The Lemon Grove Case (Roberto Alvarez v. Lemon Grove District School Supervisory Board), commonly known as Lemon Grove Incident , is the first successful United States case school desegregation. The incident occurred in 1930 and 1931 in Lemon Grove, California, where local school boards tried to build separate schools for Mexican children. On March 30, 1931, the San Diego County Superior Court ruled that the efforts of the local school board to separate 75 Mexican and Mexican primary school children were a violation of California state laws because Mexican ethnicities were considered White under the state's Educational Code. Although often overlooked in the history of school desegregation, Lemon Grove Case is increasingly heralded as the first victory over the practice of segregative education and as a testimony to Mexican immigrant parents who effectively utilize the US legal system to protect the rights of their children.
Video Lemon Grove Incident
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The separation of Mexican and Mexican American children was common throughout the Southwest in the early 1900s. While the California Education Code does not explicitly allow the separation of Mexican children, about 80% of California school districts with large Mexican and Mexican populations are separated. The other 20% of school districts maintain a partial form of segregation, such as a separate classroom within a mixed school. School boards in cities like Pasadena, Santa Ana, Riverside, and Los Angeles offer a variety of reasons for such segregation. Many districts rely on linguistic arguments, claiming that separation is necessary with English "language defects". Others mention the need to train Mexican and Mexican American youth for "proper" jobs. Some districts argue that "Americanized" schools are needed to assimilate Mexican youth and Mexico appropriately. Authorities often promise that Mexican and Mexican American youth can be integrated into their mastery over their complete English and Americanization; but these promises are almost always unfulfilled. Records show that such "Mexican schools" have sub-standard facilities, shorter school years, and lower teaching quality.
Maps Lemon Grove Incident
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In this context, the integrated grammar school of Lemon Grove is an anomaly. Mexican and Mexican American students, children to a fifty-odd Mexican Mexican immigrant family from Baja California, accounted for about half of the 169 school students. On July 23, 1930, the All-Anglo Lemon Grove school board decided to build a separate school for Mexican children's heritage without telling their parents. The plan was discussed by the school board and later supported by the local Chamber of Commerce and PTA. In August, the council felt that "the situation has reached a state of emergency" due to density and "sanitation and morale" problems originating from Mexican and Mexican American youth.
On January 5, 1931, Lemon Grove principal Grammar Jerome Green, acting under the instruction of a school superintendent, left Mexican children at the school door, leading them to a new school, later known in the local Mexican Mexican community as la caballeriza , which means "stable". However, parents have instructed their children to return home if this happens, and the children are obedient. The parents refused to send their children to the new school, and since they were not allowed to return to the main school building, this resulted in a boycott.
Despite the lack of representation on official power channels such as the PTA or the Chamber of Commerce, parents quickly organized the El Comità © de Vecinos de Lemon Grove (Neon Standing Committee of Lemon Grove). Parents seek the help of the Mexican consul in San Diego, Enrique Ferreira, who connects them with two lawyers. Comité also seeks support from the wider Mexican and Mexican American communities on both sides of the border; the community responded with moral and financial support allowing ComitÃÆ' © to cover upcoming lawsuit charges.
Claims, trials, and decisions
The ComitÃÆ'Â ©, with the help of two lawyers, filed a lawsuit against the Lemon Grove School Board at California High Court in San Diego on February 13, 1931. Sent in the name of Mexican American student Roberto Alvarez, a petition accused of school council "racial segregation efforts... by separating and separating all the children of Mexican descent ". The lawsuit also shows that 95% of the children the school council seeks to separate are US citizens and therefore "entitled to all privileges and privileges that are common to all US citizens.
The Lemon Grove School Board has denied all charges of lawsuits and, asking school boards across the Southwest, insisted that separate facilities were designed for the benefit of Mexican and Mexican American youth. The Council is of the opinion that the school was not designed to separate Mexican children; Instead, he argues: 1) that the new facility can accommodate up to 85 students and that it boasts a complete playground, 2) that the facility is located in a predominantly Mexican city area so children can travel safely to school without risking walking across (4) that it is an Americanized school where "underdeveloped and underprivileged" children can receive better, and more much more appropriate, instructions. The evidence revealed in the trial challenges the characterization of the "retreat and deprivation" of Mexican and Mexican American children, and most obviously, the location and argument of the language of the council.
The landmark lawsuit resulting from the "Lemon Grove Events" became the first successful school desegregation court decision in US history. On March 30, 1931, the Chief Justice Judge issued his verdict in favor of Roberto Alvarez. The judge rejected any school board claims. Although allowing the school board to "separate some children from offering special instructions," he wrote, "to separate all Mexicans in one group can only be done in violation of California law." In the ruling, the judge ruled that Mexican children can not be separated under California state law, because they are "Caucasian race", and laws that allow the separation of "Oriental", "Negro" and "Indian" not applicable.
The decision was not encouraged, largely because of perceived risks from further financial burdens to districts and negative public image. For decades, the only official mention of court cases in local records appeared in the notes of the post-trial school board meeting, "All council members present.Because of the loss of court decisions there is some discussion of the return of Mexican students (children) but only the spirit of goodwill prevailed, and it was decided that everything would continue exactly as it was before January 5. "Even the history of the Lemon Grove School from 1880 to 1966, prepared by an ex-inspector, refers the case.
Limitations
The ruling resulted in the immediate reentry of Mexican and Mexican American students to grammar school; However, the verdict has no concrete implications for desegregation at separate California schools. It was not until more than a decade later, with Mendez v. Westminster , that schools are separated across the state.
Significance
Despite the initial lack of clarity and wider limited impact, Lemon Grove Case has increasingly gained recognition for its place on the school desegregation track as the first successful case of desegregation. In addition, experts agree that the case is evidence for Mexican immigrant families who, despite the hostile political climate, refuse to receive separate and inferior education for their children and who use the US legal system to challenge such violations of rights their children. As noted by historian Robert Alvarez Jr., "This is the first situation when a group of immigrants get together, challenge the school board and win." Some scholars also believe that the case may have led to the defeat of the bill in California state legislature (commonly known as "Bliss Bill") which would make it legal to separate Mexican children under the state education code. At the local level, too, the case has gained recognition. On March 9, 2007, Lemon Grove School District acknowledged Roberto Alvarez, a schoolboy who was the primary plaintiff in the case. The Lemon Grove High School Auditorium, which is on the site of a former grammar school, is dedicated in his honor.
See also
- Clark v School Board of Directors , a case of 1868 in Iowa
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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