"These Communities Have the Most to Gain from Valley Cityhood": Color-Blind Rhetoric of Urban Secession in Los Angeles, 1996-2002

Activists in the San Fernando Valley between 1996 and 2002 renewed efforts to secede from the city of Los Angeles. The movement mobilized many of the constituencies and grievances associated with the 1970s tax revolt and anti-busing protests in the Valley. While mostly white homeowners' associations were the principal activists for secession, they needed to enlist the Valley's Latino population. Though secession failed, Valley activists crafted a color-blind rhetoric of community empowerment that won support from many Valley Latinos and offers a preview of future metropolitan politics as whites retain economic privilege but lose demographic predominance.