Back in November, Orange County Employees Association head Nick Berardino keyed us in on a scoop: as one of the members of the Orange County Fair Board, he was going to push for the county to erect a monument commemorating the many Mexicans–including this wab's grandfather–who toiled anonymously in the county's agricultural industry (save for that pesky 1936 Citrus War, of course). We dismissed it as typical political promises, but guess what's going to be on the agenda this Thursday at the board's 10 a.m. meeting at the Orange County Fairgrounds?
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Per Nick:
The
immigrant workers whose hands built tens of thousands of acres of
agriculture and played such an important role in developing Orange
County into the financial juggernaut it is today have been mostly
forgotten or ignored because they're caught up in the political
controversies surrounding undocumented workers. These workers should be
honored. When you read Orange County's history, dating back long before
even the early 1930s, it's so clear that the immigrant agricultural
laborers did so much to make Orange County great. So much has been done
to honor the ranchers who they worked for–they've had schools and
roads and parks named after them. It's time that the workers who built
this County are acknowledged too.
OH SNAP!!! Our prediction: the besides-Berardino Board will reject such a proposal due to our love affair with Sunkist memories, but still: kudos to Nick for at least acknowledging the county's forgotten workers with the old college try…
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