Sept. 5, 2024

Mendez v Westminster

Mendez v Westminster

When Gonzalo and Felicitas Mendez, both US citizens tried to enroll their chidren to the 17th street school in Westiminster, CA, they were denied. They were told 17th street school was for White children only and their children had to attend the...

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When Gonzalo and Felicitas Mendez, both US citizens tried to enroll their chidren to the 17th street school in Westiminster, CA, they were denied. They were told 17th street school was for White children only and their children had to attend the Mexican school 10 blocka away. The Mendez family wold not stand for this and they recruited four other parents from local school districts for a federal court case challenging school segregation.

The Mendez, et al. v. Westminster School District of Orange County case is important for the precedent it set for later court cases, like Brown v. Board of Education, but it is a strong example of the Mexican American community taking the lead to fight for their rights.

On this episode, Cristina tells Carmen about this historic case.

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Music Credit: Hustlin (Instrumental) by Neffex

Sources

https://www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/educational-activities/background-mendez-v-westminster-re-enactment
https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/mendez-v-westminster/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mendez_v._Westminster
https://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/tn-wknd-et-0417-sylvia-mendez-70-anniversary-20160417-story.html
https://sylviamendezinthemendezvswestminster.com/aboutus.html
https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/setting-the-precedent-mendez-et-al-v-westminster-school-district-of-orange-county-et-al-and-the-us-courthouse-and-post-office.htm
https://guides.loc.gov/latinx-civil-rights/mendez-v-westminster
https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2014/05/before-brown-v-board-of-education-there-was-mendez-v-westminster/?loclr=blogtea

WEBVTT

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Hi, everyone. This is Carmen and Christina and this is

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the Estodias Unknown AW podcaster. We talk about Latin American history.

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Sometimes it's horrible and deals with having topics like racism, corruption,

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and genocide. But more than that, it's also about resistance,

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power and community today. I think it's a little bit

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of everything. Oooo. Yeah, this is actually something that I've

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been wanting to talk about for a while and I

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kind of forgot that it was like on a giant

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topic list. And so I'm gonna be talking about Westminster v. A. Mendez. Okay,

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I always want to say Westminister. That's what I was

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going to say, something like that. I was just gonna

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say it very wrong. But yeah, I mean, let's just

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jump right into it. So while in school, I think

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something that is actually taught for once in the United

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States middle school and high school systems is that everything

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will say graded. That's not a secret, right, right, because

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you know, then we talk about the civil rights movement,

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and you know, one thing that we learn about is

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the nineteen fifty four Brown via the Board of Education,

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the landmark case where the Supreme Court ruled that US

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state laws which established racial segregations in public schools was

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unconstitutional even if the schools were equal in quality, which surprise,

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they never were, right, separate but equal, like please, no,

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that was a lie, and none of that is new information.

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I do think the fact that the change was so

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slow has not really taught in schools. It's like they

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make it seem like bam and then everything and everything

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was fine, yeah, and then and then no more racism.

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Racism disappeared when the schools were pre or integrade, integraded. Yeah,

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oh yeah, that was That's what I was trying to

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remember the word. So that part I think is not

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really taught because you know, we talked about in are

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Uvaldi school episode where the schools were still segregated there

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and that happened in what was it the nineteen seventies

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the school Wow, I believe. So like again, it was

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very slow, very slow desegregation, and some places were slower

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than others. Yes. So something else that also wasn't really

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taught is that black kids were not the only ones

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subjected to segregated schools all poc you know, black kids,

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Asian kids, Indigenous kids. Obviously we know now about the

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horrifying residential schools, you know, and Spanish speaking kids because

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it wasn't just Mexicans, although everybody assumed they were all

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Mexicans back then, Yeah, everyone was Mexican. So they were

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also subject to segregation in schools. And you know, it

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wasn't just schools, which is something that if you're a

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longtime listener you also already know this by now in

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episode eighty one if we still as a known, but

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Mexicans were segregated in like California, Texas where they had

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separate pools. You could see signs like no Mexicans, no

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dogs like you know, things like that. So it was

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everywhere and for Mexicans also, and for Mexicans it wasn't.

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There were several reasons for the segregation. And this is

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something again we've already talked about a bunch on eastoidas unknown,

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so if you're not even the listenery, this is not new,

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but if you are, then prepared to be angry, because

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you know, we talked about this more in our episodes

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on sterilizations in California. But Mexicans were believed to be dirtier,

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not as smart, not to mention they spoke another language.

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So if they attended the same schools like no one

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would learn supposedly this is what they how they justified

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the segregation of schools. And then also on top of that,

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Mexicans sometimes they didn't finish school because you know, if

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we recall Mexican migration to the United States, there wasn't

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in during the Mexican Revolution, but also the bassetto program

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brought a lot of Mexicans to the United States, and

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some people were brassettos. Then they just came and returned

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with their whole families. Right, That's something that was common

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and so much of the Mexican population, though not everyone was.

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They worked as farm workers, and because farm workers work

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with the seasons, there's a lot of moving, a lot

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of following the labor like this here, this season is this,

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Now we have to go drive up here. So it

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was a lot of driving up and down California and

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Washington to look for work. And so a lot of

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times kids would start the school year, but then they'd

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be pulled out because oh, it's time to go to

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another farm. The work here is over. So that was

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another comment thing that happened where the kids just didn't

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finish the school year, or kids were pulled out to

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work in the fields because they needed to. And this

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isn't a problem with Mexicans per se, it's a problem

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with labor and hey, right, so but for those reasons,

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white people were like, no, Mexicans are dumber, Mexicans are

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not smart, and they're dirty and gross, and they cannot

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be in the same schools as our precious little white children,

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my children. Yeah, so these things called Mexican schools were created,

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and these schools often only went from kindergarten to fourth grade,

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no more than that, because Mexicans didn't need to learn

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anything after that, and they supposedly were separate but equal.

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Again that's not a thing. But they also didn't have

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normal curriculums. The Mexican girls were taught about homemaking, sewing, cleaning, cooking,

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and the boys were taught labor because that's all Mexicans

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were good for anyway. Right. Also, Spanish was forbidden at

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the Mexican schools. And you know the role of these

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schools was for Mexican children to assimilate into their roles

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in the United States, so you know, into what it

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meant for them to be American, which is labor. That's it.

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So the boys' agricultural work and the girls' housework. That's

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just how things were. And like I said earlier, it

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wasn't just schools that were segregated from Mexicans, but also

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it wasn't always because something we've also discussed a lot

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on Estonia as unknown is that Mexicans not always but

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have been had been in California, Colorado, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico,

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these states. Mexicans have been there for a long time

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because it was Spanish territory and they, you know, are

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Spanish slash you know, indigenous people. So Mexicans worked there

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before the Anglo settlers, is you know, So schools were

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not always segregated. Everything was together at some point. And

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after the US Mexico War of nineteen forty eight, this

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is when all this new segregation started. This war is

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where you know, the Treaty of Guada Lupe Algo happened,

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where California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado were given to the

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United States. So after this happened, this is when there

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was an increase in banning Mexicans from swimming pools, parks, restaurants,

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a practice that went on for one hundred years. But

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before this, it wasn't common for things to be that segregated.

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Of course, you know, there are areas that just by

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nature and by where people ended up, they were naturally

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like segregated. And then you know, obviously not mentioning, but

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all the indigenous people were also segregated and things like that.

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So before these schools were often mixed, it wasn't separate.

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This all changed after the Mexican American War because the

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state legislator legislature sorry yeah, say yes, thank you changed

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a few laws, so it said school boards could not

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use public funds to educate non white students. That was

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passed in eighteen fifty five. Eighteen fifty five, okay, yeah,

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eighteen fifty five, and then by the year nineteen forty

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more than eighty percent of Mexican American children attended segregated schools.

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But this was done all over the US Southwest. So

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again Texas, like we talked about Valdi, the elementary school

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that was in Texas, similar things in Colorado. Like this

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is all over the Southwest, and the way they decided

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who would go to the Mexican schools and who went

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to the white schools was based on last names without

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even seeing if children already knew English or already capassed

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or in like literacy tests, right, it didn't matter to them.

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They did it by looking at last names, and all

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the Latino Hispanic signing last names were limped together as Mexican.

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And again there was more than just Mexicans and skin tone.

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They looked at skin tone and last names. That's how

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they decided who was going to the Mexican schools. So

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it was everywhere, but also not at the same time.

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In some cities schools were together. Oh okay, this is

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why the mendes family was shocked when they tried to

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enroll their daughter at the Seventeenth Street School in Westminster

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in nineteen forty three. The Mendesk family had just moved

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from Santa Ana and this is where they owned. Gonzalo

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and Felicitas Mendez, the you know, married couple though the parents.

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They owned a cafe there and they were successful. Gonzalo

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was a immigrant. His family was from Chihuahua, Mexico, and

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they arrived in this area where his parents were farm workers.

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So was he, but he learned English. He became naturalized

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at some point. They owned this cafe together Felicita's family

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they were from Puerto Rico and they moved to the

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same area, which was Westminster. That's where Gonzala grew up.

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They got married in nineteen thirty five. At some point

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they left Westminster together and that's when they were in

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Santa Ana. How white people say sant Anna sounds gross

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okay as well because the accent were using, yeah, because

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it's not like real, right. So they got the pair

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got a call from their bank person or mortgage person

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someone that they mortgaged with, I don't know, because they

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owned house in Westminster's or not Westminster, Santa Anna, Okay.

