|
|
printable version
- email this article
- view hidden posts
Maywood Stops the Invasion
by Leslie Radford
Sunday, Aug. 27, 2006 at 2:58 AM
leslie@radiojustice.net
Residents of Maywood team up with area protestors to defend their city and drive Save Our State out.
 maywood_line1.jpg, image/jpeg, 600x367
MAYWOOD, CA, 26 August 2006--Maywood handily fought off an invasion today, as
the minuteman-style group Save Our State tried to force its message of rejection
and hate on the small suburb on the southeast edge of Los Angeles. Five
hundred people lined the barricades along the city's main street to face off
against fifty SOS members behind barricades a hundred feet away.
The 28,000 residents of Maywood – a small town of just over one mile square
that proudly proclaims itself 96% Hispanic – are experienced at defending
themselves from oppression. The
"Maywood revolution" began last fall, when residents rose up against
their police chief, who routinely had used roadblocks to confiscate the vehicles
of undocumented immigrants and sell the cars for public revenue.
Maywoodians threw out their city council and mayor in the November elections, an
election in which nearly 100% of eligible voters cast ballots, and replaced them
with representatives who promptly disbanded the police traffic division,
demanded an audit of LAUSD, denounced the Sensenbrenner anti-immigrant
resolution, endorsed drivers licenses for all residents, and proclaimed Maywood
a sanctuary city, where the police would no longer check immigration or
citizenship status.
SOS members, who had declared Maywood a "lawless" city and called
it "the belly of the beast," armed themselves with signs declaring
immigrants "sinners" and flaunting the racist senator Tancredo for
President. Like minutemen on the border who scoff at law enforcement procedures in their
pursuit of immigrants, SOS proved themselves no respecters of the Maywood's electoral and
legislative processes.
Maywood city council and residents began
organizing three weeks ago, on the heels of the announcement of the SOS plan to
invade their town, and they welcomed allies from Latino, Indigenous, socialist,
anarchist, and anti-racists groups from across greater L.A. By 11:00 a.m.
both sides were lined up, and the chanting and shouting had begun. Maywood
residents got down to business
– the business of ejecting SOS
– with gritty determination. At a
church nearby, the Mayor and council members signed up people to vote and file
for citizenship.
The nearly all-white Save Our State group has spent the past year and a half
marching into predominantly Meso-American neighborhoods and workplaces to mock
Mexican, Central American, and Indigenous cultures, denounce local governments,
and prevent Mexican-descent workers from working. The SOS invasion of Brown people’s territory – always with police escorts
– caught media attention when they invaded the
predominantly Chicano city of Baldwin Park to attack a Native American and
Chicano-centered public artwork there with the stated intention of
“punishing” the city financially.
Even before Saturday's protest officially began, an SOS woman strode through
the heart of the Maywood group, coming up from behind them, and a cadre of
twenty cops helped her through the shouting crowd. She was grabbed from
behind but released by the crowd around her. For the next three hours,
SOS repeatedly sent provocateurs, each time with police escorts, to invade and rile up the pro-migrant crowd. In another foray, the
cops pushed a woman counter protestor to the ground, injuring her in order to
allow a minutewoman to pass. Only one pair of about twenty different
intruders were turned away by the police when the pro-migrant protestors intercepted
them first at the back of the crowd, on the corner of Slauson and Pine Avenue.
The crowd roared, "La migra, policía – la misma porquería."
SOS members routinely encourage each other to arm themselves for protests, and
routinely show up with mace, pepper spray, knives, and guns. From the
organization’s beginnings, its leadership has encouraged weapons and violence, going
so far as to urge members to bring baseball bats to a demonstration. SOS members,
including their self styled “leader” and San Bernardino school board
candidate Joe Turner, have been arrested for
assault more than once. In Laguna Beach they appeared with Nazi flags. One
SOS scofflaw followed a car full of counter protestors in a high speed gun-waving
chase. They’ve openly applauded unprovoked police violence against counter
protestors.
