Breaking through the wall

Three generations of the Alvarez family have furthered the lessons of the Lemon Grove Incident

BY JOHN WILKENS

In downtown Lemon Grove, in an alley off Broadway, a new mural is nearing completion.

Painted on the side of a building, it tells the story of “The Lemon Grove Incident,” a 1931 court fight over school desegregation.

One of the drawings shows some of the 75 students who were affected Another depicts their school One picture is a courtroom scene: a child testifying from the witness stand

Look closely and you can see something else: A promise that got kept, a dream that persisted, rippling across generations. Because this is also the story of the Alvarez family

“That’s my dad,” Roberto Alvarez Jr said Thursday morning as he looked at the mural. “And that’s my mom. His parents Roberto Sr and Mary were students at Lemon Grove Grammar School 90 years ago when the school board decided to make them and the other children of Mexican immigrants go to classes in a different building, in what used to be a barn.

The families resisted. They’d come to the United States in part because they wanted better lives for their children, wanted them to be treated equally That was the promise, the dream. So they took the school board to court. Alvarez Sr was 12 at the time and became

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Spying Is Now Routine For Those In Power In Mexico

U.S. court case offers look at vast surveillance technology being used

BY KRISTINA DAVIS & WENDY FRY

Agovernment-contracted auditor was in the middle of his investigation into a political controversy over water debts in Baja California in 2020 when the series of humiliating videos went public. The footage captured the audi- tor, sometimes shirtless appearing to snort and ingest a white powder, oblivious that he was being surveilled in his personal space possibly by someone remotely controlling the camera on his own phone or computer

The privacy intrusion was almost certainly illegal. It was also not that surprising.

Mexico has been revealed as one of the most prolific consumers of surveillance technology over the past decade, bringing modern-day meaning what is known colloquially as “pájaros en el alam- bre,” or birds on the wire. Spying is believed to be such a widespread tactic used by government officials and others in power in Mexico that countermeasures have become routine for many people who might be targets, including politicians community leaders activists journalists, lawyers and executives. For others, the possibility of being hacked is met with grudging resignation as a cost of doing business.

“Many people feel powerless about it,” said Luis Fernando