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And so they got a call from their bank person

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who had a deal for them for they seeing an

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asparagus farm in Westminster. And so that's why they were

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moving to Westminster, because they had a chance to rent

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this lucrative farm, like it was forty acres of successful

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business asparagus. The reason the layers upon layers in this episode.

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So the reason that they were able to lease this

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asparagus farm is because the Japanese family, the Munnemitsu family

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that owned it had to leave because they were being

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sent to an internment camp in constant Arizona. Wow. Because yes,

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this is the nineteen forties, this is World War two,

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and I'm sure we all know this, but Japanese people

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in the United States were sent to prison camps. Although

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they don't like to call them prison camps, inter or

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concentration camps, they liked to go. Essentially they were concentration camps. Yeah,

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essentially they were. So this happened, and that is why

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the mend This family was able to release this farm

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because if the Mune Meetsu family just left without leasing

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the farm, they would lose the property. They how were

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they going to keep paying for this if they were

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being sent away. So that's why they were leasing the farm,

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because they were sent away to an interment camp during

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World War two. So that's why they went to Westminster,

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the mend This family, I mean, so Gonzalo sister then

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her husband went with them also because her husband had

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experienced runing a farm already. So the whole family left

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Santa Anna and then went to Westminster together. And so

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in September nineteen forty drics. You know, they're in a

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new place. Now, they got to enroll their kids in school.

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Felicitas Mendes and her sister in law, Sylvia not Silvia. Sorry,

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her sister in law, Sola, I really saved her name

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and I forgot it. They took their kids to enroll

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them in the school that their kids are supposed to

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based on where they live. This was the seventeenth Street

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school in Westminster, so they went and Solidad was like

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first in line or whatever. So she enrolled her kids

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just fine. But once Felicitas tried to do the same,

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she was told she wasn't allowed to enroll her kids

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there because her kids had to attend the Mexican school

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because unlike Solidads kids, Felicitas kids, the Mendes kids, they

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were not white skinned, they were darker. They were brown,

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and their last name was Mendes. What were other kids'

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last names? They had a French last name because married

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a french Man, French American man. They were white. Yeah,

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they were half white, half Mexican, but also the white Mexicans. Yeah,

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within a Mexican family, you know, there's so many shades,

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even within siblings. One is lighter when it's darker. So

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Gonzalo was darker than his sister's Soldan. And then on

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top of that, Sola dad married a white man French. Yeah,

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white man. So her kids were white Mexicans but also

214
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half white. So and their last name was French, not Mendus.

215
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So that is why the Mendes kids were supposed to

216
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go to the Mexican school because they were darker and

217
00:13:23.360 --> 00:13:27.799
they had that last name. So the Mexican school was

218
00:13:27.840 --> 00:13:30.360
ten blocks down, that's where they were supposed to go.

219
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And both and Felicitas were appalled. They're like, what that

220
00:13:34.440 --> 00:13:36.960
what do you mean my kids can go here? And

221
00:13:37.039 --> 00:13:40.279
Soda Dad yell like, well if I can't, or if

222
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my I will not enroll my kids here, if my

223
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brother's kids can't attend either, But the school didn't care.

224
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They were like okay, They're like, oh fine, that's fine,

225
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that's fine with us. That actually for us. Yeah, that's

226
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actually better. So when they told gon what happened, he

227
00:14:01.200 --> 00:14:03.759
couldn't believe it. He thought it was a mistake. How

228
00:14:03.799 --> 00:14:06.120
could his own kids not attend the same school he

229
00:14:06.200 --> 00:14:09.799
attended as a child, because she is b he was

230
00:14:09.840 --> 00:14:13.440
from Westminster and when he was attending the schools were

231
00:14:13.440 --> 00:14:19.080
not segregated. Wow, not yet apparently. Yeah. And so, like

232
00:14:19.120 --> 00:14:22.799
I said earlier, Gonzalo's family had moved from Chihuahua Mexico

233
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to Westminster where they worked in farms as farm labors,

234
00:14:27.440 --> 00:14:31.720
and he went to Westminster. He did eventually drop out

235
00:14:31.720 --> 00:14:34.559
of school to work in the fields as well, but yeah,

236
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I mean he went to that same school. He was

237
00:14:36.840 --> 00:14:40.320
an American citizen. He was naturalized several years before all

238
00:14:40.360 --> 00:14:46.279
this is happening, and Felicitas is from Puerto Rico, so automatical, sorry,

239
00:14:46.279 --> 00:14:50.960
not automatically, but like they're considered citizens as well. So

240
00:14:51.000 --> 00:14:54.720
they're like, how could we citizens of this country not

241
00:14:54.720 --> 00:14:59.639
not enroll our kids in a school? Like, by all purposes,

242
00:14:59.759 --> 00:15:04.320
we are Americans too. Yeah, but of course, like in

243
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this country, if you're not a certain type of person,

244
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you're othered, and you're not you're not American. So it

245
00:15:12.600 --> 00:15:16.320
doesn't matter if you're born here. No, it doesn't, it doesn't.

246
00:15:18.840 --> 00:15:21.679
So he went to the school to talk to them

247
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because again he's like, I went to this school, What

248
00:15:23.840 --> 00:15:25.480
do you mean my kids can't come here? Like this

249
00:15:25.559 --> 00:15:28.320
is crazy. So he went and the principal told them

250
00:15:28.519 --> 00:15:33.320
we don't have Mexicans here, and he said there is

251
00:15:33.440 --> 00:15:37.039
two schools for these four cities, Garden Grove, Santa Ana,

252
00:15:37.159 --> 00:15:41.360
Orange and Westminster. They are Hoover Elementary and Seventeenth Street School.

253
00:15:42.000 --> 00:15:45.039
Mexicans go to Hoover and white kids go to Seventeenth

254
00:15:45.080 --> 00:15:47.720
Street School. And as a principal, he can't do anything

255
00:15:47.759 --> 00:15:49.840
about that. It's like a city problem or something, not

256
00:15:49.919 --> 00:15:53.440
his problem. He just a princesses just how things are. Yeah,

257
00:15:53.480 --> 00:15:57.200
he's just a principle. He doesn't know. And so Hoover Elementary,

258
00:15:57.399 --> 00:16:01.600
the Mexican school had no playground. Textbooks were all out

259
00:16:01.600 --> 00:16:03.639
of day hand me down so that the white school

260
00:16:03.720 --> 00:16:07.440
didn't use anymore. There was no cafeteria, and it was

261
00:16:07.519 --> 00:16:11.480
next to a cow pasture, and there was an electrical

262
00:16:11.600 --> 00:16:15.879
fence between the school and the cow pasture. As kids

263
00:16:15.879 --> 00:16:18.360
are trying to eat their lunch, there's flies everywhere because

264
00:16:18.440 --> 00:16:21.639
of the cow pasture, and it smells the cow manure

265
00:16:22.279 --> 00:16:31.320
mirda literal literal. It was clearly inferior. The it's two

266
00:16:31.360 --> 00:16:34.879
wooden shacks. Is the building? Can you even call that

267
00:16:34.919 --> 00:16:37.559
a building? I don't know. It's falling apart. The desks

268
00:16:37.559 --> 00:16:42.600
inside those two wooden shacks also falling apart, all dilipitated

269
00:16:42.679 --> 00:16:48.399
or whatever the word is. Yes, And as American citizens,

270
00:16:48.440 --> 00:16:53.399
Gonzalo and Felicitas refused felicitas. How do you say that name? Felicitas,

271
00:16:53.720 --> 00:16:59.600
felicitas felicitas. I think it's felicitas felicitas, I think. So, Okay,

272
00:16:59.600 --> 00:17:01.679
I'm living that, and because I feel like I've been

273
00:17:01.720 --> 00:17:04.720
going back and forth between the two. Yeah, yeah, I mean,

274
00:17:04.720 --> 00:17:08.119
I don't hear the name often, so, but I want

275
00:17:08.119 --> 00:17:12.880
to say it's felicitas felicitas. You're probably right. So they

276
00:17:13.079 --> 00:17:16.039
the pair refused to have their children not be awarded

277
00:17:16.039 --> 00:17:19.240
the same opportunities as the white children and the better school,

278
00:17:19.920 --> 00:17:24.039
and they were gonna fight this. So they found David Marcus,

279
00:17:24.079 --> 00:17:28.079
a Jewish American civil rights attorney, to help them. And

280
00:17:28.200 --> 00:17:32.599
David Marcus had just won a desegregation case in Riverside. Okay,

281
00:17:33.440 --> 00:17:37.480
that case was about segregated pools, and so he won

282
00:17:37.559 --> 00:17:41.400
that case. In this case, desegregated pools in Riverside only,

283
00:17:41.799 --> 00:17:44.559
but I mean, it's better than nothing. Yeah, let me

284
00:17:44.559 --> 00:17:46.880
tell you how. It was really quick. One the other

285
00:17:46.920 --> 00:17:50.400
week was for the Mexican kids only. Other days of

286
00:17:50.400 --> 00:17:52.559
the week they could not use these pools. And then

287
00:17:52.880 --> 00:17:55.680
after it was like Mexican days done, they would drain

288
00:17:55.759 --> 00:17:57.839
the pool and refilled it so that it would be

289
00:17:57.839 --> 00:18:01.519
clean for the away kits. Ok. Wow, Yeah, and he

290
00:18:01.559 --> 00:18:03.359
won that case where they were like, that's not a

291
00:18:03.400 --> 00:18:07.240
thing anymore. No more desegregating or no more segregating pools,

292
00:18:07.880 --> 00:18:12.759
no more desegregating what not. My bad, that's getting cut.

