Campo, CA, August 6, 2005 – Nearly 150 determined protestors, forty or more\r\ntraveling from Los Angeles and Riverside, rallied under the hot sun \r\nof the\r\ndesert in Campo to bid good riddance at the retreat of the California\r\nMinutemen. Scheduled to end their human hunting expedition on Monday,\r\nminutemen regulars had, for the most part, snuck off during the previous night\r\nto a neighboring ranch. The Good Riddance! Goodbye! demonstration and\r\ncelebration capped three weeks of protests and actions, which had thwarted the\r\nminutemen's efforts to hunt and capture border crossers. <\/p>\r\n\r\n
The minutemen had left word with sheriffs that L.A. Chicano gangs would be descending\r\non Campo to attack them, and the sheriffs dutifully asked protestors if they were\r\ngang members. A handful of last-minute minutemen recruits remained to\r\nfend off the protestors. These remaining California Minutemen, although\r\npresumably armed as minutemen have been in earlier confrontations, barricaded\r\nthemselves behind the cattle gate. Inside their dark refuge they were confined\r\nto waving impolite hand gestures at the chanting,\r\nvictorious protestors. Their own reports indicated their nerves were\r\nfrayed from facing drug dealers, hostile locals, and the incessent interventions\r\nof protestors.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Since July 16, angry twilight confrontations had brought protestors\r\ntoe-to-toe with the heavily armed vigilantes. Night-time patrols slipped\r\ninto minutemen caravans, disrupting plans and exposing lookouts. The Buenas \r\nNoches Brigade, under the cover of the desert night and armed with\r\nnoisemakers, blaring music, spotlights, spontaneous dances, and shouts of\r\n\"Buenas noches, minutemen!\", blocked minuteman vehicles, confronted\r\nthe vigilantes, and alerted border crossers.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
James Chase, leader of the California Minutemen, reported to local\r\nnewspapers that during their three-week stay, \"rogue\" minutemen had\r\nshot and wounded two border crossers–and that he personally had illegally\r\ntransported two migrants to the Campo Border Patrol station.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Following the rowdy afternoon demonstration at the VFW hall, now-quiet protestors\r\nclimbed to the border marker at the crest of the bluff overlooking the Gente Unida\r\ncamp to remember\r\nthose who had died crossing the border.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
A letter from the mother of a border crosser wondered why her son had to die\r\nlooking for work. Another told of a fifteen-year-old boy who had held his\r\nmother in arms in the desert this past June until she succumbed to\r\ndehydration.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The mourners began a roll call of the deceased and responded to each name\r\nwith \"Presente.\" Thirty-two hundred border\r\ncrossers have died since 1994 when Operation Gatekeeper forced migrants into\r\nthe deserts and mountains–one migrant has died for every kilometer of the\r\nMexico-U.S. border–most often from heat exhaustion and exposure. The vigil\r\nleader, Enrique Morones of Border Angels, cradled a\r\nsmall white cross marked \"no identificado\"\r\nand \"no olvidado.\" He reported 116 deaths\r\nin July of this year alone, including one down the road at Mount Signal, nearly\r\ndouble the sixty deaths of July a year ago.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
On the border wall were taped images of a fiercely drawn Native man demanding\r\npapers from the European invader, a vivid painting of La Virgen\r\nde Guadalupe flanked and crowned by symbols from the Mayan calendar, depictions\r\nof the Hopi prophecy rock and a bumper sticker declaring the presence of the\r\n\"indigenous element.\" Homemade flags for\r\nthe dead and paper chains commemorated the deceased.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The border marker at the crest had been emended in pink marker to identify the\r\netched words \"Mexico to Canada\"\r\nas Aztlan. Under\r\n\"Southern Terminus Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail Established by Act of\r\nCongress on Oct. 2, 1968\" was added \"Whose the\r\nImmigrant Pilgrim.\"<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The New Minutemen, Not Quite Like the Old Minutemen<\/i><\/p>\r\n\r\n
Most of the protestors, lost in thought and private conversation, straggled\r\ndown the steep 500-foot hill and across the dirt road to the Gente Unida camp to begin the\r\ncelebration. I held back, spending a few minutes at the corrugated\r\ntwelve-foot sheet-metal barrier that had caused so much suffering, looking\r\nacross at the cars, tents and blue canopies of the protestor’s camp now lit in\r\ntwilight below. Behind me, the Border Patrol and sheriffs pulled their\r\nvehicles back to their usual observation post on the hill above the protestors.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
