The media is making a stink about a scuffle that occured at yesterday’s Immigrant Rights march and rally in downtown Tucson. A group of vigilante freaks assembled in one corner of Armory Park donning t-shirts with racist epithets, holding Arizona and U.S. flags, and spreading verbal diarrhea to the area.
Things got heated around 2pm when they burned a Mexican flag, clearly trying to instigate a violent outburst. Tedski from Rum, Romanism and Rebellion has more on the antics of these hate-mongers.
Some members of the group Border Guardians, decided to stand in front of the Mexican consulate on Sunday and burn El Tricolor. These are the guys that raised such a stink a month or so back when a Mexican official dared to give a speech in Spanish at the U of A. One of their leaders, a woman named Lawless of all things, said this to the Arizona Daily Star:
We’re not picking on Mexicans specifically, but we’re blaming their government and their citizens who are here illegally in the U.S.
We’re not picking on Mexicans, but we are burning a Mexican flag. Oh, okay then.
Even their own website says that the burning of the Mexican flag was to protest “Mexican disrespect of American Sovreignty.” So, they aren’t protesting against Mexicans specifically, but they are specifically protesting against Mexicans.
more below the fold…
CNN showed a video of this small group of racists burning El Tricolor on Sunday in front of the Mexican Consulate and it has even garnered a heated response from the Mexican government.
“We consider any provocation or vandalism of national symbols to be unacceptable,” Foreign Relations Undersecretary Lourdes Aranda said in a news conference.
About 12 people from the Tucson-based Border Guardians burned the flag Sunday on the sidewalk in front of the Mexican Consulate. They carried a sign that read, “Defending American Sovereignty.”
[snip]
Border Guardians director Laine Lawless said the group plans to burn more flags.
“Anytime they take to the streets, we’ll burn a Mexican flag,” Lawless said.
They kept that promise yesterday as 15,000 peaceful marchers gathered to give a voice to the voiceless in our society. When the flag was burned, a scuffle ensued and a few protesters were removed by force and arrested. I received the following notice a few minutes ago regarding a legal challenge to the charges.
The people arrested, as many of us could see, were brutally assaulted by the police during their detention by the Tucson Police Department. We need FOOTAGE AND STATEMENTS of everything people saw to aid in the defense of these brave people! The deadline is Tuesday, April 11 at 6 pm! Please get all photos and video together TONIGHT and send it to the ACLU legal observer team. The email contact is:
Karen: klutrick@gmail.com
In addition to photos and video the observers need statements from witnesses. Write down what you saw during the arrests, describe to the best of your ability the officers and people involved and get it to Karen tonight. No detail is too small. If you have any questions about these statements please email them quickly to help get this needed information together.
Again, the deadline is Tuesday, April 11 at 6 pm! Scan, copy, download and email all photos and video during the arrests to Karen tonight! If you can’t email or have developed pictures the observer team will go to you to get this crucial information! Please email Karen at klutrick@gmail.com with any informaiton you may have.
In solidarity,
The A10 Legal Observer Team
Don’t let these media reports fool you, the marches and rallies have been overwhelmingly peaceful and positive in message from their beginning a month ago in Chicago. These vigilante groups are starting to mobilize in conjunction with our Justice events and spew their bile with indignation. Considering the horrible hate speech they were shouting yesterday, it’s no wonder tempers flared.
Crossposted from my humble blog
Update [2006-4-12 1:1:26 by Man Eegee]: Here is the Press Release from the Border Action Network regarding follow-up.
We are outraged that the city knowingly endangered public safety by enabling a dangerous extremesist group to hold a counter-protest in the middle of our peaceful rally. This groups stated intention was to disrupt and incite violence. This is not an issue of free speech, this is an issue of public responsibility and public safety. We are likewise astounded by Tucson Police Department’s obvious selective enforcement of the law including their failure to arrest Roy Warden at the time his crimes were committed.
It is ultimately the children and families that were beaten and pepper sprayed who are paying the price for the misconduct and gross negligence of those tasked with the protection of the public. The City of Tucson must be held accountable for allowing this violence to occur.