SOS instigated the apartheid-style
"Anti-Illegal Immigration Ordinance" that has claimed a foothold in a
few small towns in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and in Escondido,
California. The ordinance declares that the presence of undocumented
people "leads to higher crime rates, contributes to overcrowded classrooms
and failing schools, . . . and destroys our neighborhoods and diminishes our
overall quality of life," and proclaims such people "public
nuisances."
The latest target in their catalog of violence has been school children at
the Chicano-Indigenous Academia Semillas del Pueblo, whom at least one SOS
member threatened to bomb as SOS prepared to demonstrate against the
school. When the parents in the El Sereno neighborhood organized to defend
the school, SOS decided to stay home and cancelled their protest.
It took only about 45 minutes of shouting, accompanied by snare drums and a
mariachi band, before the pro-migrant protestors determined to confront Save Our
State. About twenty-five Chicanos, Blacks, and whites had gone around the
block and returned to urge the protestors to meet up with SOS around the
corner. Women pushing strollers, grandparents, bikers, college students,
workers, and kids giving up their Saturday joined with ANSWER-LA and marched
south on Pine Avenue, intending to come up behind the SOS location on Slauson
and Flora Avenue. They chanted "La lucha de obrera no tiene fronteras."
Neighbors and children with Mexican flags cheered them on.
But police from Maywood, Bell Gardens, and a contingent from Huntington Park
in full riot gear, decked out like a squadron of Marines, moved the barricades
and turned back the marchers at
Flora and East 50th Avenue. Included in the police presence along Slauson
was a lone Victorville officer in uniform who was also identified as a
minuteman. When one protestor asked an officer why the police had
determined to face their residents and keep their backs to the intruders, the
officer accused the protestor of turning a "nice" conversation
"hostile" and evaded the question when it was repeated. On the
way back, the protestors noisily reminded the recently-reprimanded Maywood police,
"Whose streets? Our streets!"
Tempers rose with the temperature. The nearly all-white SOS rowdies
continued their taunts and catcalls, and the Maywood defenders responded with
"¡Fuera racistas!" SOS waved half a dozen large U.S. flags as
they shouted that Maywood was "lawless" and "un-American,"
and insinuated that SOS were the true U.S. patriots. One SOSer waved a
placard declaring the people of Maywood "traitors."
It took only a moment, a quick dash to the flagpole at the post office, and
then a cheer went up from the crowd. A Mexican flag was flying from the
previously empty flag pole. The crowd turned north to face it, some people
cheering, some shocked. When a socialist group objected to the flag, a
fight nearly broke out, but the parties were separated to shouts of "¡Unidad!"
If SOS were "patriots," Maywood protestors were having none of it.
Twenty police swarmed the flag pole, splaying the "perpetrator"
who'd raised the flag against the wall and beating him on the back of the legs
with a baton. Then they set to work to bring down the flag. The
crowd quieted with disappointment. But the ropes twisted, the flag wrapped
itself in the cords. A Corporal Serrota tried to spin it loose, but the
ropes only knotted up further, above and below the flag. The flag had
freed itself and was holding on by a single clip, fluttering in the wind.
Someone in the crowd shouted, "How many Maywood cops does it take to lower a
flag?" and the laughter began. There the flag waved, about a quarter
of the way down the pole, as the cops fumed and called in superiors. A
custodial worker from the post office reached through a barely opened-door to
hand the cops some keys, but they were no help. The cops gave up
and took positions protecting the waving Mexican flag. Finally,
the cops gave up and retreated, walking backward in lockstep, batons raised in
self-defense, squeezing out and away from the hostile crowd to the other side of
the barricade. One protestor looked up toward the still-waving flag and
called it "magic."
Meanwhile, SOS had raised a U.S. flag on an empty city flag pole at their end
of Slauson without police interference.
