Another film about a game-changing court case may soon be joining the ranks of “On the Basis of Sex” and “Loving.” According to Variety, “Grown-ish” actress Francia Raisa and “13 Reasons Why” executive producer Mandy Teefey are joining forces to tell the story of the historic 1946 Mendez vs. Westminster school desegregation case.
Raisa and Teefey began developing the as-yet untitled project this year. They’re especially keen to share the story on the big screen because the case is much less known than 1954’s Brown v. the Board of Education, in which the Supreme Court ruled that states separating black and white students into different schools as unconstitutional.
Gonzalo Mendez and four other Mexican-American fathers claimed their kids, and 5,000 other children of Mexican descent, were — by being forced to attend separate “schools for Mexicans” in the Orange County school districts of Westminster, Garden Grove, Santa Ana, and El Modena — being subjected to unconstitutional discrimination. Mendez and his fellow plaintiffs argued the districts were turning away students who were dark-skinned or had Hispanic names. The Westminster school board countered their enrollment was based on children’s ability to speak English.
A federal judge in LA ruled in the plaintiffs’ favor. The school district appealed to the Ninth Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, but its Judge McCormick upheld the previous decision, ruling that the schools were going against the Fourteenth Amendment. In January 1948 the Mendez children started attending 17th Street Elementary, and were among the first Latino students to attend an all-white school in California.
For Raisa, the circumstances of Mendez vs. Westminster hit very close to home. “It’s a very personal story for me because I was turned away from kindergarten when I was five because I could not speak English,” she said. “Hardly anyone knows this story.”
“We are so honored that the Mendez Family has entrusted us with the opportunity to tell their story,” Raisa and Teefey said. “Mendez vs. Westminster deserves wide recognition for their fight against segregated schools and the equal treatment of Mexican-American students, and we are proud to help showcase this moment that has been bypassed in history.”
Raisa and Teefey’s film has also received the Mendez family’s blessing. “Although we have been approached in the past about doing a movie, after several conversations and a meeting with Francia and Mandy, we are confident that they are the right people to tell our story,” the family stated.
The Mendez vs. Westminster case was previously the subject of Sandra Robbie’s Emmy-winning documentary “Mendez vs. Westminster: For All the Children/Para Todos los Niños.”
Raisa stars as Ana Torres in “Grown-ish.” The college-set “Black-ish” spinoff will return for a second season on Freeform next year. “Dear White People,” “The Secret Life of the American Teenager,” and “The Mindy Project” are among Raisa’s other credits.
