Nearly a year after the Weekly wrote a story on Lorenzo Ramirez–the El Modena resident who sued on behalf of his children in the legendary Mendez, et al v. Westminster, et al school desegregation case but whose family felt received the short shrift by the case's most-zealous advocates–education activists and longtime Orange residents will ask the Orange Unified School District board of trustees tonight to ask that they rename an elementary school after the civil rights icon.
It's an obvious choice, but given that Orange politicians tend to be of the Know Nothing variety, not a given.
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Ramirez, to recap, was born in Mexico but grew up in the El Modena section of Orange, attending Roosevelt Elementary School in the 1920s. He moved away for two decades, only to return and discover that his once-integrated school was now Mexican-only–and shabby. Ramirez, along with four other families, sued four school districts to end school segregation in their cities, a case that eventually influenced the much-more-famous Brown v. Board of Education.
A truly inspiring story, but one lost even in the retelling of the Mendez et al tale. The trustees' meeting is tonight at seven in the eve, Building H at the Education Center, 1401 N. Handy Street, Orange. Go help eradicate our Sunkist memories, gentle readers…