The person who raised the Mexican flag commented that "both the flag and
I got beaten, but we're both still flying. I just dived at the flag pole,
took my flag off its stick, and pulled it up the pole. The police grabbed
me, splayed me out . . . " Here he demonstrated the requisite pose
and yanked up the back of his shorts. " . . . and [Officer] Inouye
hit me with his baton." The red welt was obvious to the small group
around him. "But I didn't get arrested. The flag and I are
free." He still held the flag's stick in his hands.
At 2:00 p.m., the police escorted SOS to their cars, although protestors had gotten
no closer than forty feet to them. Meanwhile, Maywood citizens and their
supporters were left to walk through areas the minutemen had invaded to make
their way to their cars. The protestors shouted out, "Que viva la
raza! We're not criminals, we're not terrorists! We're going to
fight for our rights, we're going to fight against racism" and, to the
retreating minutemen, "Fuera
chicken!" They raised a chorus of "Ay, ay, ay, ay, canta y no
llores . . . " as the last SOSers headed west with their police protection.
But Maywood upped the stakes for SOS, and the raising of the flag a
new level of resistance against SOS's brand of in-your-face, violent
racism. SOS, which had promised its members security for their vehicles,
found their tires slashed, cars spray painted, and one car's rear window broken
out. This time, in the tiny sanctuary enclave of Maywood, SOS's violence
was met with violence. One protestor concluded the confrontation: "I
don't think they'll be coming back to Maywood."
Report this post as:
by Leslie Radford
Sunday, Aug. 27, 2006 at 2:58 AM
leslie@radiojustice.net
 sos_line2a.jpg, image/jpeg, 600x250
Report this post as:
marching to Flora St.
by Leslie Radford
Sunday, Aug. 27, 2006 at 2:58 AM
leslie@radiojustice.net
 to_flora1.jpg, image/jpeg, 600x459
Report this post as:
marching to Flora St.
by Leslie Radford
Sunday, Aug. 27, 2006 at 2:58 AM
leslie@radiojustice.net
 to_flora5.jpg, image/jpeg, 370x500
Report this post as:
dressed to kill
by Leslie Radford
Sunday, Aug. 27, 2006 at 2:58 AM
leslie@radiojustice.net
 peace_officers3.jpg, image/jpeg, 357x450
Report this post as:
cheering the flag
by Leslie Radford
Sunday, Aug. 27, 2006 at 2:58 AM
leslie@radiojustice.net
 crowd_goes_wild.jpg, image/jpeg, 547x372
Report this post as:
the victory for the flag
by Leslie Radford
Sunday, Aug. 27, 2006 at 2:58 AM
leslie@radiojustice.net
 flag_raising_comp1a.jpg, image/jpeg, 600x335
Report this post as:
by Leslie Radford
Sunday, Aug. 27, 2006 at 2:58 AM
leslie@radiojustice.net
 nazi_punks_fo.jpg, image/jpeg, 384x498
Report this post as:
LATEST COMMENTS ABOUT THIS ARTICLE
Listed below are the 10 latest comments of 121 posted about this article.
These comments are anonymously submitted by the website visitors.
