"SGV-NPJ (Alhambra Vigil)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Date: Sun, 21 May 2006 21:21:12 -0700 (PDT) From: "SGV-NPJ \(Alhambra Vigil\)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Notes on the counter-protest of today's "Minuteman/SOS" march To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Dear Lovers of Justice: We SGV Neighbors attended today's protest to counter the Minutemen/SOS "parade" on Broadway in downtown L.A. The laughable or pathetic part of the Minuteman "parade" was their tiny turnout: we counted 100-120 people. They had at least three weeks to mobilize their people, and only got that tiny number to show up. We had three hundred thousand marching along the same route on May 1. There was not much to do except yell at them and hold signs, because there were approx. 60 police that formed a line in the street to keep us away from the knuckleheads and their parade. The Minutemen/SOS tried to make it a "parade" by having three cars go ahead of their pitiful contingent of marchers. They only occupied the middle of Broadway, and at most two-thirds of a block when you count the SUV, the van, and the convertible car with two suited (guests of honor"?) fools smiling as people hurled insults at them, which made it a cruel parody of the "tournament of roses grand marshal" car. Sunday shoppers along south Broadway mostly just stood there and watched the real aliens walk down the middle of Broadway. It is hard to over-emphasize the tiny turnout of SOS/Minutemen. Unlike progressive marches, where the entire stretch of Broadway from Olympic to First St. is closed off, the cops only had to close Broadway a block at a time as the "parade" cruised by. There weren't many counter-protesters either, despite the high-profile location: maybe 600-700, mostly very vocal, confrontational activists--anarchists and RCP-and other regulars that "confront-the racists" when they come out to "protest" day-laborer centers in front of Home Depots. It looks like most pro-immigrant people decided to sit this one out and not call any undue attention to the SOS/Minutemen. That strategy appears to have been successful: I saw very few media there: Only Canal 52. Given the small turnout on both sides, the march/parade did not deserve much coverage. Once the Minutemen made it to City Hall they crossed Spring, and walked over to the steps where many progressive rallies have been held. Only this time, about 60 police had formed a human barrier leading halfway up Spring and across the intersection of First and Spring to keep counter protesters away from the City Hall lawn. Also, two fire engines were parked on First St. in front of the City Hall lawn. Why fire-engines? Maybe the police had back-up plans to use water- cannons to deter counter-protestors? The fire fighters were kicked backed, sitting on their engines, and digging the counter-protestors with their signs, banners, and chants, and taking it easy on a very cloudy day. The Minutemen/SOS by then were practically invisible, their numbers so small that they were hard to see from the street. The Minutemen appear to have rented about 6 Porta-san restrooms that were placed on the west side of Spring just north of First, across the street from the City Hall lawn. We counter-protesters were crowded on that side of the street, on both sides of the porta-sans, so the Minutemen/SOS would have had to have crossed Spring, and walked through the line of about 50 cops, and then pushed through us to get to the restrooms. I bet they were royally pissed off (pun intended) at the porto-san company. Speaking of "pissed", I and other counter-protesters used the porto-sans, which were sparkling clean and odor-free. I want to take this opportunity to thank the SOS for their hospitality and consideration of our personal needs: After walking thirteen blocks up Broadway, I felt an acute urge to urinate, but had resigned myself to "holding it" until the end of the protest, only to see those gorgeous and eminently sanitary facilities right there at the protest location. Nothing could have been more convenient or welcomed at that moment. A couple of the four or five black anti-immigrant marchers had been smart enough to stop at the restrooms as the group crossed Spring to get to the City Hall front yard, and so were able to use the restrooms before the counter-protesters really got set up. I and an couple others kept asking the guys why they had allied themselves with the racist/KKK/neo-nazi types leading the "parade", but all they could say was: "This isn't about racism..." Those two had to be escorted away by the cops. One cop grabbed the black guy we were talking to and pulled him onto the street, away from us. Pretty rude. Would they have done the same to a white Minuteman? About a half hour later about eight Minutemen/SOS people left their minuscule "rally" on the City Hall steps and walked across the City Hall yard to Spring St. to use the restrooms. They had walked the same 13 blocks as we had, but had made the serious mistake of not using the porto-sans when their group walked past them. Only the two black guys had the foresight to use the restrooms before the counter-protesters had set up there. The eight or so men and women SOS/Minutemen started to cross Spring to get to the porto-sans, which by then were surrounded by people vociferously shouting "Racists Go Home", "El Pueblo Unido, Jamas Será Vencido", and then "We don't want your shit!" (note the double meaning of that phrase, given the context) when the Minutemen started to cross Spring. The police and two of the Minutemen "security" people (one black guy in a suit and a black lady in a suit who had endured taunts of "House Negroes" throughout the "parade") stopped the SOS/Minutemen and sent them back to the City Hall lawn. That small victory galvanized the crowd which screamed "Go away. We don't want your shit!" loud enough for them to clearly hear and feel the resonance of this vicious taunt in their entrails and internal plumbing. Their brains heard the angry protesters at the same time that, a bit further down in their bodies, "nature" was calling them ever more insistently. We won the "batalla de los baños". The cops made that one easy because they were too lazy to escort the SOS/Minutemen to the porto-sans, and refused to let them cross the street to use them at their own risk. There must be a human-rights violation there. Isn't using a restroom a human right, and one sometimes denied so-called "illegal aliens" at stores and restaurants? Perhaps the Minutemen/SOS felt like second-class citizens for a while. Instead of being treated courteously and deferentially by the police, they were brusquely told to stay away, and prevented from using the porto-sans though there were no other restrooms in sight. Were they mad at the police or at counter-protesters for denying them access to restrooms? For a while they too were forced to wait and wait, much like immigrant workers must wait for permitted bathroom breaks at so many difficult jobs they accept and perform to make the California lifestyle possible, and to provide the cheap, high quality fruits and vegetables, we take for granted here in Southern California. Most of the SGV people left at about 2:00 p.m. when the protest was at a stand-off. The Minutemen/SOS were clustered by the City Hall steps. They were far fewer people than one sees during a weekday lunch-time when city workers and others head to the lawn to picnic there during their lunch-breaks. The "Batalla de los Baños" will surely take its place amongst other momentous events in the immigrant rights' struggle. Our resounding victory in that battle will serve as a rallying cry to animate future generations in the struggle for human dignity here and throughout the universe. C. Olin __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com --------------------------------- Love cheap thrills? Enjoy PC-to-Phone calls to 30+ countries for just 2¢/min with Yahoo! Messenger with Voice. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Everything you need is one click away. 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