Hulbert "Hub" Cloyd, Fillmore’s Mayor in 1985. Photos courtesy Courtesy Fillmore Historical Museum.

Ernie Morales, former Fillmore mayor, addressing a demonstration against the English as the Official Language Initiative. Ernie served as mayor in 1984.

Gary Creagle, who served as a Fillmore City Councilman in 1985.

Courtesy Fillmore Historical Museum
On Wednesday evening, March 9, the Fillmore Historical Museum presented a virtual screening of the 1986 documentary “Miles from the Border”. This was the first time that the documentary was shown in Fillmore. Over 50 people participated from around the U.S. Viewers varied in age from high school students to senior citizens.

“Miles From the Border” was created by Ellen Frankenstein as part of her master’s program at the University of Southern California. At the time she was doing research for a film company which was interested in doing documentaries. A headline, “English Language Rule Splits California City” in the August 18th, 1985, New York Times caught her eye. The Fillmore City Council has passed a resolution making English the official language for City business (the ordinance was repealed in 1999). A group of people called the ABC Committee objected to the schools requiring a period of bi-lingual education for all students. Mayor Hulbert “Hub” Cloyd was on record as saying a second language should be taught only at home on a voluntary basis. City Councilman Gary Creagle presented a one sentence resolution to the City Council stating that “The English Language is the official language of the City of Fillmore.” The passage of the resolution widened an existing division between Hispanic and non-Hispanic residents. People on both sides of the issue misunderstood the actual impact (official City business would only be conducted in English) and felt this was an “English Only” statute.

According to Ernie Morales who had served as Mayor of Fillmore in 1984 prior to the resolution’s enactment and led the opposition, “The resolution message was vague and cause for confusion as to what it meant outside of city hall business. Town folks became strangers, hostile comments were doled out by both sides of the issue, businesses were boycotted, some services were denied to minority residents, long-time social relationship were split, etc.”

Ellen was sent to Fillmore for one day to see if this was something that could be turned into a documentary. The company she was working for did not end up making the documentary on the resolution, but Ellen saw a possible topic for her Master’s thesis. “I really started thinking about the immigrant process, what it means to come to a new country.” Ellen explained that, “I'd met Manuela (Aparicio) and asked her and her brother Ben, if I could focus the film on them.”

“Miles From the Border” focused on the experience of the children of the Aparicio Family who had come to Fillmore in 1961 from a small village, Huejote, in Zacatecas arriving in Fillmore in 1965. Their father, Manuel Aparicio, picked oranges as did the children when they weren’t in school. It was Manuel’s dream for his children to become educated and prosper in the United States. The children were encouraged by their parents to excel academically and go on to college. This put the family at odds with some others in the Hispanic community. Manuela recalled being referred to as a ‘traitor” because she aspired do more than work in agriculture or the bra factory. The children of Manuel and Ines Aparicio lived in two worlds and that is reflected in the documentary.

After the screening, Manuela Aparicio and Ellen Frankenstein, joined by Thomas Luehrsen who had been the camera man for the documentary, reminisced about the making of the documentary and took questions from the viewers.