[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 160 (Monday, October 22, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H11811-H11814]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 RECOGNIZING THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MENDEZ V. WESTMINSTER DECISION

  Ms. LINDA T. SANCHEZ of California. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend

[[Page H11812]]

the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 721) recognizing the 
60th anniversary of the Mendez v. Westminster decision which ended 
segregation of Mexican and Mexican American students in California 
schools, and for other purposes.
  The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
  The text of the resolution is as follows:

                              H. Res. 721

       Whereas Mendez v. Westminster was a 1947 Federal court case 
     that challenged racial segregation in California schools;
       Whereas in its ruling, the United States Court of Appeals 
     for the Ninth Circuit, in an en banc decision, held that the 
     segregation of Mexican and Mexican American students into 
     separate ``Mexican schools'' was unconstitutional;
       Whereas on March 2, 1945, a group of Mexican-American 
     fathers (Thomas Estrada, William Guzman, Frank Palomino, and 
     Lorenzo Ramirez), led by Gonzalo Mendez on behalf of his 
     daughter Sylvia, challenged the practice of school 
     segregation in the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles;
       Whereas the fathers claimed that their children, along with 
     5,000 other children of ``Mexican and Latin descent'', were 
     victims of unconstitutional discrimination by being forced to 
     attend separate ``Mexican'' schools in the Westminster, 
     Garden Grove, Santa Ana, and El Modena school districts of 
     Orange County;
       Whereas Judge Paul J. McCormick ruled in favor of Mendez 
     and his co-plaintiffs on February 18, 1946;
       Whereas the Westminster school district appealed the 
     decision of the district court;
       Whereas when the district appealed Judge McCormick's 
     decision, several organizations joined the appellate case as 
     amicus curiae, including the NAACP, represented by Thurgood 
     Marshall;
       Whereas more than a year later, on April 14, 1947, the 
     Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal affirmed the district court's 
     ruling;
       Whereas the Ninth Circuit ruled only on the narrow grounds 
     that, although California law provided for segregation of 
     students, it only did so for ``children of Chinese, Japanese 
     or Mongolian parentage'' and did not provide for ``the 
     segregation of school children because of their Mexican 
     blood,'', therefore it was unlawful to segregate the Mexican 
     children;
       Whereas later in 1947, California Governor and future Chief 
     Justice of the United States Earl Warren signed into law a 
     repeal of the last remaining school segregation statutes in 
     the California Education Code and thus ended ``separate but 
     equal'' in California schools and with it school segregation;
       Whereas seven years later, Brown v. Board of Education held 
     ``separate but equal'' schools to be unconstitutional, ending 
     school segregation throughout the United States; and
       Whereas on April 14, 2007, the Mendez family celebrated the 
     60th anniversary of the Mendez v. Westminster decision: Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved, that the House of Representatives--
       (1) recognizes the 60th anniversary of the Mendez v. 
     Westminster decision which ended segregation of Mexican and 
     Mexican American students in California schools;
       (2) honors the Mendez family and congratulates Sylvia 
     Mendez for her continued efforts to keep alive the importance 
     of this case and the impact it had on her future; and
       (3) encourages the continued fight against school 
     segregation and the education of the people of the United 
     States of the civil right implications of the Mendez v. 
     Westminster case.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Gordon of Tennessee). Pursuant to the 
rule, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Linda T. Sanchez) and the 
gentleman from Utah (Mr. Cannon) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from California.