293
00:18:15.839 --> 00:18:20.680
So David Marcus told Gonzalo and felicitas they should take

294
00:18:20.680 --> 00:18:23.119
this one step further instead of fighting this fight for

295
00:18:23.279 --> 00:18:24.920
just their children, that they should do it for all

296
00:18:24.960 --> 00:18:30.119
the children. Yes. Yeah, And so Gonzalo and Marcus drove

297
00:18:30.160 --> 00:18:32.920
around all of Orange County looking for others to join

298
00:18:33.000 --> 00:18:35.599
the class action suit. And it was difficult, as these

299
00:18:35.640 --> 00:18:39.000
things usually are, because these are working people and there's

300
00:18:39.599 --> 00:18:44.240
so much trouble that can be had for fighting a system, right,

301
00:18:45.400 --> 00:18:48.519
something we also encountered when we talked about the sterilization

302
00:18:48.720 --> 00:18:51.839
episodes with the mothers that were looking for people to

303
00:18:51.920 --> 00:18:54.759
join the lawsuit against the hospital that was sterilizing them,

304
00:18:55.079 --> 00:18:58.440
where it's just it's a difficult thing to do, such

305
00:18:58.440 --> 00:19:00.839
a brave and difficult thing to do, send up to

306
00:19:00.960 --> 00:19:03.519
the system, because you're at this point you're sending up

307
00:19:03.559 --> 00:19:08.880
to the system of the United States. Yeah, and it

308
00:19:08.920 --> 00:19:12.680
took a while, but they did find four families to

309
00:19:12.799 --> 00:19:17.599
join the lawsuit. They were the families of Lorenzo Ramirez,

310
00:19:17.839 --> 00:19:24.319
Frank Palomino, William Gusman, and Thomas Estrada, all from either

311
00:19:24.440 --> 00:19:28.119
Orange County School District, Garden Grove and Santa Anna. And

312
00:19:28.920 --> 00:19:30.799
I don't know how many because I couldn't find specific

313
00:19:30.799 --> 00:19:33.039
information on each one of them, but some of them.

314
00:19:33.079 --> 00:19:35.720
Among them, there was a World War two veterans, And

315
00:19:35.759 --> 00:19:37.920
it's like, how are you gonna tell me who I

316
00:19:37.960 --> 00:19:40.559
had to go or chose to go fight for this

317
00:19:41.160 --> 00:19:43.920
quote unquote, because you know, we know what the military

318
00:19:43.960 --> 00:19:47.279
really Are you really fighting for the freedoms of this country?

319
00:19:47.359 --> 00:19:49.759
I'm not sure anymore. As at one point in my

320
00:19:49.799 --> 00:19:52.559
life I did believe that when I was young and delusional.

321
00:19:53.119 --> 00:19:57.039
Yeah yeah, But now I'm thirty two and a cynic

322
00:19:57.279 --> 00:19:59.480
and if you're not there yet, hopefully you'll be there

323
00:19:59.519 --> 00:20:04.160
one day. Maybe we'll see in reality. So they believed,

324
00:20:04.359 --> 00:20:07.480
you know, we fought for this country for the freedom

325
00:20:07.880 --> 00:20:11.559
of blah blah blah blah, freedom right eagles, And now

326
00:20:12.519 --> 00:20:15.400
you're telling me we returned from fighting for this country

327
00:20:15.440 --> 00:20:19.240
an our kids can't attend certain schools because we're Mexican, right,

328
00:20:19.839 --> 00:20:24.559
what do you mean? So? Yeah, and so in total,

329
00:20:24.680 --> 00:20:28.240
five plaintiffs on the behalf of five thousand children in

330
00:20:28.240 --> 00:20:31.440
this school system, and they filed with the US Federal

331
00:20:31.480 --> 00:20:40.160
District Court in La Los Angeles and doesn't necessary, arguing

332
00:20:40.359 --> 00:20:44.400
that segregation based on nationality violated the eco protection Clause

333
00:20:44.519 --> 00:20:48.400
under the fourtieth Amendment of the US Constitution. The class

334
00:20:48.400 --> 00:20:51.839
action lawsuit was filed on March second, nineteen forty five,

335
00:20:52.240 --> 00:20:56.039
seeking an injunction that would order California schools to integrate,

336
00:20:56.400 --> 00:20:59.759
and the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Association for

337
00:20:59.799 --> 00:21:04.960
the Advestment Advanced then a double C and a I

338
00:21:04.960 --> 00:21:11.519
can't even say that, yes, thank you advestment. Oh my god,

339
00:21:11.720 --> 00:21:17.839
Jesus advancement, advancement. I kept forgetting the end there, Yeah,

340
00:21:18.319 --> 00:21:22.880
of color people, the National Lawyer's Guild, the American Jewish Congress,

341
00:21:22.880 --> 00:21:26.440
and the Japanese Japanese American City I'm sorry, go on,

342
00:21:27.359 --> 00:21:32.200
I can't read today, and the Japanese American Citizens League

343
00:21:32.240 --> 00:21:35.000
all filed emic is briefs And I was like, what

344
00:21:35.039 --> 00:21:37.759
the hell is anamic is brief? So, oh, you don't

345
00:21:37.839 --> 00:21:41.599
know from listening to five four do you not listen

346
00:21:41.640 --> 00:21:44.279
to five four. No I do, but I think you

347
00:21:44.359 --> 00:21:47.720
do know what it meant? Okay, go on. So from

348
00:21:47.720 --> 00:21:50.240
what I gathered, it's when a person or group which

349
00:21:50.240 --> 00:21:53.559
is not part of the lawsuit offers additional relevant information

350
00:21:53.759 --> 00:21:56.039
or arguments that the court may want to consider before

351
00:21:56.079 --> 00:21:59.519
making the ruling. Yeah. Yeah, like filing in support of something. Yes.

352
00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:04.519
In other words, And the school district tried to compromise

353
00:22:04.599 --> 00:22:08.599
and say abandon the lawsuit and the Mendest children can

354
00:22:08.640 --> 00:22:11.359
attend seventeenth Street School, but they still refuse to let

355
00:22:11.400 --> 00:22:14.839
all Mexican children. That's not good enough because it's not

356
00:22:14.880 --> 00:22:17.759
about the Mendest children. This is about all the children,

357
00:22:18.319 --> 00:22:22.319
all the Latino children. They're like, guess what, we don't

358
00:22:22.319 --> 00:22:26.759
want to go there anymore exactly. Yeah. Yeah, so yeah,

359
00:22:26.759 --> 00:22:30.759
no bad deal. And they refused, and they the lawsuit continued.

360
00:22:30.880 --> 00:22:33.640
This is like the last episode of when they tried

361
00:22:33.680 --> 00:22:36.359
to offer thirty five jobs to all of them to

362
00:22:36.440 --> 00:22:38.759
leave the island. And it's like, you know there's more

363
00:22:38.799 --> 00:22:41.799
than thirty five Coulibans on this island, right, Yeah, Like

364
00:22:42.000 --> 00:22:46.599
take your shit deal and show it up your ass. Yes.

365
00:22:47.279 --> 00:22:49.920
So the trial started on July fifth, nineteen forty five.

366
00:22:50.440 --> 00:22:54.640
And while all this is going on, the trial, Felicita,

367
00:22:55.559 --> 00:23:00.200
Felicitas and and other mothers continue to apply pressure to

368
00:23:00.240 --> 00:23:08.240
the school districts. They organize LA Associates Las Mexicanos Americanos

369
00:23:08.799 --> 00:23:13.680
Association of Parents of Mexican American Children to show support

370
00:23:13.720 --> 00:23:17.160
during the trial, to pressure the district to protest, to rally,

371
00:23:17.759 --> 00:23:22.599
and finding witnesses was difficult because again, it's a scary

372
00:23:22.640 --> 00:23:25.759
thing to do to testify on a case like this,

373
00:23:26.279 --> 00:23:29.240
and and something that I think is common among not

374
00:23:29.359 --> 00:23:34.559
just like Mexican Mexican groups or parents you know, involved

375
00:23:34.559 --> 00:23:37.559
in this kind of thing. But people have to work.

376
00:23:37.599 --> 00:23:39.759
They're like, look, I'm just working. I don't know what's

377
00:23:39.799 --> 00:23:41.559
going on with this. It doesn't matter. I just need

378
00:23:41.599 --> 00:23:44.400
to feed my family. M M. That's like a very

379
00:23:44.400 --> 00:23:48.400
common sentiment. And that's what they kept coming across when

380
00:23:48.400 --> 00:23:51.079
trying to find people to testify, like, oh, we don't

381
00:23:51.240 --> 00:23:52.799
we don't need to be involved with that. We just

382
00:23:52.839 --> 00:23:55.400
need to like we're just here to work. We just

383
00:23:55.440 --> 00:23:57.359
need to survive, like we don't have time for this.

384
00:23:58.039 --> 00:24:02.559
And because of that, Gonzaloneas paid the wage of any

385
00:24:02.599 --> 00:24:07.240
person that missed work to testify out of their own money. Wow,

386
00:24:08.000 --> 00:24:10.720
that's good. Like if you're you know, have moved up

387
00:24:10.839 --> 00:24:14.319
the economic ladder, help out your fellow people by doing

388
00:24:14.400 --> 00:24:18.039
this kind of stuff. Yeah, and that is just it

389
00:24:18.160 --> 00:24:21.319
shows how important this was to everyone, Like, all right,

390
00:24:21.359 --> 00:24:23.680
you don't you can't testify because you can't miss work.