About a hundred feet down the path, I nearly ambled past a large, unmarked,\r\nuntagged, newly painted pale yellow pickup truck, with a purchase slip in the\r\nrear window. Startled, I looked back to see a middle-aged man in a Polo shirt and a younger man with a shemagh\r\n wrapped around his neck counting the cars\r\nbelow.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The following\r\nconversation is reconstructed from memory. The younger interloper refused\r\nto provide his name, so I here call him Sidekick.<\/i><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n Leslie:<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n Fifty cars.<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n Mike:<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n About forty.<\/p>\r\n <\/td><\/tr>\r\n Leslie:<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n Some around the bend. So what are you doing?<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr> Mike:<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n We’re with Friends of the Border Patrol.<\/p>\r\n <\/td><\/tr> Leslie:<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n Andy Ramirez’s group?<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr> Sidekick:<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n Yeah.<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr> Mike:<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n [noting my T-shirt]<\/i> \r\n I used to play Christmas concerts at KPFK. Years ago. It's a\r\n brick \r\n building on Cahuenga, next to the ARCO station. For \"Folkscene.\"<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr> Leslie:<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n The Larkins' show.<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n Mike:<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n Back in 1983.<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n Leslie:<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n Strange to think 1983 was long ago.<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n Mike:<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n Yeah.<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n Leslie:<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n Madonna was big then. Bet you [indicating Sidekick]\r\n <\/i>don't even remember\r\n Madonna<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n Sidekick:<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n I was born then.<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n Mike:<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n Madonna was late 80's.<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n Leslie:<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n So why are you here?<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n Mike:<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n Come to see Chase’s group and the protestors go at it. Sorry we\r\n missed him.<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n Leslie:<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n Just reconnaissance.<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n Sidekick:<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n Yeah. Chase is out of control.<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n Leslie:<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n So you don’t like Chase?<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n Mike:<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n He’s crazy. He’s got no discipline.<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n Leslie:<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n I know he’s more with Simcox, Gilchrist is with\r\n Ramirez.<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n Mike:<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n Not exactly.<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n Leslie:<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n What is it then?<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n Sidekick:<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n It’s on the internet.<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n Leslie:<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n About Chase saying he wanted snipers?<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n <\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n [no comment]<\/i><\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n Leslie:<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n And he had them.<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n Sidekick:<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n You mean the two immigrants who got shot?<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n Leslie:<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n Yeah. Chase said they were rogue minutemen.<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n <\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n [no comment]<\/i><\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n Leslie:<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n So how are you different than Chase? Now Ramirez is saying he’ll have people with guns.<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n Mike:<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n Different tactics. We'll be staying in private residences.<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n Sidekick:<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n We’re different.<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n Mike:<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n Do you support our right to protest?<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n Sidekick:<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n He’s the Constitutional guy.<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n Leslie:<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n Sure.<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n Mike:<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n So what’s your problem with us?<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n Leslie:<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n Do you support our right to counterprotest?