LOS ANGELES, 23 April 2006--To the casual observer, Saturday’s confrontation between pro-migrant activists and the minutemen might have looked like the dozen or so others over the past year: 65 or so minutemen at their peak, something like 100 pro-migrant activists across the street from each other at a day labor center, trading insults.

But the morning match up at the Burbank Home Depot was the first since the Gran Marcha of March 25, the first since the Senate took up the question of legalization for migrants. Under the rain-threatening clouds, the minutemen barely acknowledged their ostensible purpose, a Southern California convergence against Burbank Home Depot, part of a National Corporation protest against hiring workers without papers. Instead, showing their frustration at the turning tide, the minutemen verbally assaulted the Native Americans, Chicana/os, and Mexicans with unmitigated racial insults and slurs for four hours.

Mexica Movement was firmly in place by 5:15 a.m., waiting for the minutemen. By 7:30 a.m., members of Frente Unido de los Pueblos Americanos, a sponsoring organization for the pro-migrant "Support the Boycott, Stop the Minutemen" rally, arrived, along with the first of the anarchists. ANSWER-LA and the Jornaleros del Valle de San Gabriel joined them, along with newcomers Estudiantes Unidos, Students for Amnesty from East Los Angeles, and Border Resistance Network. What they confronted was almost unending barrage of racism, even as the minutemen simultaneously screamed that they weren’t racists.

The call from anti-migrant Save Our State went out to all Southern California minutemen, including FAIR, CTCIC, OJJPAC, USA Border Alert, Wake Up America, IFIRE, MFIRE, The Fire Coalition, MAIA, the Minuteman Project, and a handful of recognized neo-Nazis, one of whom, according to a Chicano protestor, offered a Nazi salute. Apparently the National Corporation Protest occurred only in Burbank.

It began with minuteman Ray Herrera proclaiming the U.S. is “an Anglo-Christian culture that let the Irish in in 1820.” He added, “The U.S. never let any Mexicans in. We’re a nation of British settlers and their descendents. We’re not a nation of immigrants.”

The minutemen called out “You don’t have a God” and called the protestors reprobates and idiots. “This is not your continent,” they shouted. “Brown bastards!”

Ted Hayes, an African American Republican, brought a handful of fellow African Americans to the protest in what they dubbed the Crispus Attucks Brigade. Midway through the morning, two or three of the African Americans crossed the street and were engaged by Mexican-Americans in discussion. Hayes, however, promised to "call out the Buffalo soldiers on you."

Meanwhile, the white Minutemen shouted, “You don’t bathe! You eat cockroaches!” Herrera announced, “I’m an Anglo! I’m a coconut and proud of it!”

The minutemen briefly turned toward Home Depot, in what turned out to be the only organized anti-corporate action of the day. Then they turned back to continue their verbal assault on Mexicans: “What law are you going to break next: rape? murder?” a woman called out on the PA system.

It wasn’t yet 10:00 a.m., less than halfway into the minutemen’s protest schedule. Twenty minutemen pulled out, marching down the street to their cars, flags waving.

Pro-amnesty forces bullhorned back to the minutemen, “I don’t ask questions, I just feed the hungry. You take food away from the hungry! Racists! Racists!” The minutemen shouted, “You can’t even add. You can’t even spell!”

“Your time is up. The war is on. We’re taking every one of you out. Go back across the border,” Herrera challenged. Nearby, a minutewoman sported a Confederate flag on her sign.

Half an hour later, Hayes led the minutemen in singing “God Bless America” and the national anthem. Hayes shouted out, “We love you!” At that, pro-amnesty protestors surged into the street, just past the row of parked cars. Police lined up in front of both groups, donning riot helmets to face the minutemen. “Commies, go home,” the minutemen baited. “SOS, KKK, racist scum, go away!” The migrant supporters held the police at bay for twenty minutes before they marched down the street, around the cars, and back up on the sidewalk.

A member of FUPA explained: “These people have spewed racist filth at us all day. Like, I can’t get out of my mind them calling us ‘cockroach-eaters.’ They swagger around saying ‘this is war’ and that ICE is going to deport every one of us across the street from them. It might as well have been Custer holding a dead Indian baby he’d smashed into a wall, and telling the mother he loved her. And people just went off. SOS was doing everything it could to provoke violence.”

A minutewoman shouted, “Your problem is your church. They don’t allow birth control.”
“What do we want? Racists out! When do we want it? Now!”

