TimesOC: O.C. man who helped desegregate schools is honored
Good morning and welcome to the TimesOC newsletter.
It’s Friday, Feb. 11. I’m Ben Brazil, bringing you the latest roundup of Orange County news and events.
Many may not realize that Orange County played a pivotal role in desegregating California schools.
About 75 years ago, the decision in Mendez v. Westminster declared segregated Mexican schools illegal in California. During that time in the 1940s, more than 80% of Mexican students were attending separate schools from white students. The “Mexican schools” prohibited Spanish and trained boys for industrial and agricultural work and girls for housekeeping.
Mexican parents rose up, wanting more for their children. One of those parents and activists, Lorenzo Ramirez, was finally honored this week by the city of Orange. A bust of Ramirez was installed in front of the Santiago Canyon Library in Orange a few years ago, and the Orange Unified School District issued a proclamation in 2011 honoring him, but as my colleague Gabriel San Román wrote, the city had never explicitly honored its own historic plaintiff in the case.
As part of the honor, Orange City Councilwoman Ana Gutierrez presented a proclamation for the legacy of Ramirez and the historic civil rights case. Officials from Rep. Lou Correa, Rep. Katie Porter, state Sen. Dave Min, state Sen. Tom Umberg and Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley all attended in honor of Lorenzo’s memory.
Michael Ramirez, one of Lorenzo’s surviving sons, told San Román that the family was ecstatic.
“I just wish my other brothers, Jim and Nacho, who actually went to the segregated school, could be here,” Ramirez said.
After migrating to El Modena from Mexico, Lorenzo attended Roosevelt Elementary with white classmates in the 1920s, San Román wrote. After spending some years in Whittier and Gilroy as a ranch foreman in charge of the bracero program, Lorenzo and his wife returned to El Modena in 1944 to take care of his father.
Lorenzo tried to enroll his three sons into his old school, but he was denied. Instead, Lorenzo was forced to enroll his children at a nearby “Mexican school.”
“My father was told that they didn’t have enough desks at Roosevelt,” Ramirez told San Román. “He was forced to have my brothers go to the Mexican school.”
Lorenzo then joined with the Guzman, Palomino, Estrada and Mendez families to challenge segregation in Santa Ana, Westminster, Garden Grove and El Modena school districts. The case ended up laying the groundwork for Brown v. Board of Education, the historic U.S. Supreme Court school desegregation case.
In addition to his work on the Mendez case, Lorenzo was a staunch activist throughout his life, testifying before a hearing on the mistreatment of braceros, serving as president of the Latin American League in El Modena, leading the Asociación Progresista Mexicana and an active member of La Purisima Catholic Church.
Due to his father’s activism, when Ramirez started elementary school in 1960, Mexican schools no longer existed. Six years later, Lorenzo passed away.
“I’m hoping my father’s legacy inspires kids to further their education,” Ramirez said.
MORE NEWS
An emergency warning system sounded through Laguna Beach on Thursday as residents were forced to evacuate due to a wildfire bearing down on homes. In addition to the evacuations, Laguna Beach Unified School District closed its four campuses and the district office. The incident brought to mind the devastating Laguna Beach fire of 1993, one of the 20 largest fire losses in U.S. history.
We’ve learned that getting COVID-19 is only part of the problem. For sufferers of long COVID, debilitating symptoms continue for months after the sickness. But there may be some hope for folks after a UC Irvine study suggests that allergy medications may improve these symptoms. My colleague Gabriel San Román has the story.
An Orange County multimillionaire was sentenced to 15 years to life for strangling and drowning his wife in the bathroom of their Newport Beach home in 2012. Police said Peter Chadwick wrapped his wife in a comforter and dumped her body in a trash bin. Chadwick ended up on the U.S. Marshals Service’s 15 Most Wanted fugitive list for leading authorities on a manhunt through the U.S., Canada and Mexico, wrote my colleague Hannah Fry.
A new UC Irvine study shows that being suspended or expelled from school can have lasting effects for students. As one example, high school students who are suspended or expelled are more than twice as likely to be charged or convicted of a crime and incarcerated as a young adult. They are also more likely to earn less income, require food assistance and are less likely to pursue college. Black students suffer a disproportionate amount of school discipline and fare worse into adulthood due to the impact of school punishments, researchers stated.
In response to the damage caused by the Huntington Beach oil spill, an Orange County state legislator has introduced a bill to ban offshore oil drilling by 2024. Reporter Phil Willon wrote that Dave Min’s legislation will cause uproar with the petroleum industry. “It is clear to me and, I think, clear to anyone who looks at the sort of status of these rigs, that it’s a ticking time bomb,” Min said this week. “You’re asking for more and more spills, and we know that this is just horrific for our coastlines, for our coastal tourism economies, for our marine ecosystems.”
Health officials are asking Orange County residents to continue following health protocols as COVID-19 transmission rates remain high. This comes as the state’s mask mandate is set to expire for vaccinated people. Scientists and health officials are concerned about the contagiousness of a new sublineage.
Ebrahim Baytieh served as a high-ranking prosecutor for both Todd Spitzer’s and Tony Rackauckas’ district attorney’s offices. But this week, Spitzer fired Baytieh after an independent investigation found that he failed to properly turn over evidence to defense attorneys in a 2010 case involving a murder conviction that was overturned last year due to allegations of withheld evidence. Baytieh is running to become an Orange County Superior Court judge.
Despite a legal battle and a hefty price tag, the Newport-Mesa Unified School District is moving forward with a plan for a multimillion-dollar theater at Estancia High School. Originally billed at $27 million, the project is now estimated to cost about $41 million. Reporter Sara Cardine wrote that the plan calls for a 46,000-square-foot performing arts complex with a 350-seat theater, black box theater and lobby.
LIFE AND LEISURE
With the housing shortage, some have turned to living out of converted vans that resemble luxury RVs. Unoma Haus, the first Black-owned van conversion company based in Costa Mesa, is hoping to better the community by providing alternative living options. “Unoma Haus is a company building a network of community spaces that allow adventure seekers to experience an inclusive nomadic lifestyle,” said Vaughn Dabney, the founder of the company.
Teen relationships have been tested by the pandemic, with increased reports of self-harm, suicide and domestic abuse in Orange County. But the Orange County Community Foundation raised awareness and showed support for healthy teen relationships this week with a Love is Giving Day. My colleague Sarah Mosqueda wrote about the nonprofit’s goals to combat negative romantic teen relationships.
SPORTS
Major League Baseball was rocked two years ago by the overdose death of former Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs. The first full day of testimony was held this week in a case against Eric Kay, the team’s former communications director who allegedly supplied Skaggs with the drug that caused his death. Skaggs’ mother testified that her son admitted that he had an “issue” with Percocet in 2013.
The Costa Mesa girls’ water polo team defeated Aliso Niguel in a Division 3 first-round showdown. It was a big showing for the team since they have lost handily to Aliso Niguel in previous matches. Also this week in girls’ water polo, Huntington Beach was defeated by Santa Barbara in a CIF opener.
The Costa Mesa cheerleading team earned a CIF Southern section title this week for the third year in a row, while Marina claimed its first championship in school history. My colleague Matt Szabo detailed the competition and elation from the winners.
Before you go
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