 Photo: Bob Morris |
The racist assembly in Baldwin Park was organized by the anti-immigrant group “Save Our State” to protest a monument called “Danzas Indígenas” honoring Mexico’s proud history.
SOS is directly linked to the Minutemen Project, a group of armed neo-fascists who patrolled the Arizona-Mexico border in late March and April to prevent immigrants from entering the United States. Minutemen are threatening to begin border patrols in California this August.
In Baldwin Park, progressive organizations including the ANSWER Coalition and individuals from all over Los Angeles joined outraged community members to denounce the SOS bigotry and hate. Anti-racist protestors took over the street, completely blocking traffic and shutting down a large and busy intersection. Then demonstrators surrounded the small group of racists and drowned them out with chants of “Racists go home!” and “El pueblo unido jamás será vencido!”—the people united will never be defeated.
Police were brought in from surrounding cities to suppress the demonstration. They declared the assembly “unlawful” three times, but protestors refused to leave before kicking the racists out of the city. Eventually, the SOS bigots were forced to disband in defeat. The police escorted them out of the area.
The Minutemen, Save Our State, and other anti-immigrant forces have been emboldened by the passage of the federal Real ID Act and other repressive legislation. In California, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has lauded the Minutemen, their tactics and goals. He encouraged people to “rise up” and take action against immigrants and undocumented workers, and called for the United States to close its borders.
On May 25, hundreds of progressive people gathered in Garden Grove, California, to protest the Minutemen Project’s founder, Jim Gilchrist. He was there to speak to a local right-wing organization. Like the Baldwin Park demonstration, the protestors, mostly Latino, largely came from the surrounding community.
During the protest, a Minutemen supporter, Hal Netkin, deliberately rammed his van into a group of people protesting Gilchrist, injuring several people. Garden Grove police also attacked the crowd, arresting five people without cause. Under immense pressure from the crowd, police also arrested Netkin, but they later let him go without filing any charges.
SOS and Gilchrist have announced that they will join forces to protest the Baldwin Park monument again on June 25. The ANSWER Coalition and other community and immigrants’ rights groups are organizing to confront the racists again on that date. They have vowed to continue to fight back against the attacks on immigrants wherever they happen.
Marcial Guerra, a student and activist, outlined the need for continued action against the Minutemen and SOS: “It is important for all progressive, anti-racist people who fight for justice to unite and take up the battle against these right-wingers. They are attacking the most vulnerable sectors of the working class; and the ruling class is encouraging them to do it. Their movement may not be large in numbers now, but we can’t give them any space to grow. By defeating these reactionaries wherever they are, we’ll strike a blow to the ruling elite and increase working class unity at the same time.”
