Rojas: Has the “American Dream” Been a Nightmare for Many in Orange County?

While Disneyland is busy making plans to acquire more public land and continue expanding their empire, most working class folks in Orange County are barely scraping by to survive. Growing up in the heart of Orange County (Anaheim), we did not call the city by its official name. Instead, we called it “Anacrime” because there was always some sort of dramatic or dangerous event going on around us. As a grown adult, I moved to Brea, CA located in the Northern outskirts of the county. Having lived there for several years, I’ve gained a new outlook on the unequal distribution of county resources, the impact overcrowding has on working class resident’s quality of life due to rising costs of living, and the peace of mind you experience when you don’t have to struggle for basic things like an overnight parking space.

Orange county has a diverse population with White residents making up 39% of the population, followed by Hispanic residents at 34%, Asian residents at 21.1%, and various other ethnic groups making up the remaining population. Also, the County boasts a high median income of $109,361 annually, which is significantly higher than the national median income of $75,149. On paper those statistics make it sound like an amazing place to be right, that is until you dig deeper and find out the harsh reality and social separations within the area.

Regularly traveling between Anaheim and Santa Ana during my youth I was constantly in fight or flight mode due to issues such as gangs, homelessness, loitering, public indecency, substance abuse, chronic unemployment, and the fear of a dangerous encounter with police. Many people in Anaheim, mainly those in lower socioeconomic neighborhoods, have a historic lack of trust for the Anaheim Police Department, and that makes living a peaceful life feel nearly impossible.

I vividly remember learning from my parents early on, not to trust law enforcement to protect our safety, so, fending for ourselves was our only alternative. Also, being a young “undocumented” person in the streets of Orange County made everything feel as if it was three times more dangerous just by default. Something as simple as driving without a license could result in being arrested and deported back to Mexico at any moment. Luckily, my family and I were resilient, we were able to make the best of our opportunities and did not surrender to any troubles.

After a long time being away, my parents returned to live in Anaheim in recent months. Only a few blocks away from Disneyland they hoped this was a different type of neighborhood than the streets I grew up in. To everyone’s surprise, we found out that not much has changed in the home of the happiest place on earth. Only on the second visit to their new home, I witnessed several police officers, some mounted on horseback, aggressively cracking down on an unhoused individual, and forcibly removing them from a Walgreens near Downtown Disney. On the next visit, as I drove by a bus stop on the corner of West St and Katella Ave, a completely naked man was exposing himself for all the tourists and onlookers to see.

According to the 2022 American Community Survey U.S. Census data, about 1 in 10 people in the county are living below the poverty rate. Further, the data reveals insights that individuals residing in central cities such as Anaheim, Santa Ana, Garden Grove, and Fullerton, face challenges which include lower income, overpopulation, and limited opportunities to access higher education. This is in glaring contrast to wealthier areas like Anaheim Hills, Brea, Yorba Linda, and cities in South Orange County.

The point I am making is that historically, county and city governments have shown their interests align with corporations like Disney and they are not looking to improve the lives of the people who mow their lawns, cook their meals, and clean their homes or offices. Instead, they are busy trying to line their own pockets with cash and continue leaving working people to fend for themselves (Ex-Mayor Sidhu).

Of course there will be critics who say that social improvements to the area are rolling out successfully. From their perspective, displacing working class people, tearing down their neighborhoods and building new gentrified housing complexes, is positive social change. Sadly, once that first stage is completed, the gentrified area is marketed to wealthy outsiders who bring in their money but have no clue about the historical social struggles in the area. I argue against that and say, it is only a way to erase the visibility of social problems at the expense of working class folks.

Personally, I enrolled at the University of Southern California to earn a Master’s degree in Social Work. With that, my goal is to advocate for a sustainable future for the place that saw me mature into an adult and create solutions to our most difficult social problems. My journey began by grassroots organizing for social justice in 2018, and since then I have become a passionate social justice activist. I urge you, Orange County community members to reflect on your own experiences, join as volunteers at any local social justice movement that resonates with you, or begin your own campaign to run for office and improve living conditions for all, especially our youth. I encourage you to think deeply about how if we all contribute just a small bit of our time and brain power, we can begin to improve environments for ourselves and everyone around us. That way, our young people don’t have to live in poverty, be victims of adverse childhood experiences, or leave the place they call home to find peace of mind.

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