O.C. Blacks Use Events as Rallying Points to Honor History, Culture

When Tony Faulkner joined the Orange County chapter of 100 Black Men, his first question was the same as so many others who learn of the national service organization.

“We all joke about whether there are 100 black men in Orange County,” said Faulkner, a Laguna Niguel real estate agent.

In fact, of Orange County’s 2.8 million residents, about 60,000 are African American, according to U.S. census figures.

But because the county has no predominantly black neighborhoods or business districts, the celebration of black heritage and culture is mostly driven by the calendar, including today’s observance of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday and Black History Month in February.

Today’s events include a 10 a.m. program at the Anaheim Plaza Hotel, 11 a.m. services sponsored by the NAACP at the Second Baptist Church in Santa Ana, and an event organized by the Alpha Phi Alpha national service organization in which participants will gather at an Irvine field to harvest crops for the hungry.

UC Irvine has scheduled a talk at noon Wednesday at the Cross Culture Center and, on Thursday, a noon rally at the student center and remarks at 7 p.m. by Aaron McGruder, creator of the comic strip “The Boondocks.”

Because Orange County’s African Americans aren’t linked by neighborhoods, they have created “an event-driven community,” said Bobby McDonald, president of the Black Chamber of Commerce of Orange County in Santa Ana.

Old-timers remember three decades ago, when about 27,000 African Americans created a vibrant black community in Santa Ana, between Edinger Avenue and 1st Street from Bristol to Fairview streets, said John McReynolds, senior pastor of Second Baptist Church. There was good soul food, including collard greens and ham hocks, and good music at places like Club Gardens and the 500 Club.

Bruce Dunhams, who heads code enforcement for Santa Ana -- with a population that is 75% Latino -- noted, “They don’t sell greens around here anymore.”

Among the reasons: Most black residents sold their homes for handsome profits and moved elsewhere in Orange County and beyond.

There are so few African Americans in Orange County -- fewer than 2% of the countywide population -- that some stop one another, even as strangers, to exchange phone numbers.

Panama Joe’s Hair Design, an Irvine barber shop, has thrived as an oasis for African American men who once drove to Los Angeles for haircuts.

“We’ll do any kind of hair, but this is definitely a hangout for a lot of black people, women too,” said owner Joe Gayle. “There’s nowhere else to go in Irvine.”

While old-timers moved here after military service at El Toro or the Marine Corps Air Station in Tustin, those who arrived in the last decade were more likely to be corporate professionals, and the most recent were drawn by service sector jobs, said the Rev. James Carrington of Friendship Baptist Church in Yorba Linda. The church draws 3,000 active members from throughout Southern California.

Thomas Parham, UC Irvine’s assistant vice chancellor for counseling and health services, said the black community was “dispersed, but the sense of collective survival creates connectiveness on social, educational, political economic and spiritual issues.”

The price of living in a secure, aesthetically pleasing environment with good schools, he said, is cultural isolation.

“Affluence does not take away the challenges we confront on a daily basis,” Parham said. “Our kids still struggle to find cultural comfort zones in schools and neighborhoods they occupy. Black parents have challenges with school systems. Black citizens have issues with law enforcement and employers.”

Even after garnering six-digit salaries, they know they can be followed by a security guard in a department store, Parham said.

Parham helped found the county chapter of 100 Black Men in 1993. Its 52 members, he said, enjoy the camaraderie of other African American professionals and philanthropy work, including providing scholarships to teenagers. The organization’s motto is “Real Men Giving Real Time.”

The group meets monthly at a Newport Beach private school where one member was a trustee, and offer African American history classes twice a month to 50 teens.

The Delta Sigma Theta national service sorority established its local chapter in 1978. The group, for women with college diplomas, encourages 11- to 14-year-old girls to enroll in challenging courses in math, science and technology.

A new Irvine church, Christ Our Redeemer African Methodist Episcopal Church, has grown to 800 members since its inception a few years ago.

At least once every three months, a major dinner event is sponsored by organizations such as 100 Black Men, 100 Black Women, the Orange Chapter of the NAACP and the Black Chamber of Commerce, McDonald said.

But the black community has still found it necessary to turn to nonblack organizations for help in championing black culture.

When Orange County’s Black History Parade needed more funds last year, organizers renamed the event as the more inclusive Multicultural Parade and Faire.

But the uneasy feeling among some founders led this year’s Feb. 5 edition to be rechristened again as the Orange County Black History Multicultural Parade and Faire.

“Orange County does have tremendous opportunity, and we have been able to carve out spaces,” Parham said. “But one has to learn the art of integration very fast here.”