[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 162 (Wednesday, October 24, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2233]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




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

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                               speech of

                          HON. HILDA L. SOLIS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, October 22, 2007

  Ms. SOLIS. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H. Res. 
721, which would recognize the 60th anniversary of the Mendez v. 
Westminster decision. This landmark decision ended segregation of 
Mexican and Mexican-American students in California schools.
  On March 2, 1945, a group of concerned Mexican-American fathers, led 
by Gonzalo Mendez, challenged the practice of school segregation in the 
U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, California. These fathers claimed 
that their children, along with 5,000 other children of Latino descent, 
were victims of discrimination by being forced to attend separate 
``Mexican'' schools in the Westminster, Garden Grove, Santa Ana, and El 
Modena school districts of Orange County, California. The U.S. Court of 
Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled in favor of the families and held 
that the segregation of Mexican and Mexican-American students into 
separate schools was unconstitutional. This California case won access 
for Mexican-Americans to all schools in 1947 and helped lay the 
foundation seven years later for the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the 
Brown v. Board of Education case.
  Latinos are the fastest-growing student population. Approximately 32 
percent of children enrolled in our Nation's public school are Latino. 
The status of Latino education suggests a number of missed 
opportunities from early childhood education through higher education. 
For example, families of 67 percent of Latino children under the age of 
three have an income that is 200 percent below the federal poverty 
threshold. Economic hardship is a reality for these families and has an 
adverse effect on child development and school readiness. In 2004, only 
58 percent of Latinos had completed high school and 12 percent 
completed college.
  Madam Speaker, it is important that Congress honor and recognize the 
civil rights implication of the Mendez v. Westminster case. I urge my 
colleagues to support this resolution and learn from the lessons of 
this Nation's history. Like Gonzalo Mendez and the rest of the fathers 
who led the fight in Mendez v. Westminster, we must continue the fight 
to close the education gap in our country. Educating our children is a 
commitment we must keep.

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