Coordinator of Lopez V. Seccombe Reenactment and Superior Court Judge John M. Pacheco recounts his journey in law as a Hispanic

On September 15th, San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge John M. Pacheco proudly greeted community leaders and students as they walked into the iconic Mitla Cafe banquet room for a live reenactment of the historic Lopez V. Seccombe case.

The case desegregated city parks and recreational facilities in San Bernardino in 1944, after three Hispanic boys between the ages of 13-16 years old were denied entrance into the Perris Hill Plunge due to being “Hispanic,” a time in which 85 percent of schools were segregated, according to Pacheco. 

Days before the reenactment, Pacheco sat down with San Bernardino’s KVCR and Inland Empire Community News. They opened up about discrimination he faced outside of his West Side San Bernardino community as he was pursuing an education in law at Azusa Pacific University and Western State University.

“I grew up in an impoverished community. My family, friends, and neighbors were all poor, and it didn’t matter what color you were. When I got to college, I started to sense that I was treated differently. My first experience was when I was in the cafeteria, and I sat down at a table, a person came up to me and said, ‘the Mexican table is over there – that is where you’re supposed to sit,’” said Pacheco.  

He also shared his experience with a professor who laughed at him for wanting to become a lawyer. 

“I took an English class, and I received a bad grade. So I asked the professor if I could retake his class, and he asked, ‘why.’ I told him that I wanted to become a lawyer. He literally started laughing at me, shaking his head,” Pacheco said.

“He said, ‘You’re not serious, are you? I said, ‘Yes, I’m very serious. I asked, ‘What do you suggest I do? He said, ‘Well, you’re having a summer break. I suggest you get a job pulling weeds at the courthouse, and every morning when the lawyers come in, you set yourself close to them at the entrance so you can hear how they speak – that might help you become a lawyer,” continued Pacheco. 

Today, Pacheco has not only had a successful career as an attorney, but in 2001, he was appointed by Governor Gray Davishe as a judge of the Superior Court of San Bernardino County; and won reelection outright in the primary on June 7th, 2022.

Pacheco says 2022 was the perfect time to reintroduce the community to Lopez V. Seccombe, with all of the political division and a great way to kick off National Hispanic Heritage Month – which runs from September 15th – October 15th.