Antioch mayor changes name to honor late Mexican foster parents
Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe announces new grants for small business owners (KTVU)
ANTIOCH, Calif. - Antioch's mayor changed his name to honor his late Mexican foster parents after his mother gave birth to him in jail and raised him to be a bilingual, political leader.
As of Monday, Lamar Thorpe is now Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe, after he legally changed his name in Contra Costa County Superior Court.
As Hernandez-Thorpe tells his own life story, his mother gave birth to him in the now-defunct Sybil Brand Institute women’s jail in Los Angeles.
She had beaten up a white man and carjacked him to sustain her heroin use, the mayor told KTVU in a prior interview. She had actually scheduled an abortion and was arrested before it occurred. He was born on April 6, 1981, before deputies could get her to the hospital.
Two days later, he was placed in foster care.
He was raised by Mexican immigrants in East Los Angeles.
And as a result, Spanish is his first language.
His foster parents also gave birth to two biological children and adopted several children, all of whom shared their surname, Hernandez.
Hernandez-Thorpe's parents fought to adopt him legally but failed as his biological mother retained her parental rights.
Today, Hernandez-Thorpe said he is equally proud of his Black and Mexican heritage.
His background led him on a journey to serve in the Navy, and then attend George Washington University, where he earned degrees in sociology and women’s studies.
His foster father, Guillermo Hernandez, died of cancer in March 2023. His mother, Teresa Hernandez, died in 2015 of Alzheimer’s.
Hernandez-Thorpe was elected mayor of Antioch in 2020.