391
00:24:24.160 --> 00:24:26.839
We'll pay that. We'll pay you because it's it's important

392
00:24:28.400 --> 00:24:33.279
and it's just beautiful. And testimony included evidence of segregation,

393
00:24:33.680 --> 00:24:37.799
how the segregated schools were very inferior to the white schools,

394
00:24:38.519 --> 00:24:44.000
testimony from children. They even had UCLA anthropologists doctor Ralph

395
00:24:44.119 --> 00:24:47.720
Diels argue that segregation made it so that white children

396
00:24:48.319 --> 00:24:51.839
believe they were superior and that it's like it cemented

397
00:24:52.240 --> 00:24:55.279
this belief that yes, white children are superior, Mexican children

398
00:24:55.319 --> 00:24:58.480
are inferior. And he drew parallels to how this compares

399
00:24:58.519 --> 00:25:02.119
to Nazi Germany. Yeah, and in the midst of like

400
00:25:02.200 --> 00:25:03.920
World War two and all that, it was a bad look,

401
00:25:04.039 --> 00:25:05.920
Like you want to be compared to Nazis. That's what

402
00:25:05.920 --> 00:25:08.519
you're doing right now, You're being Nazis. Yeah, because of

403
00:25:08.559 --> 00:25:15.160
all the segregation and the arguments by the defense, and

404
00:25:15.279 --> 00:25:19.319
probably not surprised they're no surprised to longtime listeners or

405
00:25:19.599 --> 00:25:21.480
you know now that you've made it this far into

406
00:25:21.519 --> 00:25:28.039
the episode, because these so they'll be surprising to know. One. Yeah,

407
00:25:27.400 --> 00:25:30.759
this defense is like what the fuck is wrong with you?

408
00:25:30.799 --> 00:25:34.519
What the fuck? Like, oh my god, they're infuriating even

409
00:25:34.519 --> 00:25:38.319
if it's not surprising. So the defense argued that Mexicans

410
00:25:38.359 --> 00:25:41.119
are inferior, that they had poor hygiene, they had lower

411
00:25:41.200 --> 00:25:44.119
ability levels and lower outlooks on life, and they came

412
00:25:44.119 --> 00:25:46.359
from families with loose morals and they could not mix

413
00:25:46.400 --> 00:25:50.279
with white children for this reason. Okay, so their defense

414
00:25:50.400 --> 00:25:54.599
was just being loud about it, like their defense was

415
00:25:54.640 --> 00:25:59.720
more of the same racism. Yeah, okay, Okay, they're like, no, no,

416
00:25:59.720 --> 00:26:06.480
we're not We're not racist. Mexicans are inferior. Yeah we're racist.

417
00:26:07.160 --> 00:26:10.920
Mexicans are just dirtier, like that's it. But no, where

418
00:26:10.920 --> 00:26:13.839
I we're not racist. Okay, coming from the people who

419
00:26:13.880 --> 00:26:17.279
famously don't shower, like who has to be taught hygiene,

420
00:26:17.279 --> 00:26:20.000
like oh my god, no for real, and who still

421
00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:23.559
to this day will defend their on their little podcasts.

422
00:26:24.559 --> 00:26:28.680
Get a tart record, edit this clip and say why

423
00:26:28.680 --> 00:26:31.440
don't they don't wash their hands? How they don't shower.

424
00:26:31.920 --> 00:26:36.000
How I don't wash them, just like white feet. That's

425
00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:39.559
a big one. I don't wash my legs. I just

426
00:26:39.640 --> 00:26:43.559
let the water run down. Yeah, because that's enough. This

427
00:26:43.640 --> 00:26:46.160
comedian went on him and his wife of a podcast

428
00:26:46.240 --> 00:26:49.599
and they were saying, how washrags are dirty? Hello, you

429
00:26:49.640 --> 00:26:52.720
get a new wash rag every fucking time. I've never

430
00:26:52.720 --> 00:26:54.440
seen people re use the same rag, Like what do

431
00:26:54.480 --> 00:26:57.960
you mean? Never? And I prefer washags because they're cleaner,

432
00:26:58.960 --> 00:27:02.640
they're easy, the same little whatever. Yes they can remember

433
00:27:02.640 --> 00:27:05.039
the word for lufah And I was like spongey thing.

434
00:27:05.079 --> 00:27:08.000
But yeah, because you get any wash rag every time,

435
00:27:08.240 --> 00:27:11.119
like what do you mean? And famously, when I was

436
00:27:11.160 --> 00:27:13.720
in the army, you know who I saw using washwags

437
00:27:13.759 --> 00:27:17.400
and who didn't. Yeah? Yeah, white people use the same one,

438
00:27:17.519 --> 00:27:19.960
the same scrubby thing, right, everyone else us washrags that

439
00:27:19.960 --> 00:27:23.079
got well, they haven't replaced like in five months, yeah

440
00:27:23.200 --> 00:27:30.039
or longer. Mm hmmmmm. So it's still dirty. But no,

441
00:27:30.119 --> 00:27:32.759
they're out here arguing back then that Mexicans were just

442
00:27:33.000 --> 00:27:36.359
inferior and poor hygiene everything I just said. And so

443
00:27:36.640 --> 00:27:41.480
they also argued that education was the state matter and

444
00:27:41.640 --> 00:27:44.200
federal courts had no jurisdictions. So it's like in the

445
00:27:44.200 --> 00:27:48.640
federal government can't tail us state. I always want to

446
00:27:48.680 --> 00:27:52.359
say that shit just so that they can discriminate and

447
00:27:52.559 --> 00:27:57.160
oppress further. We want the right to continue to be racist, please,

448
00:27:58.640 --> 00:28:04.000
And the federal government has no saying our racism. Yeah yep.

449
00:28:04.880 --> 00:28:08.079
They also said that Mexican students had to be segregated

450
00:28:08.119 --> 00:28:11.599
so they could receive English lessons that would ready them

451
00:28:11.599 --> 00:28:15.799
for immersion with the already fluent English students. That's what

452
00:28:15.839 --> 00:28:18.319
you saw us for, right, you know, one class a

453
00:28:18.400 --> 00:28:20.680
day where you went and you learned, but also like

454
00:28:21.799 --> 00:28:25.039
how many students it was. So when you start from

455
00:28:25.039 --> 00:28:28.640
a young age like four or five kindergarten, the immersion

456
00:28:28.799 --> 00:28:32.039
is fast. You don't need to segregate children, please, Like

457
00:28:32.480 --> 00:28:36.319
you start them and like within less than a year. Yeah,

458
00:28:36.960 --> 00:28:39.279
and then you continue in that same system like please.

459
00:28:39.440 --> 00:28:42.880
And it's also so funny to me now actually that

460
00:28:43.240 --> 00:28:46.119
people are finding to get their children into Spanish immersion

461
00:28:46.200 --> 00:28:52.279
schools and into these other language schools, people of non

462
00:28:52.359 --> 00:29:00.799
Spanish speaking backgrounds. And it's also funny to me not

463
00:29:00.920 --> 00:29:03.160
to go not to go more off topic, but just

464
00:29:03.200 --> 00:29:09.559
the the existence and the judgments so that the children

465
00:29:09.640 --> 00:29:14.880
get oh yeah, when you know people that have been

466
00:29:15.279 --> 00:29:19.480
families that had go back to these times couldn't they

467
00:29:19.480 --> 00:29:21.960
couldn't speak Spanish in school, and you lose it, you

468
00:29:22.079 --> 00:29:24.720
lose it. And now you see all these you know,

469
00:29:25.480 --> 00:29:28.440
white parents trying to get their children into these Spanish emersions,

470
00:29:28.519 --> 00:29:33.559
Chinese emersion like, you know, because now now they see

471
00:29:33.559 --> 00:29:36.839
the value when speaking other languages. But back then, oh,

472
00:29:36.920 --> 00:29:39.799
no English only you will get hit if you speak Spanish,

473
00:29:39.839 --> 00:29:43.480
like no, no Spanish, alab yeah, and that's why people

474
00:29:43.480 --> 00:29:48.119
didn't teach their children Spanish. Yeah, it was. It was

475
00:29:48.160 --> 00:29:50.599
a shameful thing. You had to become American. But now

476
00:29:50.599 --> 00:29:53.599
everyone wants to make fun of theids. You know what.

477
00:29:53.799 --> 00:29:59.039
All love TOIDs, all love yeah, yeah, just I felt

478
00:29:59.039 --> 00:30:01.119
that we used to mention that because of their argument

479
00:30:02.200 --> 00:30:05.880
with all this, all this, but back to the topic

480
00:30:05.920 --> 00:30:09.799
at hand, right, wait, wait right. On March eighteen, nineteen

481
00:30:09.839 --> 00:30:14.079
forty six, Judge Paul J. McCormick ruled that segregation that

482
00:30:14.200 --> 00:30:19.440
the segregation prevalent in the defendant school districts fosters antagonism

483
00:30:19.640 --> 00:30:24.039
in the children and suggests inferiority among them where none exists.

