Thread: Protesters claim racial profiling in gang injunction

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Protesters claim racial profiling in gang injunction

Orange residents take to the streets while police plan to curtail gang activity.

By ELYSSE JAMES and RACHANEE SRISAVASDI
The Orange County Register

Orange residents gathered Saturday afternoon to protest a gang injunction being sought by Orange police.

About 50 protesters met at Killefer Park on North Lemon Street before marching through Old Towne and around the traffic circle.

Orange Lt. Brad Davis said police are seeking a civil injunction against members of a Hispanic gang called Orange Varrio Cypress. But protesters said the injunction includes people who are not affiliated with gangs.

"They seem to be using racial profiling to determine who's a gang member," said Anaheim resident Joseph Gallardo, a member of civil rights group Chicanos Unidos. He said the protest aims to raise awareness. Laws are already put in place to stop gangs, he said, so the injunction is not needed.

"No one really protests these things, so they seem to go through easily," Gallardo said. "The community is protesting because it'll limit their rights."

There is currently one active gang injunction in the city against members of the rival gang Orange County Criminals. That injunction curtails activity of members, forbidding them to loiter or associate with each other, wear gang-affiliated clothes or stay out past a court-ordered curfew.

Details on the new injunction and its parameters were not made available.

"If (the injunction) goes though," said Orange resident Robert Gonzalez, "my 3-year-old can't talk to his 21-year-old sister."

Eleven-year-olds Jasmin Guadarrama and Marisa Hernandez joined the march wearing homemade shirts for the occasion.

"We don't feel it's right," Hernandez said. "We're fighting (the injunction) because our family got caught up in the problem."

Hernandez said her family is planning to move if the injunction goes through.

"The police are saying the community is in fear. The community is in fear of the police department. If the community was in fear of gangs these people wouldn't be here," Gonzalez said.

Orange County prosecutors have secured several injunctions to curtail gang activity in several cities besides Orange, such as Santa Ana and San Juan Capistrano. Susan Kang Schroeder, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office, said injunctions have resulted in a drop in crime ranging from 13 to 55 percent.

"It's unjust to our race, the Hispanic community here," said Carla Pineda De Herrera, who was marching with her 6-year-old daughter, Shantal. "It affects who you can and can't talk to. It's not just the community, it's family."

Community members have protested past injunctions, accusing prosecutors of targeting Hispanic neighborhoods.

"It is not a racial issue," Schroeder said. "Injunctions protect the people who are Hispanic and have to live in the area."

She declined to comment on whether such an injunction is being pursued.

Contact the writer: 949-553-2918 or ejames@ocregister.com

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/inju ... munity-old

These people want the gang in their neighborhood because the gang will run people of all other races and nationalities
out of their neighborhood and they and their illegal alien relatives can take over the area.

Hmmmmm......this sure sounds familiar.

It reminds me of the "protestors" who were sent to the ports of entry.....by the cartels...... two weeks ago to pose as the average citizen there to protest the actions of law enforcement and the military and demand an end to the crackdown.

Their claims were eerily similar........that the crackdown was having a detrimental effect upon families, non-criminals were being targeted, blah, blah, blah.

Too coincidental if you ask me

"We don't feel it's right," Hernandez said. "We're fighting (the injunction) because our family got caught up in the problem."

Hernandez said her family is planning to move if the injunction goes through.

Well...if your family is not gang bangers, then I fail to see what your family would have to be worried about! Unless, you believe that ethno-centric loyalties are more important than eradicating scum bag gang bangers!

Your family got caught up in the problem? In other words, someone in your family was a gang banger? Is that what this means?

Originally Posted by azwreath

Hmmmmm......this sure sounds familiar.

It reminds me of the "protestors" who were sent to the ports of entry.....by the cartels...... two weeks ago to pose as the average citizen there to protest the actions of law enforcement and the military and demand an end to the crackdown.

Their claims were eerily similar........that the crackdown was having a detrimental effect upon families, non-criminals were being targeted, blah, blah, blah.

Too coincidental if you ask me

YOU HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD

YES finaly someone is getting it

Exactly

I cant agree more nothing left to say...

"If (the injunction) goes though," said Orange resident Robert Gonzalez, "my 3-year-old can't talk to his 21-year-old sister."

So am I to assume both the 3-year-old and 21-year-old are both gangbangers? The injunction would mean they would not be able to associate with other gang members.

"It's unjust to our race, the Hispanic community here," said Carla Pineda De Herrera, who was marching with her 6-year-old daughter, Shantal. "It affects who you can and can't talk to. It's not just the community, it's family."

Race? Since when? Absurd. What is unjust about finding and arresting gang members before they commit crimes. Police "target" Hispanic neighborhoods BECAUSE THATS WHERE THEY ARE.

Most gang members are hispanic. If the shoe fits.....