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When a group calling itself the Golden Gate Minutemen, numbering about 20, showed up May 12 with flags and placards at a busy intersection in Campbell, a suburb of San José, Calif., they were met with four times as many counter-demonstrators, a majority of them youth and students.
Signs and banners carried by the counter-demonstrators included slogans such as NAFTA Is the Problem; Stop Border Militarization; No Human Being Is Illegal, We Are All Immigrants; Full Rights for Immigrants; No War—On Immigrants, On Iraq, On Iran; and the Workers Struggle Has No Borders.
Roughly 500 people belong to the Golden Gate Minutemen,” according to an article posted on the San Mateo Daily News website April 29. “The group has chapters in several areas, including Redwood City, San Carlos, Fremont and Castro Valley.”
The racists chose not to highlight their claim of an “illegal alien threat.” Instead, they carried signs calling for “freedom” and “full pardons” for two imprisoned border patrol agents who shot an unarmed Mexican worker in February 2005 on the U.S. side of the border and then covered up the incident. The Mexican, Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, had initially tried to surrender but ran and escaped across the border after being assaulted by one of the agents and then wounded. The agents were subsequently indicted by a federal grand jury. After a two-week trial, a federal jury convicted the two, Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, of assault with a dangerous weapon, assault with serious bodily injury, commission of a crime of violence, tampering with an official proceeding, and deprivation of rights under color of law. On October 19, 2006, federal judge Kathleen Cardone sentenced the two to lengthy prison terms.
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For much of the time, counter-demonstrators gathered on a pedestrian island adjacent to the corner occupied by the racists and chanted, “KKK, Go Away.” Many passing motorists honked in support.
Activists from multiple organizations participated in the counter-demonstration, including Lucha, a student group at Foothill College; Maiz, a student group at San Jose State; Students for Justice; Silicon Valley De-Bug; Raging Grannies; Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom; South Bay Mobilization; ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism); and Party for Socialism and Liberation.
The aim was to show that racist bigots will not go unopposed in our community. The consensus at the end was that it was a successful action, and the young activists who participated reported accomplishing a lot of networking.