484
00:30:24.400 --> 00:30:28.880
Damn straight yeah, and that the ego protection clause of

485
00:30:28.920 --> 00:30:33.200
the fourteenth Amendment had been violated here here, and so bam,

486
00:30:33.640 --> 00:30:38.039
desegregation is what needs to happen now because this was

487
00:30:38.119 --> 00:30:43.599
unconstitutional all along. And guess what what the school districts

488
00:30:43.599 --> 00:30:45.559
were like, no, no, no, no, we don't like this. When

489
00:30:45.640 --> 00:30:49.599
they got an appeal, of course they didn't. Yeah, of

490
00:30:49.640 --> 00:30:52.400
course they did. It went to the Ninth Circuit District

491
00:30:52.400 --> 00:30:55.079
Court of Appeals in San Francisco, and they upheld the ruling,

492
00:30:55.160 --> 00:30:59.319
of course, of course, like dad, And this was on yeah,

493
00:30:59.480 --> 00:31:02.799
fucking d This was on April fourteen, ninety forty seven.

494
00:31:03.079 --> 00:31:08.359
But between the winning the corps psition until the appeal

495
00:31:08.359 --> 00:31:12.160
and they appeal, yes, the districts were in charge of

496
00:31:12.440 --> 00:31:14.119
what they were going to do, how they were going

497
00:31:14.160 --> 00:31:17.640
to desegregate, and so what they did was maintain segregation.

498
00:31:18.079 --> 00:31:20.279
Oh so what they did was nothing. They just kept

499
00:31:20.319 --> 00:31:24.920
everything to say, okay. Their solution was to integrate grades

500
00:31:25.160 --> 00:31:29.839
one through four and then Mexican kids went five through eight.

501
00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:36.640
Went to continue that hoover anything to try and continue,

502
00:31:36.880 --> 00:31:40.119
but finally they elected not to appeal again and follow

503
00:31:40.119 --> 00:31:42.160
the ruling. And I feel like maybe that's why this

504
00:31:42.279 --> 00:31:46.720
case is a little less known because it stayed within California,

505
00:31:46.759 --> 00:31:51.559
but it didn't go to the Supreme Court. Yeah, yeah,

506
00:31:51.720 --> 00:31:55.000
or something. I don't know. So two months after the appeal,

507
00:31:55.200 --> 00:31:59.400
California Governor Earl Warren signed a bill ending all school

508
00:31:59.519 --> 00:32:03.759
segregate in California, making it the first state to do so.

509
00:32:04.160 --> 00:32:07.599
California always ahead of the well sometimes, I mean, of

510
00:32:07.640 --> 00:32:10.480
course they have the right. This is all. Never mind,

511
00:32:10.519 --> 00:32:13.000
I just did a take before I finish my sentence.

512
00:32:13.039 --> 00:32:19.559
I'm just gonna just end it here an drink water

513
00:32:19.599 --> 00:32:23.680
at that moment, like spinning my water out. Yeah, so silly,

514
00:32:23.920 --> 00:32:30.759
so silly. Corman and Governor Earl Warren would go on

515
00:32:30.799 --> 00:32:33.359
to become a Chief Justice Supreme of the Supreme Court.

516
00:32:33.440 --> 00:32:38.359
I was gonna say, this is like Chief Justice Warren, right, Okay,

517
00:32:38.759 --> 00:32:42.319
I thought so. Yeah, Anie presided over for Brown versus

518
00:32:42.359 --> 00:32:45.160
the Board of Education. I think I did know that,

519
00:32:45.240 --> 00:32:48.440
But like just hearing it, I'm just like, okay, okay, okay, Warren.

520
00:32:48.599 --> 00:32:50.839
I'm sure if you were very familiar with it and

521
00:32:50.880 --> 00:32:53.359
you heard the name, you're like, that sounds familiar, and yeah,

522
00:32:53.400 --> 00:32:56.119
that's why. Yeah. Also, if you listen to five four,

523
00:32:56.400 --> 00:33:02.160
I know that's why it felt sounded familiar to me. Yeah,

524
00:33:02.200 --> 00:33:04.720
and of course the change was an immediate Many schools

525
00:33:04.799 --> 00:33:09.279
continue to segregate, using IQ testing to justify separating Mexican students.

526
00:33:09.480 --> 00:33:12.960
We talk a lot about OURU testing and our sterilization episodes.

527
00:33:14.119 --> 00:33:15.960
What do we do two or three? I don't remember.

528
00:33:16.720 --> 00:33:20.559
I want to say too. I think you're right. So

529
00:33:20.880 --> 00:33:23.400
the Mendes family ended up moving back to Santa Anna

530
00:33:23.519 --> 00:33:27.119
once the interment camp was over for the Japanese in

531
00:33:27.160 --> 00:33:29.359
the United States. You all the family went back to

532
00:33:29.400 --> 00:33:32.000
their asparagus farm and the men this family returned to

533
00:33:32.119 --> 00:33:36.680
Santana and here Gonzalo Mendez told the superintendent, I don't

534
00:33:36.680 --> 00:33:38.559
care what you think. I'm taking my kids to the

535
00:33:38.599 --> 00:33:42.759
white school because they were trying to argue still, and

536
00:33:42.880 --> 00:33:46.079
so Silvia Mendez was enrolled in the white school. But

537
00:33:46.119 --> 00:33:49.720
it wasn't easy. Sylvia remembers her first day of school

538
00:33:50.079 --> 00:33:51.759
and a white boy went up to her and told her,

539
00:33:51.839 --> 00:33:53.920
you're Mexican. What are you doing here? Don't you know

540
00:33:54.039 --> 00:33:58.599
Mexicans don't belong. What grade was she in? Was she

541
00:33:58.599 --> 00:34:01.079
she was nine? Is not well? The whole thing went

542
00:34:01.119 --> 00:34:05.000
on for two years, Okay, so probably sixth seventh grade

543
00:34:05.039 --> 00:34:10.880
by now, by this time, when kids are just even yeah,

544
00:34:10.920 --> 00:34:14.119
and so she went home that day crying and crying,

545
00:34:14.559 --> 00:34:17.079
Oh my god, she probably just wanted to go back

546
00:34:17.119 --> 00:34:20.159
to the Mexican school right where you're safe with all

547
00:34:20.199 --> 00:34:25.920
of Mexicans, and they're like, you know, this isn't about you. Yeah, yeah,

548
00:34:25.960 --> 00:34:30.000
Oh my god, I can't. I can't imagine. No, I know,

549
00:34:30.360 --> 00:34:33.199
I know. So she told her mom she didn't want

550
00:34:33.199 --> 00:34:35.159
to go to the white school because they were mean,

551
00:34:35.360 --> 00:34:37.760
and it was just so like she was so sad

552
00:34:37.800 --> 00:34:40.039
and her by what they were telling her, and her

553
00:34:40.079 --> 00:34:43.159
mom told her, Sylvia, you were in court every day,

554
00:34:43.239 --> 00:34:45.559
don't you know what. We were fighting. We weren't fighting

555
00:34:45.639 --> 00:34:47.719
so you could go to that beautiful white school. We

556
00:34:47.719 --> 00:34:50.639
were fighting because you're equal to that white boy. So

557
00:34:50.679 --> 00:34:54.039
you're gonna keep going to that school, damn. And she did,

558
00:34:54.159 --> 00:34:58.119
of course she did. Was there more Mexican kids at

559
00:34:58.119 --> 00:34:59.920
this point too? She was the only one at the

560
00:35:00.320 --> 00:35:03.920
fine okay, and time, and eventually there was, eventually there was,

561
00:35:03.960 --> 00:35:06.519
but at this point when she started at this school,

562
00:35:06.800 --> 00:35:08.840
she was the only one. And then and then her

563
00:35:08.840 --> 00:35:10.760
siblings were able to join her, and then you know,

564
00:35:11.000 --> 00:35:14.519
on and on. But to be the first one. It's

565
00:35:14.559 --> 00:35:18.719
so scary. It's like jumping You're a little fish jumping

566
00:35:18.760 --> 00:35:23.960
into Yeah. I mean just remember reading testimonies of Ruby

567
00:35:24.039 --> 00:35:27.039
Bridges and her first day in school and the sea

568
00:35:27.119 --> 00:35:31.000
of white people angry and shit like. And these people

569
00:35:31.159 --> 00:35:34.239
go on to continue having these same beliefs and they

570
00:35:34.400 --> 00:35:36.599
passing on these beliefs. And yes, I was just gonna

571
00:35:36.639 --> 00:35:40.239
say that, Yeah, it's like that thing where people say, like, please,

572
00:35:40.320 --> 00:35:43.480
your grandparents were yelling at Ruby Bridges on her first

573
00:35:43.519 --> 00:35:50.400
day of school, like yeah, on from canceled her grandpa

574
00:35:50.679 --> 00:35:53.840
he was yelling at Ruby Bridges and he was there's

575
00:35:53.840 --> 00:35:57.280
no denying that. Yeah, no legends here because come out no.

