Thread: CA: Immigration issues at crux of protest

Photo gallery at the link too.

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Immigration issues at crux of protest
350 take sides during peaceful demonstration
By Fred Ortega and Brian Day Staff Writers
Article Launched: 05/06/2007 12:00:53 AM PDT



BALDWIN PARK - More than 300 boisterous protesters, chanting and carrying signs, faced off across Maine Avenue Saturday over the issue of illegal immigration.

The event ran from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and ended peacefully with no injuries or arrests, said Baldwin Park police Capt. Mike Taylor.

The protest was smaller and less rowdy than a similar event held two years ago in Baldwin Park, when about 450 sign-

wielding demonstrators clashed over a piece of artwork at the city's Metrolink Station. About 350 protesters gathered for this year's demonstration.

More than 60 police officers from area law-enforcement agencies dressed in riot gear to watch over the protest and keep the peace, Taylor said.

Representatives of anti-illegal immigration groups political groups such as Save Our State and the Minutemen along with their sympathizers rallied on the east side of the road, while opposing groups such as Mexica-Movement, Danza Cuauhtemoc, and like-minded protestors amassed on the west side.
Demonstrators screamed and accused each other of racism as police kept a line between the two groups using street traffic as a barrier between the protesters. Racial slurs and obscene gestures could be seen and heard on both sides of the street.
"Too many of us died for this country to be taken over by racist Raza," said Ernie Szabo, 50, who is affiliated with Save Our State and traveled from his home in Big Bear for the event.

Szabo, himself a Hungarian immigrant, denied accusations by counterprotesters that his group is racist. Through completing the process of legal immigration as a child, "It was instilled in me early to be proud to be an American," he said.

The Metrolink art piece - which carries the inscription "This land was Mexican once, was Indian always and is and will be again" - was only one of the reasons that drew Save Our State back to Baldwin Park, said Chelene Nightingale, one of the group's leaders.

Nightingale also accused city officials of having a pro-Hispanic bias and expressed opposition to city plans for a day-labor center at a local Home Depot store.

She characterized the counter-protesters as "insurgent terrorists" threatening to repatriate the Southwestern United States to Mexico by force.

"I don't see people on the other side of the street here for a better life; I see people with a racist agenda," said Nightingale, pointing to signs that read "Our Continent, Our Land, Our Home. Racist Whites - Keep Out."

Incendiary signs abounded on both sides. Anti-illegal immigrant protesters held up banners stating, "Can't feed `em, don't breed em" and "This land was Mexican once, and will be American forever."

"If we wanted to cross the Mexican border illegally for a job, we would be arrested, or worse," Nightingale added. "You can't have it both ways."

Olin Tezcatlipoca of the Mexica Movement countered that SOS and the Minutemen - not his own group - were the racists.

"They are nothing but the Klan without the hood," said Tezcatlipoca, whose side outnumbered the anti-illegal immigrant groups by more than 2 to 1. He decried the few blacks and Latinos on the other side as "self-haters."

"They call us racists, we are not racists," said Gregory A. Powell, 52, of Los Angeles, who represented the Crispus Attucks Brigade and Choose Black America, which teamed with Save Our State for the protest. "We just want legal immigration."

While Tezcatlipoca stopped short of calling for the abolition of national borders, Tezcatlipoca said that the continent's indigenous people should be allowed to cross borders freely without interference from "Europeans or their descendants." He noted the Native American Kickapoo tribe has an agreement with the U.S. government allowing members to cross the U.S.-Mexico border freely.

In April, the city approached Home Depot about starting a day-laborer center after several residents complained about being approached by workers in the company's parking lot.

Baldwin Park Councilman David Olivas said the proposed day-labor center was in the negotiating stages, and that the City Council has yet to approve it.

Olivas added the Metrolink monument would remain in place.

"The council decided it would not change, and the law protects art installations anyways, so it can't change," he said.

"I wish SOS would stay out of Baldwin Park and let us take care of our own business," Olivas said. "They picked Cinco de Mayo to provoke the Latino community and to get on TV."

Dottie Dalton, a 68-year-old SOS member from Murrieta who also identifies herself as "Vigil Annie" returned for her second Baldwin Park protest. In May of 2005, Dalton was hospitalized with a concussion and bleeding to her brain after being struck in the head with a full 2-liter bottle, she said.

"I am here today to take my power back," Dalton said. "I am back to show people you can't quit."

There was a tense moment during the protest when one pro-immigrant activist tried to cross the street and was quickly repelled by a contingent of police officers.

"I just wanted to hear their point of view and to let them hear ours," said Roberto Lopez, 22, of Baldwin Park. He accused the police of siding with the Save Our State protesters. Police escorted SOS members to their vehicles after the protest.

Some attendees of the protest did not believe the event was productive.

"It seems like a big waste of time to me," said 43-year-old Tom Florez of Covina. "It's ignorance combating ignorance.

Amelinda Beas-Sanchez, 21, of Baldwin Park disagrees. "Ideas are getting out there," she said. "That's what we need, to express our ideas more freely."

http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/ci_5830 ... st_emailed

While Tezcatlipoca stopped short of calling for the abolition of national borders, Tezcatlipoca said that the continent's indigenous people should be allowed to cross borders freely without interference from "Europeans or their descendants." He noted the Native American Kickapoo tribe has an agreement with the U.S. government allowing members to cross the U.S.-Mexico border freely.

He must live in the Twilight Zone