School bias exhibit to join parade in Surf City

In the face of public pressure, organizers of Huntington Beach’s Fourth of July parade have reversed themselves and will permit a vintage Volkswagen bus that honors the Orange County lawsuit that desegregated California schools to be in this year’s procession.

Filmmaker Sandra Robbie, whose Magical History Tour bus celebrates the 1947 Mendez vs. Westminster School District decision, said the parade coordinator called her Thursday to confirm her place in the parade.

Organizers originally rejected the entry on the grounds that it lacked “entertainment value,” but news reports generated a flood of protest.

“Right now, 70% of Orange County has no idea that segregation ever existed here, so when I submitted my application it was news to [the parade board],” Robbie said. “I think they were unaware, and so they were wary.”

Before resolution of the Mendez case, Latinos and whites in Westminster were sent to separate schools.

Robbie said the bus would be on display after the parade and visitors would be able to speak to Sylvia Mendez, whose parents filed the groundbreaking lawsuit after Westminster barred her and her brothers from a whites-only school. “The way that everybody’s come together is really a true salute to the American spirit, which is what the theme of the parade is,” Robbie said.

Parade organizers could not be reached for comment.