Will the OC Fair Erect a Statue Commemorating the County's Immigrant Agricultural Workers?

By Gustavo Arellano Wed., Nov. 23 2011 at 2:00 PM

Boy, hasn't it been fun having Orange County Employees Association (OCEA) head Nick Berardino on the OC Fair board of directors? The fiery Berardino--with whom we always don't agree , but always do appreciate his bringing a paisan attitude to WASP heaven Orange County--has already stirred up the usually staid board by demanding full transparency, usually dropping tips to the Voice of OC (of which the OCEA helped get off the ground with a six-figure donation) about some board scheme or other.

But God bless Nick: he left the best tip for me. He has proposed to his fellow board members that they erect a statue at the Orange County Fairgrounds commemorating the hundreds of thousands of immigrant agricultural laborers that set this county on the road to prosperity but whose contributions get swept under our Sunkist memories.

Somewhere, Jimmy Utt is spinning in his grave.

"These people were instrumental in making Orange County rich--Japanese, Chinese, Mexican laborers and others," he said. "They deserve commendation, and especially given how the Fair is a celebration of our agricultural heritage, a statue on the Fairgrounds would be a great idea."

Berardino says he briefly mentioned the idea to his fellow board members at a recent meeting, and they didn't immediately laugh him out of the room--a stunning development, given our county's ahistorical mindset. He plans to bring up the plan for public discussion at the board's next meeting, scheduled for Dec. 15. See you there!

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junior

How about a memorial for the WW2 Army Training base located there as well?

gustavoarellano

Sure!

Ihateusc

wtf? dont put the chinese and japanese workers with those mexican pendejos... that's an insult!!

mitch young

Besides, the Japanese owned a lot of OC -- doesn't that make them capitalist exploiters?

gustavoarellano

Your kind rounded them up into interment camps, so spare us the whine games.

Bullied Chinito: Don't you have some Mexican to sow up after a drive-by? Baboso.

mitch young

Que disfrutes el pavo, uh, guajolote.

gustavoarellano

Again, absolute bullshit from you. And that you only found out about Niihau again shows how sequestered your mind is to reality.

mitch young

I believe that liberal icon Earl Warren was a primary instigator of the Japanese/Japanese relocation, and the saint FDR signed off on it. That's no accident, these folks were seriously anti-fascist. At any rate, if something like the Niihau incident had happened on the mainland, I shudder to think what would have happened to the Japanese/Japanese Americans here.

What? Never heard of the Niihau incident? Where at the very first opportunity in WWII two Issei citizens actively aided a downed Japanese pilot in Hawaii? Neither had I until recently, because the standard version of the relocation fails to mention *any* incidents of disloyalty on the part of Japanese-Americans. These don't fit into the standard narrative, which is of evil whitey acting out of pure racism to and/or covetousness to lock up the Japanese Americans for no reason. The truth is more complex, just like I'll bet the truth is more complex as to who was responsible for OC's agriculture success (WASP planters who also worked their orchards with their kids, fruit tramps, Mexican immigrant labor, both Mexican and white women packing shed workers etc.)

gabriel san roman

Don't always agree with Berardino either, but this is definitely a good idea!

mitch young

Or, given that the counties relative prosperity today is due not to agriculture, but to the great wave of internal migrants from 'back east' who came to California in the post War era -- how about a monument to New York transplants.

prado4587

or to the transplants that setup and imploded the subprime mortgage industry in Orange County taking down the U.S. housing market and economy with it?

mitch young

I didn't know Angelo Mozilo was from the 'C.

Anyhoo, I'm talking of the folks that arrived in the 50s to early 70s, you know, the people that gave you UCI and Disneyland and CSUF where--I don't know if you know this -- GA is a part-time eraser monitor or something.

gustavoarellano

More horseshit from a man whose brain is full of it! You're just sore because people are finally writing minorities into history books in roles that aren't just chinks, greasers and sambos haha

mitch young

¡Que polemica tan brilliante! Con el mente tan agudo, Serías un exito en las tertulias de España --- ¡NOT!

mitch young

And while I'm in editing mode

"we always don't agree" , pretty sure GA meant "we don't always agree".

Paid for sloppy prose in two languages: saludos, tio.

mitch young

oops, apparently 'mente' is femenino

el mente tan agudo --> la mente tan aguda

mitch young

How about a monument to the Mormon battalion, who by assuring that SoCal would become part of the Anglo-Saxon dominated Union, directly ensured that the points between what is now the border and, say, Santa Barbara, would not resemble, today, Baja California?

How about the planters that planted the citrus that the Mexicans labored in?

How about a statue to Huntington, who built the railroad connections to OC?

Or how about the fruit tramps who worked orchards throughout California?