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Picnic 'n' Protest
A day at the park with the Minutemen and their Chicano friends
By Gustavo Arellano
Thursday, August 3, 2006 - 3:00 pm
During the 1950s, legendary Warner Bros. animator Chuck Jones recast Wile E. Coyote as Ralph Wolf for a series of cartoons that also included a massive sheepdog named Sam. Each short unfolded the same way: Ralph and Sam punched in their time cards, exchanged greetings and went to work in a sheep farm. Sam protected the flocks; Ralph tried to eat them. Confrontations followed. Hilarity reigned. And at the end of the day, Ralph and Sam punched out and bid each other adiós. The cartoons worked because Jones allowed Ralph and Sam to realize something profound: enemies eventually become so familiar with each other that wars become a ballet of fixed roles, rehearsed skirmishes and no advancement whatsoever. Victory becomes secondary to the spectacle.

Such a relationship now grips Orange County’s fierce immigration wars. Take, for instance, the picnic that happened last Sunday at Costa Mesa’s Fairview Park, an idyllic expanse of grass, dunes and winding trails. On that afternoon, the Minuteman Angels, female supporters of the Aliso Viejo-based Minuteman Project, held a cowboy-themed barbecue fundraiser for Costa Mesa Mayor Allan Mansoor, the hero behind the plan to turn the city’s police department into la migra. About 80 Mansoor supporters showed up to Fairview’s barbecue area and set up lawn chairs, grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, slopped out chili and laughed from behind the safety of yellow caution tape. Mansoor, wearing shades, sandals, shorts and a white T-shirt with an American flag and the slogan “Long May It Wave,” worked the crowd. No one seemed to mind that, just 10 feet away, a group of Latinos played a vigorous pick-up game of soccer.

Around 5 p.m., about 10 Chicano activists showed up to protest Mansoor. “Hi, Naui!” yelled a Mansoor supporter to Naui Huitzilopochtli, who roamed around the yellow tape with a sign that read “Mansoor + Nazis” inside of a heart. Duane Roberts, a longtime Orange County activist, passed by a man pointing a video camera at the Chicano activists. “Hey, how’s it going?” Roberts said to the man. “Hello,” he replied nicely.

The Chicano activists spread across the park and urged the soccer players and other Latinos to join their protest; a couple did. They began snapping shots or rolling film of Mansoor’s supporters, who returned the favor. Over the DMZ of the yellow caution tape, both sides engaged in conversations they’ve continued for almost a decade. Illegal immigration is bad. Immigrants help our economy. Mexicans are taking over. This once was our land. I’m right. I’m right. Racist. Communist.

While heated at times—one older Mansoor supporter tried swiping the camera away from Roberts’ friend, John Earl—the skirmish was uneventful. “This is boring!” Huitzilopochtli yelled to the crowd. “This is a boring party! No music. You don’t know how to party!” The Minuteman Angels didn’t responded, busy as they were scarfing down wieners.

But soon both sides got excited: police! Four of Costa Mesa’s finest approached both sides with a simple request: keep it civil. Argue but don’t yell. Respect each other. Don’t provoke.

And so the protest continued through the afternoon. The sun set. Fairview Park glowed. A Costa Mesa police officer stood back and watched the spectacle along with one of the Chicano activists, who complained that cops always pull him over. “Eh, next time just tell them what’s up,” the police officer advised. “When I was growing up in Irvine, the cops would always pull me over—because I drove a crappy car!”

A model plane buzzed overhead. “That jet’s really cool!” the officer exclaimed, as the wind swept away some of the signs that Huitzilopochtli accidentally dropped and futilely chased across the grass.



GARELLANO@OCWEEKLY.COM