Jess Ramirez is surrounded by his four daughters (l. to r.) Florencia, BA San Francisco State, Masters University of Chicago; Xilen, Bachelors UC Berkley, Masters Harvard University; Daniella, Bachelors UC Berkley, Masters Uma Mexico; and Sabrina, Bachelors UCLA. Last day as a longshoreman January 31, 2018 after 51 years. Celebrating delivery of 40 foot container with clothes and books for a school in Guatemala. Just another day in paradise at the Port of Hueneme. Unloading cement from an Army ship in Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam in 1966 while serving in the Army.
By Bianca Byrd and Carlos Garcia
Jess Ramirez is a Commissioner for the Port of Hueneme of the Oxnard Harbor District where he continues to serve his six terms during the Port’s greatest period of expansion. Over the years, he acquired a unique expertise of harbor and maritime issues and committed himself to public service and the environment.
Born in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Jess immigrated to California in the 50’s with his family at the age of nine. Growing up he felt he was often mistreated for being a dark skinned Mexican from being put in lower level classes to frequently being told others would not like him.
“Even though our teachers were Mexicans, they liked the light Mexicans so if you were a dark Mexican, nobody would care for you, at least that’s how I felt. That was my first impact coming to this country,” Ramirez said to VIDA Newspaper.
Emotionally, Ramirez opened up about an educator that changed his perspective because she made him feel special. “For some reason she saw a little sparkle in my eye and I became her favorite student in her class, that was in fourth grade so after that I really didn’t care if the other teachers liked me or not because she liked me and she discovered me so if I’m successful I attribute it to her,” he said to VIDA Newspaper.
Before running for the Harbor District board, Ramirez ran and was elected as freshman class president at Oxnard High School. While working on the class homecoming float, he noticed only Mexicans came to support and help construct the float. In this moment, he realized why he was there and what he needed to do in his role.
“I began to think I’m here for a purpose and that purpose is to empower Mexican students that this is our school so we should participate in activities,” Ramirez said to VIDA Newspaper.
His purpose did not stop there. After high school, he joined the army for 3 years. Sometime after he trained as a longshoreman unloading ships then was shipped to Vietnam. He noticed all the cargo he was handling was coming from Port Hueneme.
After leaving the army, he worked as a casual longshoreman and gained membership in the International Longshoremen’s and Warehouse Union Local #46 (ILWU) after 18 years as a casual worker, where he retired in December 2018 after over 51 years of service to the Port.
Ramirez is one of the founders of the Mariachi Festival and used the money raised from the festival to support programs such as Future Leaders of America and the Colonial Boxing Club.
He also founded the Banana Festival to showcase the Port’s beauty in efforts to bring the community together.
Ramirez said that through the community outreach department, “in the last two years we have handed out 60 food distributions throughout Oxnard, Santa Paula, Fillmore and Moorpark but mainly in Oxnard so we have done a lot for la comunidad,” he said to VIDA Newspaper.
Continuing to share more about the Port’s contributions, he mentioned another way the Port gives back.
“The Port now, we sponsor $300,000 worth of money to different organizations throughout the county so our vision of the Port is not so much creating jobs, good jobs because there are very good jobs but also enriching our community,” Ramirez said to VIDA Newspaper.
Ramirez motivates others to “be good to one another and have a good attitude” because he believes a good attitude will keep you alive longer.