576
00:35:59.679 --> 00:36:02.840
So she was scared, but she went on, she kept

577
00:36:02.880 --> 00:36:06.000
going to school. And I also want to mention that

578
00:36:07.679 --> 00:36:12.559
the N DOUBLEACP, this was like a test run for

579
00:36:12.679 --> 00:36:16.840
them for Brown versus the Board of Education. The brief

580
00:36:16.880 --> 00:36:19.920
that the N double ACP, which was authored by Robert Carter,

581
00:36:20.239 --> 00:36:26.239
Thirgood Marshall and Lauren Miller, filed for Mendes Westminster, was

582
00:36:26.400 --> 00:36:30.480
the forerunner to the organization's legal arguments in Brown versus

583
00:36:30.480 --> 00:36:34.880
the Board of Education. When the Supreme Court overturned the

584
00:36:34.960 --> 00:36:38.400
separate but equal doctrine. And this was nineteen fifty four

585
00:36:38.519 --> 00:36:42.199
when that case happened, and n double ACP did consider

586
00:36:42.679 --> 00:36:44.719
this a dry run for the future, and they used

587
00:36:44.760 --> 00:36:48.360
a lot of the same legal reasoning in the Mendes

588
00:36:48.480 --> 00:36:51.840
case in the nineteen fifty four Brown versus the Board

589
00:36:51.840 --> 00:36:55.679
of Education. And so I mean, for that alone, I

590
00:36:55.679 --> 00:37:02.079
feel that Mendes or Westminster v. Mendez should be more known. Yeah,

591
00:37:02.119 --> 00:37:06.480
Like it's not even in the curriculum in California. Yeah,

592
00:37:06.519 --> 00:37:10.440
which is insane, Like why why if we obviously we

593
00:37:10.480 --> 00:37:12.719
need to learn about you know, Brown versus a Bird

594
00:37:12.719 --> 00:37:15.599
of Education, but can we not also set a little

595
00:37:15.800 --> 00:37:20.840
thirty minutes for Mendez versus Westminster, like the case that

596
00:37:21.000 --> 00:37:25.960
said like the path for Yeah, you would think, but no.

597
00:37:28.519 --> 00:37:32.039
So once the case was over, the Mendez family's life

598
00:37:32.159 --> 00:37:37.000
returned to normal. Silvia A. Mendez remembers her father saying

599
00:37:37.039 --> 00:37:39.199
that he felt like they should have been thanked a

600
00:37:39.239 --> 00:37:42.039
little bit more. Her mom felt the same way too

601
00:37:42.079 --> 00:37:44.280
that and they were both more disappointed or they were.

602
00:37:44.519 --> 00:37:47.119
They were both disappointed that no one said gracias for

603
00:37:47.159 --> 00:37:50.239
the fight that they fought, but still they felt like

604
00:37:50.320 --> 00:37:54.519
their children was to thank you in the end anyway, Yeah,

605
00:37:54.559 --> 00:37:57.039
and it was. Sylvia went on to graduate high school,

606
00:37:57.079 --> 00:37:59.480
she went to college, she got her bachelor's and she

607
00:37:59.519 --> 00:38:03.119
worked as an nurse for thirty three years. It's a

608
00:38:03.159 --> 00:38:07.719
long career and a hard job. Yeah. And her mother

609
00:38:07.880 --> 00:38:12.039
always told her that their family, their fight was part

610
00:38:12.079 --> 00:38:16.440
of US history and part of California history, and that

611
00:38:16.519 --> 00:38:19.079
she should go out and talk about it. And for

612
00:38:19.199 --> 00:38:22.800
Sylvia it was like she didn't think about it. She's like, well, sure, whatever,

613
00:38:23.320 --> 00:38:25.920
I guess, but she didn't really She's like, tell her

614
00:38:25.960 --> 00:38:28.119
every want to talk about it. Yeah, her mom was

615
00:38:28.119 --> 00:38:29.920
like tell everyone to sleep. It was like, I don't know,

616
00:38:31.199 --> 00:38:33.559
I don't really tell people things like I don't really

617
00:38:33.559 --> 00:38:36.000
talk in front of people like this. And it wasn't

618
00:38:36.079 --> 00:38:39.599
until first her father, Gonzalo mean this, He died in

619
00:38:39.679 --> 00:38:43.360
nineteen sixty four, and then her mom got sick and

620
00:38:44.400 --> 00:38:47.239
she didn't die, you know, right after her father, but

621
00:38:47.400 --> 00:38:50.960
she did pass away in nineteen ninety eight. And this

622
00:38:51.039 --> 00:38:55.039
is just as the case started becoming more recognized. Two

623
00:38:55.079 --> 00:38:59.360
years after Felicita's death, the city of Santa Ana opened

624
00:38:59.400 --> 00:39:04.559
the Gonzales and Felicita's Mendez intermediate school. Oh wow. And

625
00:39:04.599 --> 00:39:07.920
then there was a documentary called Mendes v. Westminster for

626
00:39:08.039 --> 00:39:10.559
all the children that came out into two thousand and

627
00:39:10.599 --> 00:39:13.000
two and to a thirty minute documentary. And it was

628
00:39:13.079 --> 00:39:17.320
around this time that Celia had retired from nursing, so

629
00:39:17.639 --> 00:39:20.800
you know where she spent thirty three years. And she

630
00:39:20.920 --> 00:39:24.320
finally thought about it and listened to her mom and

631
00:39:24.360 --> 00:39:26.400
she's like, I'm going to start talking about it. So

632
00:39:26.440 --> 00:39:30.679
she began to travel and lecture and educate about Mendez v. Westminster.

633
00:39:31.000 --> 00:39:34.239
She went all over California schools mainly, but also nationwide

634
00:39:34.400 --> 00:39:37.559
talking about the case and her experience. She was invited

635
00:39:37.559 --> 00:39:39.760
to the White House in two thousand and four during

636
00:39:39.840 --> 00:39:42.719
Hispanic Heritage Month. In two thousand and seven, there was

637
00:39:42.760 --> 00:39:45.480
a stamp that was unveiled to celebrate the case on

638
00:39:45.519 --> 00:39:48.079
the sixtieth anniversary of the case. It's a beautiful stamp.

639
00:39:48.320 --> 00:39:50.719
She's look it up. I didn't save the picture, but

640
00:39:51.400 --> 00:39:54.679
it's very colorful. And believe Cynthia is the person like

641
00:39:54.880 --> 00:39:58.400
drawn on it. I'm looking it up right now. Oh wow,

642
00:39:59.280 --> 00:40:02.159
very colorful. I love it. Yeah, And it reads toured

643
00:40:02.199 --> 00:40:05.960
equality in our schools. Mendis v. Westminster. Nineteen forty seven,

644
00:40:06.280 --> 00:40:10.719
and it has like students. You know, wow, I did

645
00:40:10.840 --> 00:40:14.159
just wish say this to on share it on Instagram

646
00:40:15.039 --> 00:40:18.679
and yeah, that was in two thousand and seven. Yeah,

647
00:40:18.719 --> 00:40:20.199
so that was two thousand and seven when the stamp

648
00:40:20.280 --> 00:40:22.639
came out. In two thousand and nine, a second school

649
00:40:23.440 --> 00:40:26.880
named after Felicy Does and Gonzalo men This opened. It

650
00:40:26.960 --> 00:40:29.679
was called the Felic Does and Gonsalomn This Learning Center

651
00:40:30.199 --> 00:40:34.440
in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of California. Okay, Boyle Heights,

652
00:40:34.920 --> 00:40:38.960
Boyle Heights, And we know this is a historically like yeah,

653
00:40:39.360 --> 00:40:43.760
Hispanic neighborhood. We talked about it a lot in various

654
00:40:43.760 --> 00:40:48.679
episodes sprinkled throughout really yeah, which Saturdy is facing gentrification

655
00:40:48.800 --> 00:40:54.199
as many historically non white neighborhoods are. Yeah, everywhere, but

656
00:40:54.320 --> 00:40:58.719
especially I want to say California. Like in twenty eleven,

657
00:40:58.840 --> 00:41:05.360
Civa Mendez was a ordered the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Okay, queen. Yeah,

658
00:41:05.400 --> 00:41:07.280
and if you look at pictures of her winning that

659
00:41:07.679 --> 00:41:10.840
emotional I cried because also I cry over everything. Let

660
00:41:10.840 --> 00:41:13.360
me do it right now. Yeah, yeah, look it up.

661
00:41:13.360 --> 00:41:19.159
And I'm also gonna look at them again. Look at her.

662
00:41:19.559 --> 00:41:26.199
Oh my god, just and look this one is also

663
00:41:26.239 --> 00:41:28.039
the cutest thing ever. Sorry I'm looking at them. I'm

664
00:41:28.079 --> 00:41:31.559
not okay, I'm back. Yeah, that's the one that made

665
00:41:31.559 --> 00:41:37.719
me terrible. Yeah, you could tell how proud she looks

666
00:41:37.760 --> 00:41:41.239
in those pictures. And also she says she says she

667
00:41:41.239 --> 00:41:43.239
could not stop crying when she got the medal because

668
00:41:43.280 --> 00:41:46.159
she thought of her parents and thought they're finally getting

669
00:41:46.199 --> 00:41:49.000
the things they deserve, and she always felt that the

670
00:41:49.039 --> 00:41:52.679
medal was theirs, not hers. Man, I preemptively, I knew

671
00:41:52.679 --> 00:41:54.159
you were going to say something like that, so I

672
00:41:54.159 --> 00:41:56.639
preemptively already was tearing up because I'm like, this is

673
00:41:56.840 --> 00:42:01.079
a parent like this, yes, yeah, because how many of

674
00:42:01.199 --> 00:42:03.000
us are just like this is for my parents, like

675
00:42:03.119 --> 00:42:07.920
everything everything. I can't get behind that. If you know

676
00:42:08.000 --> 00:42:11.480
all your parents anything, blah blah blah, Like I'm just

677
00:42:11.599 --> 00:42:14.079
you know, I will just never be there. I won't same.