| TITLE |
AUTHOR |
DATE |
| KKKeystone KKKops |
Peregrine |
Sunday, Aug. 27, 2006 at 1:26 PM |
| Hey, typical racist! |
1st hand source |
Sunday, Aug. 27, 2006 at 1:42 PM |
| The Evils of "feminism" |
BaBaBooey! |
Sunday, Aug. 27, 2006 at 3:04 PM |
| Informer |
Dave |
Sunday, Aug. 27, 2006 at 3:18 PM |
| Violence |
BaBaBooey! |
Sunday, Aug. 27, 2006 at 3:47 PM |
| Whose violence? Your violence! |
Nazis for target practice |
Sunday, Aug. 27, 2006 at 4:15 PM |
| Looking for a martyr? Found one! |
Nazis for target practice |
Sunday, Aug. 27, 2006 at 4:23 PM |
| Skokie |
condiment user |
Sunday, Aug. 27, 2006 at 5:14 PM |
| To: Wildirish |
condiment user |
Sunday, Aug. 27, 2006 at 5:23 PM |
| wildirish |
V |
Sunday, Aug. 27, 2006 at 9:44 PM |
| Reactionary Violence and Violent Resistance |
Nazi Hunter |
Sunday, Aug. 27, 2006 at 11:42 PM |
| this - obi - |
Sheepdog |
Monday, Aug. 28, 2006 at 10:38 AM |
| the pain, oh the pain |
nazis for target practice |
Monday, Aug. 28, 2006 at 2:45 PM |
| CORPORAL SERROTA SPEAKS!!! |
BaBaBooey! |
Monday, Aug. 28, 2006 at 3:06 PM |
| SOS/MM Violence |
Watchale |
Monday, Aug. 28, 2006 at 9:22 PM |
| reply |
Jammer CC |
Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2006 at 3:08 AM |
| whose hypocrisy? |
hey now |
Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2006 at 12:15 PM |
| Raza = the people |
Sheepdog |
Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2006 at 12:30 PM |
| viva la CAUSA |
mike |
Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2006 at 5:31 PM |
| WRONG - get a clue pendejo! |
AMERICAN |
Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2006 at 6:37 PM |
| outside of Peter's box |
thinking out loud |
Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2006 at 8:07 PM |
| Notice how MD Foster and his ilk |
Notice how MD Foster and his ilk |
Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2006 at 8:50 PM |
| The Mexican Flag Raising In Maywood |
Joe |
Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2006 at 10:33 PM |
| RE: outside of Peter's box |
Joe |
Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2006 at 11:05 PM |
| reply |
Jammer CC |
Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2006 at 11:11 PM |
| reply |
Jammer CC |
Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2006 at 11:16 PM |
| Flag waving |
honuiti |
Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2006 at 9:15 AM |
| tactics |
Casull |
Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2006 at 10:55 AM |
| Re outside of Peter's box |
Huh |
Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2006 at 11:00 AM |
| Re: Respecting the flag |
Great PR |
Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2006 at 1:58 PM |
| Bridget Johnson is an aryan supremacist |
BaBaBooey! |
Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2006 at 2:30 PM |
| uh, great white hope |
nazis for target practice |
Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2006 at 2:44 PM |
| yeah, an election against you |
nazis for target practice |
Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2006 at 3:34 PM |
| Flag worshipping is ugly |
Fuck the flag |
Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2006 at 5:17 PM |
| Good PR |
nazis for target practice |
Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2006 at 9:52 PM |
| Flag |
V |
Thursday, Aug. 31, 2006 at 12:51 AM |
| equals |
spectre |
Thursday, Aug. 31, 2006 at 1:06 AM |
| Wrong |
V |
Thursday, Aug. 31, 2006 at 1:15 AM |
| reply |
Jammer CC |
Thursday, Aug. 31, 2006 at 5:48 AM |
| World Without Borders! |
oh yeahhhhhhh... |
Thursday, Aug. 31, 2006 at 8:33 AM |
| Cesar Chavez, An American Hero or Mexican Traitor? |
Wikipedia, |
Thursday, Aug. 31, 2006 at 12:12 PM |
| Re: Ceaser Chavez |
Dis you know. |
Thursday, Aug. 31, 2006 at 12:19 PM |
| Info on S. 2611 |
Looking closer. |
Thursday, Aug. 31, 2006 at 12:41 PM |
| More On "Que Viva La Raza" |
MadMaxim |
Friday, Sep. 01, 2006 at 8:10 PM |
| Kele is a damned dirty LIAR! |
BaBaBooey! |
Saturday, Sep. 02, 2006 at 2:15 PM |
| "POOR LITTLE WHITE GIRL" |
BaBaBooey! |
Sunday, Sep. 03, 2006 at 2:14 PM |
| reply |
Jammer CC |
Sunday, Sep. 03, 2006 at 3:12 PM |
| I think obi was raped by a person of color as a child |
Poor obi |
Sunday, Sep. 03, 2006 at 6:42 PM |
| Denial is not a river in Egypt, skippy |
Deinial is not a river in Egypt, skippy |
Sunday, Sep. 03, 2006 at 8:53 PM |
| Admitting is the first step obi-kins |
Admitting is the first step obi-kins |
Monday, Sep. 04, 2006 at 12:25 AM |
| Sentimental Brutality |
Nazi Hunter |
Wednesday, Sep. 06, 2006 at 1:38 PM |
| Reaction to Being "Beaten" |
johnk |
Wednesday, Sep. 06, 2006 at 1:46 PM |
| "Beaten"? NO WAY |
Nazi Hunter |
Thursday, Sep. 07, 2006 at 2:31 AM |
| Provoking |
V |
Thursday, Sep. 07, 2006 at 10:19 AM |
| Conservative Mentality |
johnk |
Thursday, Sep. 07, 2006 at 8:44 PM |
| El Tricolor |
Cuauhtemoc Blanco |
Sunday, Sep. 10, 2006 at 1:39 PM |
| so where's the video of the so-called "assault" ??? |
BaBaBooey! |
Tuesday, Sep. 12, 2006 at 12:50 PM |
| Baja California Sur |
AmericanPatriot77 |
Tuesday, Sep. 12, 2006 at 2:57 PM |
| if he's a so called "viking" |
BaBaBooey |
Thursday, Sep. 14, 2006 at 1:05 PM |
| Thank you Leslie |
triple X |
Monday, Sep. 18, 2006 at 12:49 PM |
| Nice work, guys! |
MAYWOOD MAYHEM |
Thursday, Oct. 12, 2006 at 3:16 PM |
| crying bitch |
Duh |
Thursday, Oct. 12, 2006 at 4:52 PM |
| "fairbear" is "Rockerman" from NAZIS/SOS |
MAYWOOD MAYHEM |
Saturday, Oct. 14, 2006 at 2:05 PM |
| it's "rockerman" from the NAZIS/SOS |
MAYWOOD MAYHEM |
Saturday, Oct. 14, 2006 at 2:12 PM |
| Now it's time... |
...for a few comments... |
Friday, Nov. 03, 2006 at 1:27 PM |
| Info for the 11th |
funky4plus1more |
Friday, Nov. 03, 2006 at 2:43 PM |
| the Poor Little White Girl video |
rpost |
Sunday, Nov. 05, 2006 at 2:37 PM |
| the Moment of Glory for the Maywood... |
...Police dept |
Wednesday, Nov. 08, 2006 at 1:17 PM |
| one year anniversary! |
good work !!! |
Thursday, Aug. 30, 2007 at 4:07 PM |
| K-K-Kele is STILL b1tching about Maywood almost a year and a half later |
MAYWOOD MAYHEM |
Saturday, Dec. 15, 2007 at 12:40 PM |
| one for the ages |
Timeless.... |
Thursday, Feb. 28, 2008 at 2:59 PM |
| Here's the link!!! |
The Immortal Maywood |
Thursday, Mar. 20, 2008 at 4:29 PM |
| Give Corporal Serrata A Break |
Give Corporal Serrata A Break |
Wednesday, Mar. 26, 2008 at 2:31 PM |
|
|
|
Local News
Atenco PRESENTE!! en California
N22 7:50PM
Thirteen new photos from inside occupied Carter-Huggins Hall (UCLA/Campbell Hall)
N22 3:43PM
A few pictures from inside occupied Campbell-Huggins Hall
