Renaming the school pays tribute to the contributions of Japanese immigrants and also promotes diversity, inclusivity, and recognition of different cultural backgrounds.
The Riverside Unified School Board voted unanimously in June to rename Highland Elementary School to Harada Elementary School. It’s the first school in Riverside, named after an Asian American family.
“This is a story of resilience and community that should be told. It aligns with the district’s mission, values, and equity tenets,” said Angelo Farooq, the school board president, in a July 11 release. “It is powerful that our children will learn about national pioneers in our own Riverside community.”
Riverside Museum Director Robyn Peterson described the landmark court case as “one of the first dominoes to fall in what turned out to be a long process of wiping from the books these exclusionary racist property laws.” Decades later, California’s 1913 Alien Land Law was declared unconstitutional.
