One of my readers, named Cook, asked me yesterday to explain who Santa Ana’s Usual Suspects are. He wondered if the term was meant to be racist.
No, it isn’t – it is however a convenient way to describe a group of folks who have been causing trouble here in Santa Ana for many years.
After the Civil War, a number of Confederate soldiers and their families came here to Orange County. Some of them went on to become the first Usual Suspects. They brought their white hoods with them.
Some years later they brought cheap Chinese labor to Santa Ana, and then when they got tired of them they burned down their Chinatown.
Usual Suspects kept kids segregated, back in the day, so that Mexicans did not go to the same schools as white kids, until the Mendez family won their famous lawsuit.
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Well your melancholy always prevails Pedroza, I guess you couldn’t help it.
Art…Could you please give us a list of names of Santa Ana’s usual suspects? I may be living next door to one and not know it. Also, I’ve heard it said that “Once a usual suspect, always a usual suspect” Is that true?
How about when they blocked the footbridge across the 5 freeway (AFTER construction had begun!) to stop Mexican kids from crossing from apartments over to Hoover school in Park Santiago?
How about when Floral Park stopped the school district from building Grisett school on north Flower?
How about when French Park blocked the Northgate Market?
How about when they passed a new law to prohibit the front yard fences popular with Latinos?
How about when they regulated Garage sales limiting them to 4 times a year?
How about the regulations regarding Vending Trucks and Vending carts?
How about the permit parking in neighborhoods to keep Mexicans from parking there?
i dint know parking permits said no mexicans can park here .