Speaker at rally in San Bernardino links war, need for immigration reform


10:00 PM PDT on Saturday, March 17, 2007

By CHRIS RICHARD
The Press-Enterprise

A march and rally that sought to link antiwar activism and a call for comprehensive immigration reform drew about 300 demonstrators to downtown San Bernardino on Saturday.

(photo) David Bauman / The Press-Enterprise
Hundreds march down Mount Vernon Avenue near Fifth Street on Saturday en route to San Bernardino City Hall. Saturday's event kicked off with a rally at La Placita Park on the city's Westside.
Organizers said the seemingly divergent issues do have a link -- the need for blacks and Latinos to unite to resist discrimination and exploitation that victimizes them both.

Speaking to a crowd that police estimated at 300 outside San Bernardino City Hall, lead organizer Armando Navarro hailed his listeners as "the opening of a new movement."

Navarro, who spoke in both Spanish and English, called on blacks and Latinos to collaborate on issues ranging from the war in Iraq to inner-city tensions.

"(Blacks) are not your enemies," he said in Spanish. "They are your brothers."

"Don't fall into the trap of those in power to divide us," he added in English

In an interview, Navarro called the military's intensive recruiting in minority neighborhoods a mark of race-based exploitation.

But counter-protestors who gathered across the street from City Hall called talk of racism a smokescreen.

"It's the only defense they have," said Vince Klortho, a member of the Minutemen immigration-control organization who traveled from his home near San Diego to confront the demonstrators.

"This has nothing to do with racism. It has to do with respecting our nation's immigration law," he said.

Several counter-protestors carried placards drawing a similar distinction.

"Legal immigrants made America great," one read. "Illegal foreign invaders are destroying the USA."

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(photo) San Bernardino police officers form a line to separate a group of counterprotesters from the hundreds of demonstrators who turned out Saturday.
Debra Bedoy, an organizer for the fiercely anti-illegal-immigration organization Save Our State, questioned Navarro's motives.

"I think Armando is trying to use anything he can to motivate people to march in the streets," she said.

Opposing activists occasionally shouted insults at one another, but did not challenge a police cordon. Police Lt. Steve Klettenberg said there were no arrests.

Speaking at a microphone about 75 yards away from the counter-protestors, Rep. Joe Baca Sr., D-Rialto, pointed out that 10 people from his Congressional district have died in the war.

"At what cost are we losing a war and why are we there in the first place?" he asked.

Saturday's event began with a rally at La Placita Park on San Bernardino's Westside. Demonstrators, escorted by police, marched down Mount Vernon Avenue to Fifth Street, east on Fifth to D Street and south to City Hall.

Before the march, Navarro had predicted attendance could reach 2,000. Police assigned 60 officers to the event, including an equestrian team and the department's Special Weapons team. Klettenberg did not have an estimate Saturday on how much the deployment cost.

At press conferences before the march, Navarro said organizers picked March 17 to coincide with other actions across the country marking the fourth anniversary of the opening of the Iraq war.

Navarro had said the San Bernardino demonstration would seek to draw a multi-ethnic crowd from throughout Southern California. On Saturday, marchers did include contingents from other cities.

But only two local black leaders participated: Reginald Beamon, president of the San Bernardino-Highland chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and Alex Avila, cultural director at Central City Lutheran Mission.

"We need more black people in this struggle," Avila told the largely Latino crowd. "When they attack you, they attack us, too."

Beamon, who did not make a speech, said he supports immigration reform, including amnesty for illegal immigrants.

"But that doesn't mean I can come up with 50 other people who feel the same way to come out on a Saturday," he said.

Beamon added that the organizers might have received more support if they had disclosed their plans for a demonstration earlier. Navarro held his first press conference at the beginning of the month.

Finally, Beamon said, he would have liked to see specific proposals on issues of local concern, such as schoolyard strife between black and Latino children.

Reach Chris Richard at 909-806-3076 or crichard@PE.com

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