Herrera-Cabrera’s email to me in May was as polite as it was challenging. He reached out shortly after The Times editorial board wrote about proposed state legislation that would attempt to right the wrong of Chavez Ravine. Sponsored by Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo, the bill would require the city of Los Angeles to erect a monument to the families, most of them Latino, who were pushed out in the 1950s to make way for Dodger Stadium. The city would also have to create a task force to study reparations for the “large, long-lasting disparities” faced by those families and their descendants. Bemoaning what happened in Chavez Ravine is part of the modern L.A. gospel. I’ve read essays by former residents decrying what happened, read books and seen plays and documentaries that captured their plight and enjoyed Ry Cooder’s 2005 concept album, “Chávez Ravine,” which gathered Chicano music legends — Little Willie G, Lalo Guerrero, Ersi Arviz and Don Totsi, among others — to sing about the sordid saga from beginning to end. That’s why I found Herrera-Cabrera’s email so fascinating. “My wife and I are both descendants of three families that lived in Chavez Ravine up to 1950,” he began....