“…What we have learned from the Lemon Grove incident is that when we unite together and we fight against those forces, we are stronger than they are.” – Mayor Alysson Snow
(Photo, left, by Armando Rasing II): Community members gathered in front of a mural created by Mario Chacon that honors the Lemon Grove Incident
By Armando Rasing II
April 1, 2026 (Lemon Grove) – Lemon Grove community members gathered at The Neighborhood Event Center on Sunday afternoon to celebrate the 95th anniversary of the 1931 Lemon Grove desegregation court decision, a decision that stopped students of Mexican descent from being separated into a different school.
Mayor Alysson Snow gave Roberto Alvarez Jr., the son of one of the plaintiffs from the 1931 court case, a proclamation that declares the month of March 2026 as the “Lemon Grove Incident” month.
Alvarez Jr. recalled stories from his father and highlighted the relevance of the anniversary to the ongoing raids by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement throughout the United States.
“Today, we face the resurgence of anti-immigrant and anti-American assaults,” Alvarez Jr. said. “This is an ongoing struggle. ICE and the border patrol threaten our towns, our cities and our neighborhoods.”
In 1931, The Lemon Grove School District board attempted to segregate students by banning all students of Mexican heritage and building a new school for them. The new school that was built was considered to be in “inhospitable condition.”
(Photo, below right, by Armando Rasing II): Roberto Alvarez Jr. receives a proclamation that declares March 2026 as the “Lemon Grove Incident” month
When the Mexican students were not allowed to enter their old schools, Juan De Dios Gonzalez, a farm labor organizer, led a boycott. Approximately 75 Mexican students stayed at home as Gonzalez filed a writ of mandate against the Lemon Grove School Board in February 1931.
After a month-long case, the San Diego County Superior Court ruled that the attempt to segregate students was invalid because ethnic Mexicans were considered “Caucasian” under the state’s education code.
In the months from May to October in 2025, ICE had made over 4,500 arrests in San Diego — over 4,000 more than the amount of arrests made the previous year before President Donald Trump was sworn into office. Approximately 35% of San Diego County’s population and almost half of Lemon Grove’s residents are Hispanic.
Snow spoke in front of the crowd and became emotional when discussing the correlation between today’s political climate and the 1931 case.
“We’re still divided,” the mayor said. “But what we have learned from the Lemon Grove incident is that when we unite together and we fight against those forces, we are stronger than they are. That when we come together, we have power to fight that brings hatred, that breeds separation, that really alienates us one from another.”
On the side of The Neighborhood Event Center, where the proclamation was given, is a mural painted by Mario Chacon that honors the Lemon Grove incident. The mural included names and illustrations of some of the Mexican children that were excluded from the school district, court documents, messages from students in the Lemon Grove School District and more.
“The amazing thing about this incident was that it tapped into the resilience of the people, the parents of the families during a time that was very harsh – possibly even worse than what we’re experiencing today in regards to racism against [people of Mexican descent] and working people,” Chacon said.
Paul Espinosa, the creator of a KPBS film that portrayed the Lemon Grove incident, was also in attendance on Sunday. While he mentioned that his documentary is used at “maybe 400 colleges and universities around the country,” he expressed doubts that San Diego school districts teach students about the Lemon Grove incident.
“We are seeing the result of the fact that we don’t know very much about our history,” Espinosa said. “This is the repeated effort to undermine the advancement of certain communities in this country and we have to fight. We have to be aware that we have to keep doing something to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
The KPBS film created by Espinosa about the 1931 Lemon Grove court case can be viewed here.