Nichols is right: I’m Mexican and I like the beach

What is the big deal here? Newport Beach Councilman Dick Nichols was

just telling the truth, right? Mexicans like to picnic on the beach.

I know I do. I usually don’t wear my state-issued Mexican armband,

so I am not sure how somebody could tell that by just looking at me,

but there must be some other way.

If Nichols said they were Mexicans, they must be. I mean, what

kind of politician would bend the truth?

A highly educated, successful man such as Nichols wouldn’t dare

make such a general statement simply on the basis of one’s skin

color. Why, that would just be ignorant. I’m sure the councilman

asked each person his or her ethnic heritage before coming to a

conclusion.

I can just see it now. Nichols, the friendly man that he is, would

of course feel comfortable walking right up to a group of people

relaxing at the same beach he loves and sparking up a conversation.

“Hi, my name is Dick. Nice to meet you. You’re Mexican, right?”

Nichols is a retired engineer, a profession that demands specific

data, exact figures and precise information. He knows all too well

that one minor miscalculation results in a serious mess.

I wanted to ask Nichols what facts and evidence led him to the

educated conclusion that a group of people hanging out on the grassy

areas were my paisanos (countrymen) -- but he never called me back.

His wife, Sandy Nichols, wrote in a letter to the editor that she

has instructed her husband not to talk to the Pilot. But Sandy, I am

just trying to get a rational explanation for this. There must be

one. Help me help you.

I spoke with a 60-year-old Corona del Mar man who supported

Nichols. The man said he did not want his name in print because the

“world is a crazy place” and he feared retaliation. The Corona del

Mar resident said Nichols was being mischaracterized as a racist

simply because he was honest. There was nothing derogatory in

Nichol’s comments, he said.

“If anything, what he is doing is saying that Big Corona is

clogged with Hispanics on weekends and people don’t want to go there

because it is too crowded,” he said. “If you can’t characterize a

bunch of people for what they are, then what has this country come

to?”

What is it that I am missing? I decided to go down and get a

closer look myself. (By stepping foot on the property, I know that at

least one Mexican is there, but I’m allergic to grass -- or at least

to the reclaimed water used to water it ... but I digress.)

During my trip Wednesday, I saw all kinds of people out on the

grassy area, sitting on the sand, unloading their cars in the parking

lot, walking their dogs or simply enjoying the view from along the

ridge.

What I failed to notice was the Mexican flag stuck in the ground,

where those pesky picnickers have staked their “claim” to the land.

There were two flags on the property, but as far as I can tell, one

was Old Glory and the other was the state flag.

Perhaps Nichols was confusing the grizzly bear on the state flag

with something of Latino descent. It is brown. After all, isn’t skin

color the only clue he has that any person on the beach may or may

not be Mexican?

Perhaps there is a secret engineering formula for recognizing

nationality that I never learned. I was never very good at physics,

and there was no math requirement for journalism majors at USC. I

must have missed something.

It must be the same formula Nichols used during a candidate forum

on Sept. 25 to describe the children of Whittier Elementary as

“illegal aliens.”

Remember the West Newport Beach Assn. candidate forum -- weeks

before the election? Nichols was asked about the development at

Banning Ranch and offered a very simple explanation of why the land

has not been developed. The Newport-Mesa Unified School District

would not approve another school in that area, he said, which would

force children to attend Whittier Elementary.

“Most of Whittier is illegal aliens,” Nichols said.

There must be a neon sign somewhere proclaiming that. Is that the

school’s motto? Oh, no, I know, illegal immigrants are always going

around proclaiming their illicit status -- especially to Republican

politicians. They must have walked right up to Nichols and told him

so. Just like the picnickers.

OK. I am merely going to give up on acquiring the identification

skills that Nichols has been blessed with. I will have just have to

live my life getting to know people, asking them questions and

gathering particulars before I form an opinion.

This whole thing leaves me with two nagging questions:

1. Why are people surprised at Nichol’s comments now, when he

publicly displayed this uncanny skill before the election?

2. What is wrong with Mexicans at the beach?

Answers to these questions would clear things up a lot. Muchas

gracias, senor.

* LOLITA HARPER writes columns Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and

covers culture and the arts. She may be reached at (949) 574-4275 or

by e-mail at [email protected].