678
00:42:14.239 --> 00:42:16.599
And I know it's like this very common. I know

679
00:42:16.800 --> 00:42:20.079
it's toxically that is important to tell. I know me too,

680
00:42:20.280 --> 00:42:22.360
and I know it's important for people to know that.

681
00:42:22.599 --> 00:42:25.800
You know, like, yes, your parents, you know, sacrifice so much,

682
00:42:26.079 --> 00:42:29.679
especially immigrant parents, right for you to have what you

683
00:42:29.719 --> 00:42:31.400
have now and that you don't like all them anything,

684
00:42:31.440 --> 00:42:32.840
but I feel like that with them everything, So I

685
00:42:33.519 --> 00:42:37.599
mean too, I can't stop and I won't stop, Like

686
00:42:37.639 --> 00:42:40.920
I have said this so many times that like I mean,

687
00:42:40.960 --> 00:42:42.960
I think if you listen to both this podcast and

688
00:42:43.000 --> 00:42:46.000
his Spooky Tells, especially the episode about you know, murdered

689
00:42:46.039 --> 00:42:47.880
women in the military, you know my views on the

690
00:42:47.880 --> 00:42:50.599
military now, and you know what I went through in

691
00:42:50.599 --> 00:42:52.119
the military, and I would do it all over again

692
00:42:52.280 --> 00:42:54.679
just for my mom to have her green card again.

693
00:42:54.840 --> 00:42:57.840
Because if that's what it took, then sadly it's not fair.

694
00:42:57.960 --> 00:43:00.760
That's what it took. Yeah, but that's what it is

695
00:43:00.800 --> 00:43:04.199
in this country, and for me, everything was worth it

696
00:43:04.280 --> 00:43:06.360
just for her to be able to go and hug

697
00:43:07.199 --> 00:43:09.800
our grandparents again. Right, I'm not gonna go say more

698
00:43:09.800 --> 00:43:12.960
than that. Okay, I'll stop right now. I am stopping.

699
00:43:13.400 --> 00:43:16.400
But the point is that I understand when she says

700
00:43:16.440 --> 00:43:20.119
this medal is there's not Yes, I do fully, fully,

701
00:43:20.559 --> 00:43:23.119
I would have said the same thing. But also her parents,

702
00:43:23.199 --> 00:43:25.519
you know, were the ones fighting that she she goes

703
00:43:25.599 --> 00:43:26.960
and says. You know, when I was a kid, I

704
00:43:27.000 --> 00:43:32.159
didn't understand really the implications, Like I just remember the

705
00:43:32.519 --> 00:43:35.239
bus that all kids took the same bus to the schools.

706
00:43:35.519 --> 00:43:37.800
But the bus stopped at the nice white school that

707
00:43:37.880 --> 00:43:40.519
had a very nice playground and then continued on to

708
00:43:40.639 --> 00:43:43.639
the Mexican school ten blocks away, and Celia says, I

709
00:43:43.719 --> 00:43:46.639
remember stopping and saying, why can't I go to that playground?

710
00:43:46.639 --> 00:43:48.480
I want to go to the playground. For her, it

711
00:43:48.559 --> 00:43:52.880
was about the playground, yeah, and she didn't understand fully

712
00:43:53.119 --> 00:43:56.119
until when she started going around and talking about it

713
00:43:56.519 --> 00:44:01.199
what everything was really about, like in more more things

714
00:44:01.239 --> 00:44:05.239
about them. So in twenty twelve, the Brooklyn College awarded

715
00:44:05.360 --> 00:44:10.079
Silvia Mendez an honorary degree. In twenty eighteen, le Conte

716
00:44:10.159 --> 00:44:13.880
Elementary School in I forgot to write down. We're in California.

717
00:44:13.960 --> 00:44:17.480
This was the school. It was renamed to the Silvia

718
00:44:17.559 --> 00:44:22.000
Mendes Elementary School and it's a dual English Spanish emerging

719
00:44:22.079 --> 00:44:27.199
school where people fight to send their kids, just like

720
00:44:28.239 --> 00:44:30.679
it must be so crazy to see the changes, like yeah,

721
00:44:31.199 --> 00:44:33.079
where you went to school and you were forbidden to

722
00:44:33.079 --> 00:44:35.360
speak Spanish and now there's a school named after you

723
00:44:35.920 --> 00:44:38.599
where Spanish is taught and people want to go there.

724
00:44:38.679 --> 00:44:42.559
Like I'm just and it's I can't have no words

725
00:44:42.599 --> 00:44:45.159
to like fully express what I would wish I could like,

726
00:44:45.199 --> 00:44:49.320
it's just amazing. In twenty twenty two, the Mendes Historic

727
00:44:49.400 --> 00:44:54.400
Freedom Training Monument opened. It is on Westminster Boulevard in Westminster,

728
00:44:54.920 --> 00:44:57.800
and it's this beautiful monument. It looks like a book.

729
00:44:57.920 --> 00:45:00.320
It tells the story of the case. And and yes,

730
00:45:00.320 --> 00:45:01.800
it's on the trail and you can see it and

731
00:45:01.840 --> 00:45:04.480
it's pretty. And I want to go there and just

732
00:45:04.519 --> 00:45:08.039
to go stand in front of it. And to this day,

733
00:45:08.079 --> 00:45:12.599
Celia Mendez continues traveling and teaching nationwide. And I do

734
00:45:12.760 --> 00:45:15.079
want to say there was a study published by the

735
00:45:15.199 --> 00:45:20.639
National Burial Oh my god, bureau bureau Bureau. Are you

736
00:45:20.679 --> 00:45:26.880
saying burial. You're saying bureau bureau. Yeah, right, like the

737
00:45:26.920 --> 00:45:30.480
better bureau business or whatever. Yes, yes, okay, okay. So

738
00:45:30.519 --> 00:45:33.199
there was a study published by the National Bureau of

739
00:45:33.280 --> 00:45:39.320
Economic Research and it was done by Francisca Atman and

740
00:45:39.480 --> 00:45:44.440
Kalna Cortes. And the study shows that Mexican Americans students

741
00:45:44.480 --> 00:45:47.559
who started schooling after the case went into effect stayed

742
00:45:47.599 --> 00:45:50.360
in school longer, and there was a nineteen point four

743
00:45:50.400 --> 00:45:53.559
percent more likely chance of students to graduate high school

744
00:45:53.599 --> 00:45:56.400
than those who went to school before men this and

745
00:45:56.480 --> 00:45:59.400
the study. Of course, if you're listening using like official

746
00:45:59.639 --> 00:46:02.920
research language, it suggests, but to me, it shows straight

747
00:46:03.000 --> 00:46:07.639
up that placing students in the separate Mexican schools was

748
00:46:07.639 --> 00:46:12.000
having a major effect on the graduation rates. That Mendes v.

749
00:46:12.119 --> 00:46:17.159
Westminster made a positive change to education for all Latinos

750
00:46:17.360 --> 00:46:21.159
in the US. Well, I think about what it told

751
00:46:21.199 --> 00:46:24.199
you about your worth and your own like what you

752
00:46:24.280 --> 00:46:28.719
internalized when even you're that little, you're taking messages in

753
00:46:28.960 --> 00:46:32.280
from you know, all around you. So imagine what it

754
00:46:32.360 --> 00:46:34.880
tells you when you're in the same bus as the

755
00:46:34.880 --> 00:46:36.920
other kids and they get dropped off in the nice

756
00:46:36.960 --> 00:46:38.760
school with the playground and you get dropped off to

757
00:46:38.840 --> 00:46:43.280
a shack with nothing, just dirt and cowshit. Right, and

758
00:46:43.519 --> 00:46:47.679
just this case, I mean, because of this case, obviously

759
00:46:47.960 --> 00:46:52.880
desegregation was super important, but also it just like you said,

760
00:46:52.880 --> 00:46:57.079
it showed Mexican kids, you can't do this, you should

761
00:46:57.079 --> 00:47:00.000
be able to do this. You're not inferior to white children,

762
00:47:00.079 --> 00:47:05.199
and you deserve the same schooling, quality education, yeah, equality education.