“If you take America, down,” the minutewoman continued, “you take us down. Don’t have four children when you can’t afford two.”
“Esos racistas ellos son los terroristas!”

“You can not assimilate. You can never be part of this country.”
The Aztec dancers called out “Abajo SOS!”

“Have respect for your elders!”
That brought on another round of “SOS, KKK, racist scum, go away!”

“You are being controlled by a few people who run this country. You are sending our money to Latin America. We are your savior! Do not harm your savior!”
“Down! Down! Down with the minutemen!"

By 11:30, only 30 minutemen remained, while the migrant supporters maintained nearly their entire contingent.

According to a witness, it was about then that Save Our State leader Don Silva was the first to trespass into the day labor center, and four riot cops followed him until he left. Less than half an hour later, another minutemen crossed into the center. A laborer, asserting that the minuteman had thrown trash at him, pushed him out, and the minuteman left to consult with Silva at Silva’s taxi. He returned in a huff and demanded the laborer be arrested for assault. The police officer said that he hadn’t seen the incident, and the minuteman promised to file charges against the laborer anyway.

At 11:40, the last handful minutemen marched out, and the storm clouds had cleared for the time being.

Ray Herrera (c) and Ted Hayes (r) stand with a depiction of a Confederate flag.

a Chicana tells the officer to let go of her arm

minutemen photographer and associate walk through Aztec ceremonial dancers. The man in the back later trespassed into the day labor center.

about 20 strong, the day laborers confront the minutemen

minutemen and minutewomen smile for the photographer on their way out, after spewing hours of hate-filled diatribe.

"Few evils are less accessible to the force of reason, or more tenacious of life and power, than a long-standing prejudice. It is a moral disorder, which creates the conditions necessary to its own existence, and fortifies itself by refusing all contradictions" -- Frederick Douglas

I watched the videos. Where is the racism? I see interviews with concerned Americans (Blacks) and I see videos of ranting leftist weasels. I see communist sympathizers and open border freaks and I see patriotic Americans who want laws enforced. Oh wait, there is one video showing Brown Supremacists spewing hatred toward a Hispanic demonstrator with SOS. So yeah, there is your racism- on your side.

There are some pretty funny vids making fun of you too.

When I need work done on my home, I go to Home Depot. I don't know whether the people I hire are illegal or not. I don't check. Why should I?

Look, we need their labor and its within the range we can afford to pay. Who is going to do this work if we cannot hire these people?

I saw the videos, and where are the surging masses of revolutionaries. I saw 15 people run into the street to be pushed back by a couple police officers.

Why don't you just go mow your own damn lawn.

Check out Mexica attacking one of their own:

http://media.putfile.com/Hispanic-woman-harrassed

I watched the video. I agree that the verbal attack on her is disgusting.

I'm not a member of an IndyMedia collective, but I support IndyMedia and I believe that it is right to support undocumented workers in the U.S. I do not believe it is write to call a woman a "perra" or a "culera" simply for expressing her point of view. I also think it is wrong to single her out because of her race.

In any movement there are bad-apples and there are people who have moments of bad-judgement. I believe this was a case of this.

No one, on account of free speech alone, should be called these things.

On the other hand, there are plenty of racists on the Minuteman side. In fact, I would wager that the percentage of white Minuteman racists is much much higher than the percentage of Mexia racists.

If you strip the fringes out of both groups, at the core I think you will find that the Mexia are not racist and that the Minutemen ARE racist.

Why are Mexicaa members using hate speech against this Hispanic woman?

http://media.putfile.com/Hispanic-woman-harrassed

that's why

First of all Perra means dog and i saw nothing wrong with what the Mexica movement said, you people have said worse, that bolivian lady has no idea what she got into, eventually she will be back on our side, she is just confused by you racist squater scum, im sure the bolivian community is ashamed of her.

The tragic part is that there are just as many fringe crazy people on both sides of the street. Leslie slants her reporting to sound like a communist manifesto. Both sides were yelling - at each other. Not really productive. It's not like you're going to change each others minds on this subject. Calling the SOS people KKK is silly. There were no KKK present.

