Word: five
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Dates: during 1990-1990
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...county's 9 million residents -- the largest concentration of Latinos in any U.S. urban area. Now a coalition of Hispanic groups, together with the Justice Department and the American Civil Liberties Union, is challenging the white board members' monopoly in federal court. Their lawsuit charges that the five-man board intentionally gerrymandered election districts to keep Latinos out of office. Hispanic activists across the nation regard the case as a key part of their strategy for achieving "number power" -- political representation that is commensurate with the group's burgeoning population...
...each supervisor representing approximately 1.5 million people -- more than the combined size of three congressional districts -- the Los Angeles County board is the most powerful local-government body in the country, wielding broad executive and legislative powers. The suit asserts that in order to preserve their political bases the five white supervisors, in violation of the federal Voting Rights Act, drafted a redistricting plan in 1981 that deliberately diluted Latino voting strength by splitting the county's then 2 million Hispanics among three districts. The board, charges A.C.L.U. attorney Mark Rosenbaum, is "the most powerful and enduring all- whites club...
...after its founding in 1948. Last year 12,923 arrived from the Soviet Union; this year the government expects between 70,000 and 100,000, and some Israeli officials estimate that up to 700,000 Soviet Jews might make aliyah, the "ascent" to Israel, over the next three to five years. The prospect fills Israeli leaders with joy: immigration has slumped, and in some recent years it has been equaled and possibly surpassed by emigration. Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir spoke for many of his fellow right-wing politicians when he said, "Big immigration requires Israel to be big as well...
...Nonsense, retorted the Israelis. Not only are immigrants free to choose where they will live, officials say, but in the past five years, only 1,397 have taken up residence in the West Bank (total population: over 1 million Arabs and nearly 80,000 Israelis), and of the 12,923 Soviet Jews who arrived last year, only 138 have settled there. Most immigrants prefer urban living and are not eager to expose themselves to the dangers of life on Israel's frontier. Even if they were willing to, there is a chronic shortage of housing...
...Soviet Jews have moved to the West Bank, what is the fuss about? The vital issue is the overall growth of Israel as a regional power. As Shamir put it, "In five years we won't be able to recognize this country. Everything will change, everything will be bigger, stronger." The Arab states correctly read this to mean that Israel is counting on the surge of immigration to ensure its domination of its neighbors for decades to come. No matter how clearly the Arabs see that threat, their pressure is unlikely to force Gorbachev to choke off Jewish emigration from...