                             General Leave

  Ms. LINDA T. SANCHEZ of California. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous 
consent that all Members be permitted to revise and extend their 
remarks and include extraneous materials for the Record.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. LINDA T. SANCHEZ of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such 
time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, House Resolution 721 recognizes the 60th anniversary of 
the Mendez v. Westminster School District decision which ended 
segregation of Mexican and Mexican American students in California 
schools and honors the Mendez family. I want to commend the gentleman 
from Texas (Mr. Gonzalez) for introducing this important resolution, 
which I am proud to cosponsor.
  As the daughter of Mexican immigrants, this decision has special 
meaning for me. Like the parents in the Mendez case, my parents 
understood the importance of education in the realization of the 
American Dream. Thanks to their efforts and encouragement, all seven of 
their children have excelled, earning college and advanced degrees.
  The Mendez decision really marked a turning point in the effort to 
win full rights for all Californians of Mexican descent. While the 
court ruled on narrow grounds that California law did not authorize the 
school district to create separate so-called ``Mexican schools,'' the 
importance and effect of that decision went much further.
  The words of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit are 
worth repeating. ``By enforcing the segregation of school children of 
Mexican descent against their will and contrary to the laws of 
California, the school district may have violated the Federal law as 
provided in the 14th amendment to the Federal Constitution by depriving 
them of liberty and property without due process of law and by denying 
to them the equal protection of the law.''
  Seven years later, the Supreme Court would finally put an end to the 
discredited doctrine which allowed school segregation based on the 
fiction of ``separate but equal'' schools in the landmark decision 
Brown v. Board of Education. The author of that decision, Chief Justice 
Earl Warren, had, as Governor of California, responded to the Mendez 
decision by signing into law a repeal of the last remaining school 
segregation statutes in the California Education Code.
  This resolution also honors the Mendez family and congratulates 
Sylvia Mendez for her continued efforts to keep alive the importance of 
this case and the impact it had on her future. It is important that we 
not forget the courage of this family. They took a stand against the 
prevailing system of segregation in the public schools and won a 
tremendous victory, not just for themselves, but for many others.
  I am a beneficiary of their courage and their achievement. The story 
of the Mendez family struggle against segregation took place in 
Westminster, Orange County, just a few miles from where my siblings and 
I grew up, played soccer, and attended schools. If the Mendez family 
had not challenged the status quo, and if I had not grown up in a post-
Mendez Orange County, it would have taken me many more years to reach 
the floor of this House, if I ever reached it at all.
  School segregation in California was just one facet of the widespread 
discrimination that Americans of Mexican descent faced across the 
Southwest, from the Gulf coast to the Pacific coast. Hotels, 
restaurants, barbershops, public pools, movie theaters, and even 
maternity wards were segregated for those of Mexican heritage. It was 
very common to see signs that said ``No Mexicans served,'' or 
``Mexicans and dogs not allowed.''
  The injustice of discrimination was most appalling in public 
education. In the 1930s, more than two-thirds of the Orange County 
students of Mexican descent were considered mentally retarded. When the 
Mendez children were turned away from the 17th Street white school in 
their hometown, they were sent to the Hoover Elementary School, which 
was the Mexican school, a rickety, wooden building on a dirt lot. 
Adding insult to injury, many of such Mexican schools operated half 
days during walnut picking season to accommodate local agribusiness 
demand for child labor.

                              {time}  1630

  Mr. Speaker, there are forces in our society today who believe that 
the causes of school integration, of diversity, no longer matter. Some 
believe that fighting segregation might even violate our Constitution. 
That is just plain wrong.
  The Supreme Court in Brown correctly found that separate cannot be 
equal. As we reflect on this anniversary of the Mendez decision, we 
must renew our determination to fight injustice and the forces of 
intolerance. Our Nation will continue to benefit from our diversity.
  I join the Members of this House in commemorating this important 
milestone in our Nation's history and honoring the Mendez family for 
their courage, their strength, and their contribution to the American 
Dream.

[[Page H11813]]