What's sad is that what kind of respect can you have for a person who runs away from their home country when things get rough? You turn your back on your birth country and then sneak into another. How much can you be counted on to support this country? If things get tough, where will you run to next time? You have no honor.

in the past, there were kkk in the rally of sos even a couple of time sos went to kkk rally that's why we call them kkk. also, there a couple of neonazi type who work for jim gilchrist candidacy for congress. the neonazi gravitate to the cause of sos and mmp. even there is a lady with a sign of a confedracy flag. what does that mean and the good ol' u.s. of a from the ladies' sign? I would say that family were a white nationalist.

>>>What's sad is that what kind of respect can you have for a person who runs away from their home country when things get rough? You turn your back on your birth country and then sneak into another. How much can you be counted on to support this country? If things get tough, where will you run to next time? You have no honor.

What are you talking about? Most of the population of the USA came here to escape war, famine, genocide, religious persecution, poverty, and all other manner of tough times. Things got rough, and people left for America.

We're a nation of quitters who turn tail when things get rough. When the going got rough, the future Americans boarded the ships to pursue the American dream, of living on the first floor of a wooden building, where the streets were wide and not lined with cobblestones and fetid with vomit. Or something like that.

The Irish came over because they were really hungry. The Italians were poor. The Jews were avoiding genocide. Germans came over because they were being raided. The Chinese were also really hungry. Swedes were escaping poverty and a depression, and overcrowded agriculture. Japanese were too (and add hunger on top of that). Mexicans were fleeing war and bandits. Filipinos were fleeing the Japanese. Armenians were fleeing genocide. Hell, Arabs were fleeing the Turks.

Is it any wonder why Africans had to be brought here in chains? The nation was full of quitters looking for a second chance!

Hey, it's a pathetic fact about the American history... but at least we're not a penal colony like Australia.

Trent, sometimes you have to look carefully. But sometimes even that is easy. After all these many months of SOS and MMP trying to assure the public that they're not racists or have any KKK/Nazi types involved with them, one would think they would be super careful by now. But at their first rally at Mira Loma at a high school, Advocate from Stormfront was there in his usual white construction hat. I wasn't there but I saw him on one of Watchdog's videos and Obey's digital photos. And I saw Advocate's post on Stormfront.

If SOS and the MMP really don't want to involve the KKK/Nazis or Stormfront types, they should start coming clean and denoucning now. Trying to hide the involvement they already had from those types just makes them look like they're hiding some dirt. So they should admit the mistakes and slip ups and set the record this. Of course, this is assuming they really are clean of this in their intentions. And I mean the leaders such as Gilchrist, Simcox, Turner and other regulars like Ray Herrera and Don Silva. If there's some dirt there, they're not telling much of their more casual participants of course. I was one such participant and sound some stuff out. Spoke out and, surprise, I got kicked out. Go figure.

I meant set the record straight, and when I found some stuff out.

You guys are need some new material. Or, at least get one fact straight, and that is that this protest was about Home Creepo, NOT the flimsly shack of a 'day laboer center'. Funny how we go to the day laborer center all the time, and none of you illegal alien super saviours come out then ! We have been there too many times to even remember now, when it really counts, and its just a no show. You all only show up when we bring the media with us. True hypocrites. You do not really care about those people, do you ?

I am glad that Les-lie Radford does not check our web site, and continues in her one track ways. To her, its all about this primitive going back and forth in the streets. Thank you Les-lie, for continuing to follow us around, and bringing Rafael Renteria with you !

As far as the comments about cleaning house, we would need to pay a full time street sweeper to do a better job of it. Of course, let just ingnore all the effort. It really does not matter what you all think of that at this point, since all the interviews we do never include anything about the things that you cry about.

to those who dispute my reporting: I don't hear anyone disputing the key *facts* in my report. I read people putting words in my report that aren't there ("masses of revolutionaries") and drawing conclusions for me ("a communist manifesto"), but I don't read anyone disputing the facts.

Sneaky how Don comes here and sidesteps the fact that Advocate from STORMFRONT rallied with them at Mira Loma. Very recently. I told Border Raven who thanked me for pointing that out. He said he contacted Joe Turner, Debbie, and Don Silva but has recieved no reply. At least Advocate made no secret of it on the Stormfront forums.

idiot threshold limit.
1

What happened in Irvine on Saturday, Cliff?

I saw a video of you on the SOS site at a ralley down there on Saturday 5.6.06 and a bunch of white women ran you out of the place.

What happened buddy? Why didn't you post anything about it? Didn't you have your camera? Or were you too embarassed to show you getting put down by gringas?