N22 1:39PM
Report Back From Inside the Occupation of Campbell Hall, UCLA
N21 3:29PM
Dedication of Transgender Memorial Ends Years of Struggle
N21 2:48PM
PFP Gubernatorial Candidate Alexander Condemns UC Tuition Hikes
N21 5:56AM
UC Strike - UCLA Nov.19th
N21 3:34AM
Anti-war protests expected next week
N20 4:16PM
Campbell Hall de-occupied last night at 6pm
N20 12:21PM
UC Police break up UCLA protest
N20 12:18PM
Students and Workers Resist Privatization at UCLA Regents Meeting
N20 10:47AM
VIDEO: Students Pepper Sprayed at UCLA protest
N20 8:09AM
UC Students Fight Tuition Hike, Occupy Campus
N19 1:58PM
STOP STUPAK Rally
N19 12:56PM
Eye-witness report back of UCLA protests
N19 10:43AM
Students occupy Campbell Hall at UCLA
N19 3:07AM
SIgnage from UCLA Protest
N18 10:09PM
MP3 AUDIO – Interview with UCLA Student on Protesting the Regents
N18 9:42PM
KPFK's LSB meeting to attend and be part of the vocal community too
N18 12:48PM
BREAKING: Protests on UCLA Campus at Regent Meeting, Reports of arrests
N18 10:31AM
LA Eastside: Street Food Vendor Situation
N18 9:56AM
Transgender Memorial Dedication - Nov. 20
N18 9:37AM
Southern California: First Cop on Trial for Murder in History of State Is Headed Your Way
N18 8:48AM
The war on public-sector unions
N17 5:02PM
Horowitz's hate speech at USC
N17 4:30PM
UCLA CRISIS FEST: Protest for education
N17 6:14AM
Checkpoints this weekend / Retenes este fin de semana (12-14/Nov)
N12 12:33PM
Campaign Demands NBA Discipline Clippers Owner and Condemn Racist Housing Discrimination
N12 10:54AM
More Local News...
Other/Breaking News
Googlemap of Student Occupations
N23 9:22PM
Health Bill Ignores Industrial Health Harms
N23 9:15PM
Injunction Hearing Set in WBAI Election Suit
N23 7:37PM
The End of Poverty? in theatres and FREE TICKETS
N23 6:29PM
Two Anniversaries: Berlin and Seattle
N23 6:07PM
The Neolbieral Restructuring of California State Government
N23 5:58PM
AF3IRM/GABNet/Mariposa Alliance Statement: 16 DAYS OF RAGE; 365 OF ACTIVISM
N23 5:42PM
Dahr Jamail Celebrates U.S. Military’s “Will to Resist” in Iraq, Afghanistan
N23 5:41PM
Queer Democrats Endorse Saldaña, Take No Position on County Term Limits
N23 5:29PM
Steve Hadley: Council Candidate's Odyssey from Pulpit to Politics
N23 5:08PM
AJLPP CONDEMNS MAGUINDANAO MASSACRE
N23 3:35PM
Solidarity with the UC Student Protests; Education is our right!
N23 1:50PM
Targeting Muslim Charities in America
N23 12:58PM
CUBANUESTRA. LA KAKISTOCRACIA DE FERNANDO LUGO
N23 10:53AM
Conscious Forces Will Bring Us Certain Victory
N23 10:52AM
CALIFORNIA STUDENTS FIGHT BACK
N23 9:31AM
The whitewash in the British Iraq war inquiry is already in place.
N23 9:09AM
Powerful Weekend Resisting Violence & Oppression
N23 8:58AM
VIDEO and transcript: Nomi Prins' "It Takes a Pillage"
N23 5:59AM
Editorial Cartoon: "2012: They Were Warned"
N23 4:32AM
A day in the Castro
N23 4:16AM
MESSAGE TO NEW YORK TIMES
N23 3:16AM
AYpearl.com lead the Stone jewelry is becoming the fashion
N23 12:50AM
Enough is Enough
N22 2:55PM
DE RODE JAREN - Radikaal links in Nederland 60-70
N22 3:58AM
Peres goes to Cairo
N22 2:57AM
Honduran President Zelaya earns high marks for governance
N21 5:40PM
MIDDLE~CLASS & WORKING POOR AMERICANS TAXES ARE BEING USED TO SUPPORT U.S. BILLIONAIRES
N21 4:48PM
More Breaking News...
|