  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. CANNON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 721, which recognizes the 
60th anniversary of Mendez v. Westminster decision, which ended the 
segregation of Mexican and Mexican American students in California 
schools.
  I would like to take a moment to thank the gentlewoman and chairman 
of the Commercial and Administrative Law Subcommittee for her 
statement. She and her sister, who is also on the floor with us today, 
are remarkable people. They may have come to Congress under even 
different circumstances, but it is good for America that this 
impediment was removed from their lives and the lives of many other 
people of Mexican and Mexican American descent here in the United 
States.
  All Americans should understand that, along with Brown v. Board of 
Education, many Federal court decisions signaled our country's shift 
away from the obnoxious principle of ``separate but equal.'' One such 
decision was Mendez v. Westminster in which the United States Court of 
Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in a decision by the full court, held 
that the segregation of Mexican and Mexican American students into 
separate so-called ``Mexican schools'' was unconstitutional.
  That decision in 1945 vindicated the rights of a group of children of 
Mexican American fathers, Thomas Estrada, William Guzman, Frank 
Palomino, Lorenzo Ramirez, led by Gonzalo Mendez, who challenged the 
practice of school segregation in the U.S. District Court in Los 
Angeles and began a journey that led Mexican Americans nationwide to 
greater equality.
  Those courageous and loving fathers stood for themselves and for some 
5,000 others, all citizens of the United States of Mexican descent. As 
the court held: ``By enforcing the segregation of school children of 
Mexican descent against their will and contrary to the laws of 
California, respondents have violated Federal law as provided in the 
14th amendment to the Federal Constitution by depriving them of liberty 
and property without due process of law and by denying to them the 
equal protection of the laws.''
  Following that decision, in 1947 California Governor and future Chief 
Justice of the United States Earl Warren signed into law a repeal of 
the last remaining school segregation statutes in the California 
Education Code.
  Before those loving fathers brought the case of Mendez v. 
Westminster, there was a crack in the American melting pot. Their 
courageous actions repaired that crack, brought all Americans closer, 
and brought America closer to her most cherished ideals.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. LINDA T. SANCHEZ of California. Mr. Speaker, I would like to 
thank the distinguished gentleman from Utah for his kind words, and at 
this time I would like to yield 5 minutes to the distinguished 
gentleman from Texas and the author of this bill, Mr. Gonzalez.
  Mr. GONZALEZ. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague.
  Mr. Speaker, it is a momentous day. Sixty years ago, there was a 
brave young lawyer named David Marcus who took a very unpopular case to 
court that basically was the dress rehearsal for Brown v. Board of 
Education.
  This whole situation was borne of discrimination which was sanctioned 
and promoted and recognized by the government. You would say, what does 
that all mean?
  The family of the Munemitsus, Japanese Americans, owned a certain 
piece of property. They grew asparagus on about 40 acres in 
Westminster, California. They were absent from that property as a 
result of a government directive. They were Japanese Americans; and, of 
course, we had the Japanese American internment camps. They were 
shipped off, dispossessed. The Gonzalo and Felicitas Mendez family were 
given an opportunity to then lease the properties, a great opportunity, 
borne of a discriminatory act. Gonzalez had fled the Mexican Revolution 
in 1916, and like many of our grandparents, came to this country 
seeking a new life. Their daughter, Sylvia, as my colleague, 
Congresswoman Linda Sanchez has already pointed out, wanted to go to a 
certain school but California law specifically prohibited Japanese 
Americans, Mongolian Americans, and Asian Americans from attending 
school with white children.
  But it left out African American and Mexican American children; and 
believe it or not, that really is what the court did hang its hat on. 
So we have a Japanese American family and a Mexican American family, 
and Earl Warren comes into the picture because he is Governor of the 
great State of California. As Ms. Sanchez pointed out, a few years 
later he did away with those particular laws of separate but equal. 
Thurgood Marshall actually has a little-known role in this case because 
he filed a brief in support of Dave Marcus' brief seeking that this law 
would be held unconstitutional. But as I pointed out, it was held 
invalid for another reason, as far as it pertained to Sylvia and the 
other Mexican American children.
  The lesson for all of us here is when you discriminate against one, 
you discriminate against all. Whether it is Japanese Americans, Mexican 
Americans, it does not matter. One country under God. And we hear this 
often enough when we pledge our allegiance. But really, truly, 60 years 
ago it took the Gonzalo and Felicitas Mendez family to give true 
meaning and breathe life into that dream. And because of them, I truly 
believe you see Members of Congress here today with the names of 
Sanchez and Gonzalez.
  Mr. CANNON. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. LINDA T. SANCHEZ of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to 
the gentlewoman and my sister, Loretta Sanchez.
  Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California. I thank the chairwoman for the 5 
minutes.
  Mr. Speaker, this historic case took place in my hometown and I get 
to represent that area of central Orange County. The case is really 
about many families. The Mendez family was the first family in the 
brief. It was also about many areas of Orange County, not just 
Westminster. It covered the central portion because in those days, of 
course, there were the white schools and there were the Mexican 
schools.
  Now the Mexican schools were interesting because it wasn't just 
Mexicans who went there. It was anybody who looked different. Japanese 
Americans went there. Native Americans went there. Black Americans went 
there.
  And the case in point was that when the Japanese family was interned 
and was able to hold onto their property by having Gonzalo Mendez farm 
it, he began to make more money and so he was in a position to hire 
lawyers, a lawyer out of Texas and a lawyer out of Los Angeles, to come 
and fight the issue of why do some children go to the white school and 
some go to the Mexican school.
  You see, when Sylvia's aunt took her children and Sylvia down to the 
school that day, now that they had moved to a new property where they 
could farm, when they went down the block to the local school, the 
children of the aunt were allowed to go to the school because they were 
lighter in skin. But Sylvia was darker in her complexion, and she was 
told that those children must go to the Mexican school across town. And 
having taken these children back with her and saying that was not fair, 
the discussion went on in the family. And Felicitas, I know, like any 
mother and any wife would do, sat up all night and shook her husband 
Gonzalo and said: You're making money now, this isn't fair, do 
something about it. And that is how they came together as families to 
put forward such an important decision. And Thurgood Marshall was part 
of that, representing the NAACP at the time. And, in turn, when we were 
able to change the law in California, that law was part of the basis 
for Brown v. Board of Education at the national level.
  Why do we pass such a resolution today? Because we have to keep 
reminding ourselves of our history and of the importance of change and 
what that means. I will tell you why. Sylvia Mendez, the darker 
daughter who was not allowed in the school, the very case around her, 
she didn't even know that this had occurred. Sylvia read it in college 
in a history book. And as she was reading it, she said, Could that be 
me and could that be my parents? And why didn't they ever tell me about 
it?
  This is the reason we remember, so that all children across our 
Nation will

