The role of the police is often to protect and defend the extreme right. Yesterday in Hollywood demonstrated that clearly.
The Minutemen, the racist anti-immigrant group, marched in Hollywood on Saturday. ANSWER LA called a counter-demo across the street from them on the sidewalk. As usual, there were more of us than them.
LAPD went out of their way to be deliberately nasty to us, the counter-demonstrators. If a counter-demonstrator stepped into the street, accidentally or not, they got their head cracked. Yet LAPD repeatedly let Minutemen get in the middle of the street and scream at or video us. No head cracks for them. Just a gentle escort back.
As the Minutemen started their march, we followed them on the sidewalk. LAPD then blocked the sidewalk, preventing us from continuing! Yet during every ANSWER LA march in Hollywood, LAPD has done nothing to prevent counter-demonstrators from trying to invade our march – which meant we had to keep them out (and did.) But they sure did an exemplary job of keeping counter-demonstrators away from their buddies in the extreme right.
Isn’t walking on the sidewalks legal? I guess not in Hollywood if you’re protesting the racist right. So, after being blocked by LAPD, we marched down another street, headed them off at the pass, and were there when the Minutemen passed by. LAPD then declared us an illegal assembly. We marched back, did a mini-rally and waited for the Minutemen to return. After they did, LAPD began making threatening moves against us (never, ever against their pals, the Minutemen, of course) so we told LAPD we would march out en masse and did so. When police act like thugs, leave in a group, this protects everyone.
Several heads were cracked by LAPD, for apparently minor actions, if indeed they had any justification at all. At least one person went to the hospital. There were a couple of arrests.
The contrast is obvious. LAPD in Hollywood does nothing to stop counter-demonstrators when there’s an anti-war march. But let the lunatic fringe right march in Hollyood and LAPD will crack skulls to stop the counter-protestors.
[tags]Minutemen, anti-Minutemen, police brutality[/tags]
Viktor:
I had to respond to your article because I read your posts over at http://www.saveourstate.org. (The mob of two dozen over there chased you away.)
I too have been trying to determine if such groups are legitimate or what are their agendas. Your questions can be quickly answered: The groups are not “overtly” racist. I do suspect that many do not genuinely know what constitutes racism, but the core beliefs of the groups are even far more troubling.
From what I have seen, what motivates the groups is not so much unlawful immigration. It is the “secretive” New World Order “elitists.” They seem convinced that the US is in dire peril (by 2010 mind you) from some faceless corporations, the Rockefellers, Illuminati(?), etc. “The Globalists” are their true and sworn enemy.
According to them, the evil Globalists intend to usurp the Constitution and are prosecuting a plan to do so by enabling the large number of unlawful immigrants to “occupy” the US. The Globalists intend to merge the US, Mexico, and Canada via SPP (Security Prosperity Partnership) into the “North American Union.” There will be no borders, and US citizens will ultimately lose all civil rights. Our destiny is to be enslaved by the Globalists. The Supreme Court will have no authority or say in the matter and neither shall Congress.
Bush and Cheney are puppets used at-will by the tyrants. Both are traitors, but so is Kerry, Gore, and Clinton. (The group is non-partisan.) Our entire govt. is in collusion except for the few noble whistle-blowers such as Tancredo and Gilchrist. Some even believe that 9/11 was a US govt plot designed to justify our invasion of the Mid-East. (Orchestrated by the elitists, BTW)
This is not fiction. I have not the ability or imagination. SOS is highly suspicious of “outsiders” believing that they could be covert agents with some nefarious intent.
I believe it to be a waste of time in attempting rationale debate. Superficially, the causes sound reasonable enough, but they fail the due-diligence test. Economic factors, social conditions, poor management and leadership in Mexico have nothing to do with unlawful immigrants. Nor does the drug demand in the US have anything to do with drug suppliers. The global view of the US has no bearing on our border policies either.
The ONLY reasonable explanation for the illegals here is that Bush is implementing his NWO plan in front of our very noses. The media is controlled, except for alternative media apparently.
The SOS group has received national attention but have been unable to capitalize on it. The MM orgs have done better due to a more sophisticated and managed message, but the original founder, Gilchrist, has some unusual beliefs. For a former accountant, his columns to not add-up.
That whole NWO riff, with its rampant paranoia and wacky conspiracy theories, leads into (and dovetails with) overtly racist garbage like the ZOG (Zionist Organized Government) hallucination of the extreme racist right that says Jews control everything as well as white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups.
Also, Minutemen/SOS have seriously spritzed their image lately, trying to appear “moderate,” probably because then they can get support etc. from the Republican Party. Underneath it all, they are, of course, are not moderate at all.
BTW, this was their last march. They now plan to concentrate on the legislative process.
Tancredo: The word needs to be spread.
I am moderately conservative and am embarrassed that he claims to be a republican. He is frighteningly slick, however. After some due-diligence sleuth work, I discovered the following:
Tancredo supports all the various Minuteman and anti-illegal immigration groups.
As for Tancredo, the GOP has more than dropped him. Bush will not acknowledge him, and for good reason. Tancredo received a deferment for military service in Vietnam due to mental illness. His anxiety disorder is one that typically worsens with age, and it could be a secondary symptom of some other neurosis or psychosis.
Tancredo presents well; however, there exists “functional psychotics.†This man is one to be concerned with. He maintains a near cult-like following and actively encourages his followers of conspiracism.
This situation is far beyond liberal versus conservative views. These people are truly frightening and injurious to our nation.
PLEASE help spread the word. Left and right appear contiguous compared with this bunch.
Liberals never made me nervous; this bunch flat scares me.
One last thing…
SOS is hooting over getting some minor media coverage and state that they plan no additional marches. That is the SoCal chapter, and other marches will likely occur.
I’ve spent several months observing these groups. I would never have believed the phenomena had I not witnessed it firsthand.
I do believe that these groups are more prone to incite violence than anything. Their agenda goes far past controlling immigration. What concerns me most is the media coverage they receive; the media fails to disclose critical information. I suspect that much of the media is unaware or is looking to sensationalize the situation. Lou Dobbs is probably the worst offender. The groups cite him as a reference and justifier.
A video of the July 8th march and the reactions from people on the street exists here;
http://www.centralelements.com/videos/minutemenhollywood.html