What happened at one point was a lady, I guess the organizer, reminded me that they had a permit to demonstrate there. And she had a point. Thing is, the threatened to call the police if I didn't leave. I wasn't trying to "incite a riot" like one of them said I was. I was there alone taking on the entire demonstration, but basically just went around talking. That's about it. Some people reacted and yelled and stuff.

When I was told the police would be called(basically just for standing around and talking), it was close to 2pm when the permit expires anyways. So I went and stood still in the same area, but by the bus stop and said "I'm waiting for the bus." One of them joked saying it's a safe tag spot.

Before that, Advocate from Stormfront arrived. I was there to see if anyone recognized as Nazis, Nazi types, and familiar faces of those types as seen in in Laguna Beach and other events were there. But I was still surprised to see him arrive. I asked if he was him and he was like "yeah, so?" He didn't have his white construction hat but I recognized him. He prodded at me with his flag pole and yanked my sunglasses off and threw them on the grass. I have footage of him. I tried to see what people would think of a Stormfront guy being there. Some said they didn't know what Stormfront is and there wasn't enough time to explain it to them when they're just yelling at me saying so what and stuff. One guy had a planned out act where he walked around and told his friends what he seemed to want them to believe about me. The same kind of tactic they complain about in their opponents. One lady kept accusing me of actually bringing Advocate there.

A couple few faces understood what I was saying. Most didn't care though. I understand there's really no call to actually make him leave. But at least try by asking? Didn't some people claim to leave the Laguna Beach rally last year when the skinhead Nazis arrive? Is that what it will take? People arriving to their next rally waving Nazi flags? Otherwise, I guess they're okay with Advocate there talking about who knows what. Maybe doing some talking and recruiting if you know what I mean. Like I said before, lack of effort in keeping the racist elements out on their part. Even to this day.

At the end of the rally a guy told me I was a "wetback sympathizer." I got some footage of their behavior, but my battery was dying at the moment. I haven't used my camcorder in a while and should have detached the battery in storage.

One guy stomped on a Mexican flag.

Some guy in a business suit was on a bullhorn talking. I was tempted to ask if I can use it, since I'm sure he doesn't know me or that I'm not one of them. I could have said whatever I wanted to for maybe a good 15 seconds or more. That woulda been something.

Anyways, the usual herd mentality. Fanatical behavior. It's not exclusive to their side of the issue of course. But it's there. And very narrow minded.

I haven't viewed the footage yet but when I do, I guess I could post some clips here. I'll see what I have.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-jsJKEHxTQ

If you mean this video, I don't find this embarassing for me at all. It doesn't show the whole picture, but still, they should feel embarrassed, not me. A guy called me a wimp for wanting to cross the street(to speak with other demonstrators who may perhaps hear me out). Well I say they're wimps for wanting to call the police on me just for walking around and talking.

A lady holding the flag was talking to me about waiting 8 years and I said that I understand. She didn't give me a chance to explain what Stormfront is and that there's a member of the Stormfront community there. I was trying to explain that for people like Advocate, it's not just a matter of law, it's a matter of race. And that if they somehow got their way and had all the people here against immigration laws deported, some of them would would have people like her deported too if they could just for being "nonwhite" or of a race other than "white." No matter how many times I tried to point the guy out, they didn't seem to care. They wanted me to leave, not him. Go figure.

The video shows the licence plate of a black SUV. Totally unecessary. I was there in person as they yell at drivers to show support. It doesn't take them much to boo people and insult them just for saying something they may disagree with. It's either their way or they treat you like garbage and try to embarrass you on the internet. They see people doing construction work and automatically assume they're here against immigration laws. They're simply without class when they do that. Like I've said before, I'm sure there are people with more sensible ideas and attitudes that are waiting for the Minuteman crowd to step aside. Because what reasonable person with good ideas would want to be tagged with the Minuteman stigma? The sooner the Minuteman/SOS crowd gets ignored into obscurity, the better.

Boo Hoo!

if these people liked Advocate better than you, they probably saw him kick ur ass when you bugged him and they kind of liked the idea... probably wished they had the guts.

If you recognized this guy and he's so dangerous as you say, why did you get within arm's reach of him? why are you still alive?

Because you're not taking this seriously, I won't answer your questions

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-jsJKEHxTQ

The Cliffy video is great. It would be even better if they had someone that knew how to operate a video camera. Oh, and I love the use of the childish right-wing intimidation tactic of recording the license plates of passing cars of the non-racists. So very childish.