[[Page H11814]]

understand that all of them will get the opportunity that is America.
  Mr. CANNON. Mr. Speaker, I would like to associate myself with the 
remarks of Ms. Loretta Sanchez as she spoke of the importance of this 
remembrance today. It is important as Americans that we look back and 
understand. Life was not always as it is now. It has been different. 
America is a better place, and this bill is one that commemorates why 
we are a much better place today. I urge support of the resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. LINDA T. SANCHEZ of California. Mr. Speaker, in closing, I would 
like to say H. Res. 721 appropriately honors the courage of the Mendez 
family to challenge discrimination and help open the doors of 
opportunity to all nonwhites through education.
  I want to thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gonzalez) and the 
gentleman from Utah (Mr. Cannon) for their work on this resolution 
recognizing the 60th anniversary of the historic Mendez v. Westminster 
decision, a decision that laid the groundwork for the Supreme Court 
ruling of Brown v. Board of Education. Again, I urge my colleagues to 
support this bill.
  Mr. BACA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to voice my strong support for H. 
Res. 721. This resolution recognizes the 60th anniversary of the 
landmark Mendez v. Westminster decision.
  I want to thank my friend, Congressman Charlie Gonzalez, for 
sponsoring this bill and championing the continued fight for civil and 
equal rights for the Latino community.
  The Mendez v. Westminster decision ended segregation of Mexican 
American students in the state of California, and set the precedent for 
the history making Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954.
  I stand here today, a Mexican American serving in Congress, because 
of the courage of people like Sylvia Mendez and her father, Gonzalo 
Mendez.
  They, along with other brave individuals, stood up for the 5,000 
Hispanic-American children who were victims of unconstitutional 
discrimination, by being forced to attend separate ``Mexican'' schools 
in the school districts of Orange County.
  This resolution recognizes the significance of this anniversary, and 
honors Sylvia Mendez for her continued efforts to fight for equality. 
It also encourages our schools to teach students about the historical 
significance of the Mendez v. Westminster case, and the positive impact 
it had on the future of America.
  I urge my colleagues to show their support in the continuing fight 
against school segregation, and to cast a vote in favor of H. Res. 721.
  Ms. LINDA T. SANCHEZ of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the 
balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Linda T. Sanchez) that the House 
suspend the rules and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 721.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the resolution was agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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