GC Lemon Grove’s new church building is a blank canvas. Designing the layout for what will be our worship space and a community center is both thrilling and exhausting. Our March event was a unique opportunity to share our lofty plans for our neighborhood gathering place, while also connecting with the local residents, by celebrating the rich history and culture of Lemon Grove!
In addition to a central location in the middle of town, we’ve also serendipitously inherited a piece of Lemon Grove history, in the form of a beautiful mural on the side of our building. The mural is a colorful tribute to what’s known as “The Lemon Grove Incident.”
The Lemon Grove Incident is the story of a landmark school desegregation case. In 1930, the all-white Lemon Grove School Board covertly built a separate schoolhouse for students of Mexican descent. Once this became known, the Hispanic parents and community members organized and took legal action against the school board. On March 30, 1931, the San Diego County Superior Court ruled that the school board’s attempt to segregate the Hispanic children of Lemon Grove was a violation of California state law. It marks one of the first successful legal challenges of school segregation in American history.
The mural is a tribute to this triumphant win for equality and love. We are truly proud and honored to be the new guardians of this beautiful, important mural in our town’s history, so our Pastor Anne Stapleton collaborated with our city council to advocate for an official day of remembrance. After she spoke at a city council meeting, the City of Lemon Grove declared March 30, “Lemon Grove Incident Day.”
GC Lemon Grove seized this opportunity to celebrate equality and local history by hosting a special ceremony marking this historic day at our new, unfinished building. Lemon Grove residents and attendees paid tribute to their heritage and their community by gathering in front of our mural to bear witness to the official declaration of “Lemon Grove Incident Day.” Approximately one third of the attendees identified themselves as descendants of the original students impacted in 1931. GC Lemon Grove members guided both new and familiar faces into our new community gathering space for their very own grand tour, complete with strategically placed floor plan and construction plan posters depicting what’s to come. The wide-open space, adorned with our illustrative design plans, invited event attendees and potential new church members to imagine what our new space will soon become.
The day’s event was a truly meaningful opportunity to display empathy and cultural competence, as well as to formally introduce ourselves to our neighbors. All credit to Pastor Anne for cleverly weaving together the Christlike message of equity, love, and inclusion, as a way of celebrating our community and announcing our arrival into our abundant new space that we hope will be as much a gift to the City of Lemon Grove as “The Lemon Grove Decision” mural is to us at GC Lemon Grove.
By Chantil Kalagian, Love Avenue Team
Lemon Grove, CA, US
Wonderful!