Cynthia Ward posted this over at Orange Juice Blog. It is an excerpt from a new book, “Echoes of Anaheim,” published by a friend of hers on the subject of growing in post-war Anaheim.
I really enjoyed reading the excerpt. It strikes me as much closer to reality than the Orange-County-is-a-racist-dystopia theme that dominates the writings of Gustavo Arellano (whose self-appointed mission, aside from relentless self-promotion, seems to be to ensconce himself as the historical arbiter of the societal character of OC).
Guess who wrote these words —
“Mentioning that the Klan controlled Anaheim, even staged a 10,000-strong rally in the city, is the easy jab people always employ against Anaheim specifically and Orange County in general whenever they want to describe us as fundamentally racist. But, … the Klan’s rise in Anaheim and other cities during the 1920s is well-documented–as a stand by good people against racist terror, an easy narrative to write and honor. Besides, the Klan’s time in Anaheim had little to do with suppressing minorities–especially Mexicans.”
I’ll bet that you did not guess Gustavo – yup, it was he.