763
00:47:05.360 --> 00:47:07.960
And they were able to do that, and even to

764
00:47:08.000 --> 00:47:11.000
this day, I know it's such a hot topic on

765
00:47:11.079 --> 00:47:15.360
like TikTok and shit, but school dropout rates, high school

766
00:47:15.400 --> 00:47:19.800
dropout rates for Latino kids, Latino kids is dropping. Yeah,

767
00:47:20.400 --> 00:47:22.440
it's not what it used to be, even when we

768
00:47:22.440 --> 00:47:26.639
were in high school. And yeah, you know, times, times

769
00:47:26.679 --> 00:47:30.880
are changing, and that's why you know, we see so

770
00:47:30.920 --> 00:47:35.639
many what's her name, Kelly Osborne when she was like,

771
00:47:35.960 --> 00:47:38.079
if you support all the Mexicans, who's going to clean

772
00:47:38.119 --> 00:47:42.239
your house? And they're like, oh, no, no, no, but in

773
00:47:42.280 --> 00:47:44.280
the sense like but in the sense I know, we

774
00:47:44.320 --> 00:47:46.679
do so much more, right, Yeah, And you know what

775
00:47:46.719 --> 00:47:48.599
if you want to clean houses, that's fine too, because

776
00:47:49.000 --> 00:47:52.400
some ladies were on TikTok during the pandemic showing like

777
00:47:52.840 --> 00:47:56.800
their house cleaning like work, and I'm like, man, I

778
00:47:56.840 --> 00:47:59.360
wish I could do that, Like it's you can. There's

779
00:47:59.400 --> 00:48:02.760
no nothing is less valuable than anything else to me. Yeah,

780
00:48:03.400 --> 00:48:06.000
nothing is worth like one thing is not worth more

781
00:48:06.000 --> 00:48:11.519
than the other. But you can do moreever, Yeah, and yeah,

782
00:48:11.599 --> 00:48:17.639
that is the case Menthis versus Westminster such a powerful,

783
00:48:17.840 --> 00:48:21.320
you know case in history that secured rights, you know,

784
00:48:21.639 --> 00:48:26.159
for students of color. It just I think there's obviously

785
00:48:26.159 --> 00:48:31.719
still ongoing issues, especially with like public schools and you know,

786
00:48:32.320 --> 00:48:36.679
being in certain like areas where the money that goes

787
00:48:36.719 --> 00:48:38.800
to school is based on the tax and the income,

788
00:48:38.840 --> 00:48:41.800
you know what I mean. So in the sense there's

789
00:48:41.840 --> 00:48:46.760
still some almost segregation or I don't know what you

790
00:48:46.800 --> 00:48:50.559
call it, like pseudo segregation where you see these low

791
00:48:50.599 --> 00:48:54.400
income schools receiving less funds because of you know, taxation

792
00:48:54.559 --> 00:48:59.000
in these areas. And that's like I love to see.

793
00:48:59.159 --> 00:49:02.639
And it's not like right for this, like certain school

794
00:49:02.679 --> 00:49:05.559
districts have to work way harder to receive something that

795
00:49:05.639 --> 00:49:08.719
maybe a rich area is already just receiving, yeah, because

796
00:49:08.719 --> 00:49:11.159
of the taxes, right, But I love to see like

797
00:49:11.360 --> 00:49:17.239
a quote unquote bad district, Like when you look at

798
00:49:17.239 --> 00:49:19.679
the numbers, they're still doing better than the rich district.

799
00:49:19.800 --> 00:49:21.320
Like even you know, I don't I don't live in

800
00:49:21.320 --> 00:49:25.159
a fancy city. I even the quote unquote bad school

801
00:49:25.159 --> 00:49:27.239
district where nobody wants to be. This is quote unquote

802
00:49:27.239 --> 00:49:28.960
the ghetto. But in the end, when you look at

803
00:49:28.960 --> 00:49:31.679
the resources that this school district is receiving versus the

804
00:49:31.679 --> 00:49:34.519
other ones, this school district ten times better. This is

805
00:49:34.519 --> 00:49:38.480
the school district that has the dual English Spanish schools.

806
00:49:38.519 --> 00:49:40.639
This is the school district that has free lunch for

807
00:49:40.719 --> 00:49:44.519
all students. Other school districts in my city don't, and

808
00:49:44.880 --> 00:49:48.920
and this one does. The school my child is going

809
00:49:48.960 --> 00:49:53.679
to is a brand new project learning based school that

810
00:49:53.840 --> 00:49:56.119
does not exist in other school districts that people are

811
00:49:56.119 --> 00:49:58.840
like finding together their kids into. And you know what,

812
00:49:58.960 --> 00:50:02.239
the poor school disc has that school like it's a

813
00:50:02.239 --> 00:50:05.920
beautiful thing. And not to go too off the charts here,

814
00:50:05.960 --> 00:50:09.719
but there's a reason we see the public school attempts

815
00:50:09.800 --> 00:50:12.400
to defund the school. Oh what, okay, good, I was

816
00:50:12.480 --> 00:50:15.079
gonna bring that up to say, oh yeah, there's a

817
00:50:15.119 --> 00:50:19.519
reason Republicans are finding so hard to take money away

818
00:50:19.519 --> 00:50:23.480
from schools to fund private schools, charter schools. And that's

819
00:50:23.519 --> 00:50:29.320
because it's this is where kids learn about cases like this.

820
00:50:29.519 --> 00:50:33.519
It's empowering, and they don't want to see students of

821
00:50:33.559 --> 00:50:36.920
color empowered. Yeah, yeah, this is why. I remember I

822
00:50:36.960 --> 00:50:39.920
had a coworker and this is pre children, was arguing

823
00:50:39.920 --> 00:50:43.360
about how like her school or she gets taxed her property.

824
00:50:43.400 --> 00:50:45.679
Textes go to school systems, and I'm like, I'm I'm

825
00:50:45.679 --> 00:50:48.800
for it. I don't care me too, Like yeah, I'm yeah,

826
00:50:48.880 --> 00:50:51.960
please like use it for this and not for the military.

827
00:50:52.519 --> 00:50:55.039
Mm hmmm. And it's so important. Yeah, and this like

828
00:50:56.000 --> 00:51:04.400
anti public education, antie intellectual like environment, you know that

829
00:51:04.679 --> 00:51:08.360
we're in now super important to talk about this case

830
00:51:08.440 --> 00:51:12.599
and what it's done for students of color. Yes, and

831
00:51:12.639 --> 00:51:17.280
I want to mention a school, sorry, a kid's book

832
00:51:17.599 --> 00:51:21.440
about the case. Hold on, all right, it's called and

833
00:51:21.599 --> 00:51:24.639
I love this this this author because it's so many

834
00:51:24.920 --> 00:51:28.719
books that are about things we should teach kids. He

835
00:51:28.920 --> 00:51:32.360
is the one writing them illustrating them. So separate is

836
00:51:32.400 --> 00:51:36.400
never equal. Silvia Mendez and her Family's Fight for Desegregation

837
00:51:36.519 --> 00:51:39.880
by Duncan Donatio And I'm sure if you look at

838
00:51:39.880 --> 00:51:44.320
it you recognize the author. I think I've seen it. Yeah,

839
00:51:44.559 --> 00:51:48.320
I also have other books by him already. But yeah,

840
00:51:48.639 --> 00:51:52.119
just I will be getting that book as well. But yeah,

841
00:51:52.280 --> 00:51:56.880
I mean just we've already said a bunch already so well,

842
00:51:57.199 --> 00:52:01.119
in being of what we talked about today, and I

843
00:52:01.159 --> 00:52:05.639
mean everything we talk about, I want to recommend a

844
00:52:05.679 --> 00:52:09.800
book that I'm not done listening to yet. But I mean,

845
00:52:09.840 --> 00:52:12.880
it's like all the topics we talk about, and more so,

846
00:52:12.960 --> 00:52:15.639
I'm sure that our listeners will like it. Also, just

847
00:52:15.679 --> 00:52:18.400
how I like it. It's You Sound like a White Girl

848
00:52:18.480 --> 00:52:21.199
by Julisa Addison. Oh my god, that's been my TVR

849
00:52:21.239 --> 00:52:25.119
for so long. I love it. I love it so much,

850
00:52:25.159 --> 00:52:27.119
and I want to buy the physical book so that

851
00:52:27.199 --> 00:52:31.440
I can reread it because I'm borrowing there from the library. Okay, okay.

852
00:52:31.760 --> 00:52:37.039
Also support your local libraries. Yes, see how you are

853
00:52:37.119 --> 00:52:40.599
listening through your local library, but you're also gonna support

854
00:52:40.639 --> 00:52:44.320
an independent bookstore later when you buy the book. Very demure,

855
00:52:44.559 --> 00:52:49.440
very mindful. Oh I got he dined one second? What's

856
00:52:49.440 --> 00:52:51.599
it called? To him? You sound like a why girl?

857
00:52:52.039 --> 00:52:53.960
She has another book that I am going to add

858
00:52:54.000 --> 00:52:56.599
also to my TVR. I forgot what it's called, though,

859
00:52:56.960 --> 00:52:58.880
I think someone like me, I want to say. It's

860
00:52:58.920 --> 00:53:04.760
called Wow. And there's no hole to borrow immediately, all right.

861
00:53:04.880 --> 00:53:08.679
I've have borrowed the audiobook and it's an Yeah, it's

862
00:53:08.679 --> 00:53:10.639
not long. I'm going to finish it in a day,

863
00:53:14.320 --> 00:53:16.800
all right. Well, anything else to add before we go?

864
00:53:18.719 --> 00:53:21.400
I don't think so, I guess just yeah. Thank you

865
00:53:21.480 --> 00:53:25.719
everyone for listening. If you have enjoyed the podcast so far,

866
00:53:25.960 --> 00:53:29.000
feel free to recommend us to your history loving friends,

867
00:53:29.079 --> 00:53:35.440
to your Latina loving friends. It's Latino Heritage Month is

868
00:53:35.519 --> 00:53:39.519
coming up and right support your fellow latinas. This means

869
00:53:39.519 --> 00:53:42.000
you have to send the podcast to wait people on

870
00:53:42.039 --> 00:53:45.440
that month and they are obligated to listen because it's

871
00:53:45.599 --> 00:53:49.400
Latina Latino Heritage Truth and so they're also obligated. And

872
00:53:49.519 --> 00:53:53.639
there was a five star reading. Yeah that's true. They're

873
00:53:53.639 --> 00:53:56.159
not allowed to get mad. No, no, they're not not

874
00:53:56.760 --> 00:54:00.199
during our month. Okay, we hope that this is one

875
00:54:00.280 --> 00:54:04.719
less estoria unknown and we'll catch you next week. Goodbye

876
00:54:04.719 --> 00:54:12.119
bye m HM