Imperial County to address it’s past
EL CENTRO, Calif. (KYMA, KECY) -The Imperial Valley Social Justice Committee wants Imperial County to know their history.
They presented a plan along with their partners of San Diego State University-Imperial Valley campus in Calexico and the University of California to study disenfranchised communities in Imperial County and create an “archive.”
It would provide data, identify current problems, and recommend solutions. The current racial demographic is (83.8%) Hispanic and Latino and African American population is 2.2 percent.
“African Americans have been a part of every step of bringing about a cohesive Imperial County, we’ve been here, but what happened, we don’t know. It seems as though, for the reasons our forefathers came to Imperial County, for job opportunities and equal opportunities, dissipated somewhere along the way,” said Marlene Thomas, Imperial Valley Social Justice Committee chair.
In August Imperial County CEO Tony Rouhotas Jr. along Registrar of Voters Debbie Porter were accused of overcharging a black senior citizen for copies of candidate records by the Imperial County Democratic Central Committee (ICDCC).
Rouhotas Jr. along with Porter both denied the allegations.
ICDCC member Hilton Smith who originally brought those allegations to light. and later dropped them.
Now he says he's focusing on the progress of his people in Imperial County.
“Our people have had a long history here in Imperial Valley and umm you know we’re just trying to bring awareness that we are here and we have been making progress in Imperial Valley.,” said Hilton Smith, Black Lives Matter Organizer.
“The harms of History and the ongoing trauma needs to be addressed,” said Mark Wheeler, Ph.D. Professor at SDSU.
