Some Firsts Shouldn’t Make Us So Proud

Take a moment for this quiz on local historic figures, all of whose names have appeared in the papers recently.

Do you know who Harry Gatlin is?

Lupe Rodriguez?

How about Nho Trong Nguyen?

Who is Michael Todaro?

If you answered all four correctly, award yourself $1 million and then ask yourself this question:

Will the day ever come when people like them aren’t considered newsmakers for the reasons they are now--namely, the color of their skin, their gender or their ethnicity?

My answer is, thankfully, yes. It will happen during the course of the 21st century, as the country’s [and this county’s] melting pot melts even more.

For now, though, each of these people made local headlines because he or she represented a “first.”

Gatlin was the first African American named to head the Orange County grand jury.

Rodriguez scored a double coup. She became the first woman to head a large Orange County union, the Laborers International No. 652. She also became the first woman to head a large male-dominated union.

Nguyen was named last week to be the first Vietnamese American judge on the Orange County Superior Court. Ironically (or, perhaps, typically) he filled the vacancy left by Judge Kathleen O’Leary, who had been appointed a state appellate judge but before that had been the first female presiding judge of the Orange County Superior Court.

Todaro may be the most surprising trailblazer. He’s been named president of Little Saigon’s Vietnamese American Chamber of Commerce, the first non-Vietnamese to get the job.

We Still Look First at Group Identity

I don’t want to be crabby about it, but their achievements don’t suggest a celebration to me. It reminds me that society usually moves with unforgivable slowness in opening doors and getting beyond stereotypes. It also means we’re still more hung up on group identity than personal identity.

We love “firsts” in this country. It’s one of our obsessions.

When it’s the first man to walk on the moon, I love them too. I still like reading about the first member of a family to go to college or a team’s first winning season.

But when it comes to racial, ethnic or gender breakthroughs, these “successes” point out our failings.

I’ve never met Harry Gatlin, but I can guarantee you he isn’t the first African American resident of Orange County qualified to head a grand jury.

Nor is Lupe Rodriguez the first woman to have the skills to run a large union.

Nguyen’s appointment represents the emergence of Vietnamese emigrants into Orange County. As such, however, what kind of judge he’ll be becomes almost secondary to his ethnicity.

Likewise with Todaro. Normally, the president of a Chamber of Commerce doesn’t get much ink. Again, ethnicity trumps personal identity.

Whether it’s Geraldine Ferraro being nominated for vice president or Jackie Robinson breaking baseball’s color line, we too often pat ourselves on the back instead of being embarrassed.

Robinson may be the best example. His ability and grace under pressure aside, what he really represented was the first black ballplayer that the major leagues decided to let in.

I always wonder if these pioneers aren’t privately insulted or angry that they’re breaking ground that should have been broken long ago. I wonder if they feel slighted as individuals, knowing they’re assigned a group banner.

Oh, well.

Logic suggests that as these “firsts” continue to occur, we’ll eventually exhaust the possibilities and acknowledge people for who they are and not what demographic group they fall into.

You think so? Well, we’re not quite there yet.

While writing this, I glanced at the sports wire and read that Venus Williams had won the women’s singles title at Wimbledon. The first paragraph noted that Williams is the first black woman to win Wimbledon . . .

Since 1958, that is.

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Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Readers may reach Parsons by calling (714) 966-7821 or by e-mail to dana.parsons@latimes.com.