Flag raised at O.C. fairgrounds for Black History Month after 2-year dispute over fairness
The Pan African flag was hoisted above the Orange County fairgrounds in Costa Mesa Tuesday and will fly throughout February to mark Black History Month, ostensibly concluding a two-year battle over which cultures are seen and celebrated at the state-run property.
Officials with the OC Fair & Event Center, organizers of the annual county fair, joined a handful of Black civic leaders in a ceremony to watch the tricolored banner take its place among others outside the site’s administration building.
It hangs beneath a rainbow pride flag that flies year-round — both standards have been criticized for representing special interests, and both have been defended as symbols of inclusivity in an ever-diversifying Orange County.
Tuesday’s ceremony follows a unanimous vote last week by the center’s board of directors, nearly two years after the subject was first broached by a board member but failed to win approval.
OCFEC board member Barbara Bagneris suggested in February 2020 the Pan African flag be flown to represent members of Orange County’s Black community and “proclaim that no community member be left in the dark, unrepresented by the OC Fair & Event Center,” she said at the time.
Created in 1920, the red in the flag represents the blood uniting all people of African ancestry and blood shed for the liberation of Black people, Bagneris explained Tuesday. Its black bar represents Black people, who exist as a nation though not a nation state, while green stands for the natural wealth of Africa.
After some debate about the fairness of potentially celebrating one culture or ethnicity over others, and whether such a move would inspire a tidal wave of similar requests, the proposal failed to garner enough votes for passage and was not reconsidered in 2021.
But Bagneris persisted. Working with fellow OCFEC board member Melahat Rafiei, in a board-organized Community Affairs Committee, she brought the Pan African flag discussion back to the wider board on Thursday.
Tustin City Councilwoman Leticia Clark, who participated in Tuesday’s flag raising, shared her thoughts in a letter read during the board meeting, in which she explained everyone is strengthened “when we weave our journeys together in an interlocking whole.”
“I have learned many times over the impact of visually representing and making people feel included in that whole,” Clark’s letter continued. “By flying the Pan African flag among the others, we help all parts of the Black community feel seen and valued.”
Rafiei, who is a mother to a Black son and describes her own family as a mix of Persian, Lebanese and Indian influences, agreed flying the Pan African flag would be a powerful symbol of inclusivity.
“When [people] look at these flags, they ask questions, they begin to wonder, and I think wondering leads to good things,” she told board members.
Director Natalie Rubalcava-Garcia, who voted against the Pan African flag in 2020, said Thursday for her, as a minority, supporting the flag was a “no-brainer.” However, she recommended the Community Affairs Committee consider similar acts of recognition for other cultural groups in Orange County.
For Bagneris, the board’s unanimous approval and Tuesday’s ceremony were watershed moments.
“Seeing it, with the wind hitting all of the flags — I had pride beyond measure,” she said. “The O.C. fair stepped out and did something other people hadn’t done before. So maybe now, they’ll step out and say, we can fly this, too. That would be the hope.”
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