Race Relations Orange County

An investigation into complaints of racial discrimination at Aliso Viejo Middle School failed to look seriously at the school's "hostile environment" and the "bullying techniques" used by administrators, a group of parents alleged Monday. "The issues addressed by the investigation do not begin to scratch the surface of the real problems on the AVMS campus," said parent Leslie Harris.

Against a backdrop of growing mistrust between Orange County minorities and police, human rights advocates from around the state told a federally appointed civil rights committee Thursday that local law enforcement officials regularly harass Latino and Asian youths. As more than 175 people jammed an all-day hearing in Costa Mesa by the California Advisory Committee of the U.S.

Against a backdrop of growing mistrust between Orange County minorities and police, human rights advocates from around the state told a federally appointed civil rights committee Thursday that local law enforcement officials regularly harass Latino and Asian youths. As more than 175 people jammed an all-day hearing in Costa Mesa by the California Advisory Committee of the U.S.

An investigation into complaints of racial discrimination at Aliso Viejo Middle School failed to look seriously at the school's "hostile environment" and the "bullying techniques" used by administrators, a group of parents alleged Monday. "The issues addressed by the investigation do not begin to scratch the surface of the real problems on the AVMS campus," said parent Leslie Harris.

The rioting in Los Angeles last April didn't spill over into Orange County, but its impact did. Wisely, some residents are determined to learn some lessons from Los Angeles' violent urban history. There have been meetings since last spring. The latest gathering was several weeks ago at Chapman University where a panel discussion on race relations in Orange County was sponsored by the Interfaith Peace Ministry of Orange County and the university's Albert Schweitzer Institute.

The executive director of the Orange County Human Relations Commission warned Sunday that the recent Los Angeles riots could be a "snapshot" of Orange County's future if its people don't erase some of the racial barriers that divide them. "We're at a crossroads," Russell Kennedy told a gathering of about 50 at Chapman University. "We have to decide whether we're going to go toward isolation--by building higher walls to separate ourselves from each other--or toward embracing (ethnic) diversity."

Allegations of voting fraud in the 46th Congressional District are being sorted out, but regardless of the results, Orange County is dealing with a profoundly altered electoral landscape for the long term.

If this were New York City, 15-year-old Amber Jefferson would be a cottage industry by now. Pictures of her swollen, slashed face would have done wonders for tabloid newspapers. Her name would be spray-painted on tenement walls. You can almost picture the slogan: "Remember Amber." The phone lines on call-in radio would be lit up all night. Film at 11. Amber wouldn't be a kid anymore; she'd be a cause.

As Asian Americans struggle to gain recognition and representation in society, the very quality that binds them sets them apart. "There are many people out there who do not see Asian Americans as Americans," said Mike Matsuda, a former state Assembly candidate and a panelist at Saturday's Asian Pacific American Leadership Summit at Santa Ana College.

Civic leaders on Thursday launched Orange County's most ambitious program ever to promote racial harmony, declaring that they plan to push for community policing, an education curriculum that reflects the county's various ethnicities and employment programs that encourage the training and hiring of diverse local residents.

To understand the future of American politics, look closely at Dana Point and at Orange County, a Stanford University professor says, and keep in mind that in a few years whites will cease to be the majority in California. Around the year 2000, the state estimates, whites will make up less than half of California's more than 31 million people.

Police use batons and pepper spray to break up a crowd of Latino demonstrators demanding more Chicano studies classes at Fullerton College. Three young county residents are arrested in what police describe as a white-supremacist plot against blacks and Jews. A racial brawl erupts on a high school campus in Fountain Valley, as one student is stabbed and 22 are suspended. A grand jury proposal to ban immigration sparks angry charges of racism from ethnic groups.