A unifying election?

If Barack Obama wants to win Central Florida and carry the state in November, he'll need the votes of Hispanics, who constitute 14 percent of the region's registered voters.

For that to happen, Obama must prove himself as the candidate who can transcend the everyday differences that separate blacks and Hispanics.

In Central Florida, the two minority groups have many issues in common -- discrimination, health care, public education -- but diverge when it comes to language, jobs and immigration.

To many blacks, such as 61-year-old Lamont Flournoy Sr., it comes down to a competition for jobs. Many businesses that once hired blacks now prefer Hispanics because they will perform the same work for less money, he said.

Other blacks pick up on racism from Hispanics who come from countries where discrimination against blacks is as bad, or worse, as in the United States, said University of Central Florida history Professor Vibert White. And even though blacks and Hispanics both experience prejudice from whites, some blacks say they perceive Hispanics as receiving better treatment because of their skin color,

"Hispanics see themselves as being white," said Chodry Andre, 31, a barber, who is black. "They go through some of what we go through, but not all of what we go through."

Hispanics contend that whatever differences they have with blacks, race is not the main issue. The bulk of Central Florida's Hispanic population has Caribbean roots, originating from racially mixed places such as Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Dominican Republic, where a significant portion of the population is of African descent.

Power shift

More of a problem than racism is a lack of familiarity between the two groups, a lack of common history and a shifting balance of power.

"Remember that African-Americans had been the largest minority in the United States for all of the country's history," said Ada V. Garcia, a Hispanic events organizer. "But they have seen that we are growing rapidly and that we are taking their place."

In Orlando, there have been several attempts to create coalitions between blacks and Hispanics. In 2001, after Hispanics surpassed blacks as the largest minority in Florida, the Orange branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People talked about recruiting Hispanics into the civil-rights organization. It never happened.

"I don't think there's been a great effort on the part of the African-American and Latino communities to join efforts," said Gerald Bell, former president of the Orange branch of the NAACP.

Several years ago, there were efforts to form an alliance between the state conference of the NAACP in Orlando and Latino Leadership, a Hispanic-advocacy group. But nothing came of it.

"It wasn't way up on the list of priorities," said Beverlye Colson Neal, executive director of the Florida State Conference of the NAACP.

Since then, the two communities have drifted further apart, said Latino Leadership President Marytza Sanz.

"Latinos and blacks coming together, I don't see that happening," Sanz said.

The division between the black and Hispanic communities became apparent in 2006 when, in one of the largest protest marches in Orlando's history, more than 20,000 Hispanics showed up in support of immigration reform. Although black leadership endorsed the march, black residents watched from the sidelines.

"The reason many blacks didn't join them is that before that, they [Hispanics] had ignored them," White said.

Lack of bad blood

Ignoring each other largely defines the history of relations between blacks and Hispanics in Orlando. The city has not experienced the clashes between the two minorities found in other cities. They haven't engaged in the bitter political battles between black and Hispanic candidates in Miami, Los Angeles and Houston. They haven't experienced the residential turf wars -- Hispanics moving into historically black neighborhoods -- found in other cities.

And that lack of bad blood might benefit Obama when Central Florida Hispanics go the polls in November.

"It is still possible that Mr. Obama is going to transcend the divisions that separate Latino and black Americans," White said. "He is a special type of African-American. He is looked upon as a benign individual who understands class, culture, heritage and race among various groups."

Arthur Watson, a 62-year-old Frito-Lay worker, thinks the economic hard times will win Obama the Hispanic vote. "The economy applies to people everywhere, no matter what the race. If you are a working person, the economy has you by the throat."

And there's another reason Hispanics will vote for Obama over John McCain, Watson contends: "Hispanics will vote for him out of party loyalty. They are loyal people."

In Obama's favor, Hispanics in Central Florida are predominantly Democratic. Of the 194,000 Hispanic registered voters in Orange, Seminole, Osceola, Lake and Volusia counties, 42 percent are Democrats; 20 percent, Republican.

Just as recent national polls have reflected, many Central Florida Hispanics are overcoming their initial skepticism to support Obama.

"For Latinos, he is a person of color who is talking about our issues, and it's important to put our support behind him without necessarily letting go of our concerns," said Evelyn Luciano-Carter, a consultant on diversity issues who is Puerto Rican and married to an African-American man.

For her husband, Mel Carter, a United Parcel Service account executive, Obama represents a chance to unite. "I think there is an opportunity to bridge these two cultures together."

Written By Jeff Kunerth and Victor Manuel Ramos
Sentinel Staff Writers