<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n Mike:<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n There's an eighty-nine year-old woman who owns a Colt Python. \r\n Immigrants jump her fence, killed four of her dogs, shit in her yard. \r\n Is that right? She should be enjoying her old age.<\/p>\r\n <\/td>\r\n <\/tr>\r\n<\/table>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Two protestors, one identifying herself as an independent journalist, had by this\r\ntime noticed the men and climbed the hill to join us. One took a picture\r\nof Sidekick, who demanded she delete it; she refused. Mike volunteered\r\nthat he had spent time in Pakistan\r\nand had traveled the Middle East. Then\r\nhe repeated the story of the 89-year-old woman packing the .357 magnum for the\r\nreporter.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Juan Santos, a regular anti-minuteman protestor, had remained on the bluff\r\nand was making his way down when I hastily pulled him aside and told him who\r\nthe visitors were. He alerted the camp and brought about thirty protestors\r\nrunning up the hill to the site. John, another regular protestor,\r\nrecognized Mike, who readily admitted he was from Sherman Oaks and had recently\r\ninfiltrated an L.A.-area anti-minuteman activists' meeting. Mike warned\r\nthe protestors that they would be surprised at the number of people FBP would\r\nbe bringing to their border action on September 16.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Sidekick folded his arms on the truck’s door and stuck his head into the cab\r\nthrough the driver’s side window to avoid pictures. A videographer\r\nslipped over to the passenger side of the truck and took the startled younger\r\nman's picture again. Sidekick crawled into the driver's seat, closed the door, and\r\nburied his head in his arms on the steering wheel, hiding his face completely.<\/p>\r\n\r\n When the protestors began chanting \"Racists go home!\" and\r\n\"We'll be back, and we'll be bigger!\", Mike\r\nscurried around to the passenger seat. Sidekick, his scarf now drawn well up\r\nunder his eyes, threw the vehicle into gear and spun his tires backing up. \r\nThe newest minutemen tore down the steep hill in a plume of dust, bumping one\r\nbystander in their rush to get away from the heckling crowd and rounding a corner down the hill at an\r\nalarming speed.<\/p>\r\n\r\n It appears that Friends of the Border Patrol will use more sophisticated\r\nintelligence and public relations campaigns than the California Minutemen. \r\nFBP's Executive Director Andy Ramirez's \"Save\r\nOur State\" Proposition 187 campaign was noted for such\r\ntactics. Ron Prince, co-author of Proposition 187, chairs FBP. It\r\nalso seems that FBP's unarmed representatives, at least, don't have the arrogance\r\nor bravado that marked Chase's armed squad. <\/p>\r\n\r\n The Celebration\r\nContinues<\/i><\/p>\r\n\r\n The protestors laughed and cheered through a roughcut\r\nvideo of the three weeks of minuteman intervention: the brave antics of the Buenas Noches \r\nBrigade, the\r\nminutemen turning on their heels and walking away from the protestors. \r\nKids swung fluorescent light sticks, spinning red, green, white, and yellow\r\nstreaks against the star-laden sky. Music from the home-built, DC-powered\r\namp and speaker system that had frightened away the minutemen now lured\r\nprotestors to dance. Between tunes, drummers kept up the beat. The\r\ncamp stoves sizzled with carne asada, beans, and tortillas. Just when it\r\nwas declared that the paper plates had run\r\nout, a last handful magically appeared on an ice chest for the stragglers at the end\r\nof the line.<\/p>\r\n\r\n A ranger from the Bureau of Land Management rolled out of the dark and tried\r\nto goad the protestors into admitting disappointment at the minutemen's\r\nabsence. The protestors, savvy and experienced, weren't biting, but, when\r\nqueried, the ranger offered that he supported the migrant hunters. Asked\r\nwhy he wanted to see armed vigilantes doing the work of law enforcement, he could\r\nonly explain, \"I think they're helping.\"<\/p>\r\n\r\n I walked away from the campsite for the drive home, away from the spotty\r\nglow of Coleman lanterns, and shouted over my shoulder to the lingering crowd,\r\n\"Buenas noches!\" \r\nEchoing returns of \"Buenas noches\"\r\nrang through the night, maybe as far as the minuteman camp. I saved my\r\nlast goodbye for Enrique, who was sitting in his truck talking on his phone and\r\nbusily scribbling notes before one more night patrol. <\/p>\r\n\r\n My traveling partner, Enrique, and I improvised an off-key and almost-sweet\r\nchorus of \"See You in September\" underscored with both sadness at the\r\ncircumstances of our autumn reunion and awe at the bravery of so many people.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Driving out, the VFW hall–former home of the minutemen–was dark, the\r\nparking lot empty, the gate chained shut.<\/p>\r\n\r\n See you in September.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\n<\/body><\/html>\n","contact":"lradford@radiojustice.net","link":"","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/html","summary":"On Saturday, protestors celebrated the defeat of the California Minutemen, and Friends of the Border Patrol introduced themselves.","numcomment":0,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2005\/08\/134299.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[]}\r\n
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