There will be a press conference Thursday at 4:30 at Presidio Park where an additional statement will be released. Organizational leaders and community members who were hurt by police actions will be available for interviews.
I will have information regarding a legal defense fund tomorrow from the Border Action Network.
right before they burned the flag. Our people had formed a Peace Chain around the hate-mongers to keep both sides separated.
More pictures here at my blog
that what these ‘Border Guardians’ really want is to provoke someone to burn an American flag in retaliation so that they can use that to instigation more hate and violence.
how uneducated they are on the minds and intentions of those marching yesterday. The American Flag was held in honor and in the one or two cases where it was flown upside-down, was done as a signal of distress. The most prevalent signs were: “We are America”, which was very poignant, imo. 🙂
project their own attitudes onto their opponents — it’s like their insistence that that a drive by Mexicans to take back the southwest is behind the protests, a belief that I think is really an indication of their own ideas of dominance and imperialism.
IN ORANGE
Been there and recommended Manny.
in culture than a whole library shelf full of treatises, tomes, and monographs.
Yes,the Peace Chain’s purpose was to protect the people from the racists, but what I don’t think is emphasized enough, the Peace Chain is also to protect the racists from some hot-headed young man whose righteous indignation reaches its limit.
I hope that the victims in this case will get lawyers, and prevail in their court cases, but most important I hope that they will be returned to their families and recover from their injuries.
Let us know if they need money. A lot of us will contribute to a legal defense fund.
May I also request that you post this at dKos? Lots of diaries there on the marches and you might get more information and pictures.
I’m not sure if they are setting up an account for donations, will keep you posted. I’m working on an orange version of this and will give the link when it’s ready. Thanks for your support.
Hey Manny. Nice job yesterday. These things are amazing. I’m going to a Brown Pride event tonight (it was the closest thing in my area). I’d kick in a few bucks if you have a fund. And I’ll recommend at dKos, if you e-mail me.
I do think that this militia/anti-immigrant movement is very dangerous. A lot of angry, violent white men. Very impressed at how peaceful the demonstrations have been, given the size.
Take it easy.
These people are obviously from the same great line of thinkers that includes the Rev. Fred Phelps, Kansas’ ambassador of hate. How sad, but they were apparently only a very small group compared to the thousands marching.
their logo at borderguardians dot org to get a feel for their message. I refuse to link directly to them. They were a tiny group, around a dozen, but they were so blatantly racist that it garnered some attention from our people in that corner of the park.
I read a couple of hundred messages last night at freeperville. They absolutely supported these bigots and believe some truly outlandish things, like Mexico is sending us all these people so they can take back Texas, Arizona and New Mexico.
I love the circle of people. That is a good idea. It is extremely important not to react in any way that can be construed as aggressive when confronting these assholes. Unfortunately, because they are vile and loathsome, it is also very difficult not to respond.
For what it’s worth, I have only heard of two minor incidents, both involving rascists, out of the dozens of protests. Quite frankly, I expected more. Many people at freeperville want armed rebellion (and they also are really pissed at Bush and the Rethugs for not taking a stronger stand).
What do you want to bet that these asswipes are entirely in favor of amending the Constitution to outlaw burning the American flag? Because, after all, to them the American flag represents white folks and therefore deserves respect.
And what do you want to bet that the FBI terrorism investigators who are so zealous about writing down descriptions and license plate numbers of leftish protesters paid no attention at all to these racist cretins?
a spokesman from TPD had this to say (from the linked Tucson Citizen article):
No shit.
will be operating to provoke violence that will be used to discredit this movement’s demonstrations. If the opposition is unable to infiltrate and provoke the demonstrators to violence then you either have law enforcement or “A group of vigilante freaks” who will be incited to do so.
All leadership involved in any upcoming demonstrations should enlighten their groups to this probability, and to the negative ramifications to the movement that will follow if “our” side takes the (provocateurs) bait.
Count on it folks, Agent Provocateurs are in play. Their lack of success will depend on our reactions.
the whole thing happened at the end of the day, but it still managed to sour the media coverage of what was a great day of fellowship and solidarity. We can’t let them win the messaging battle.
Absolutely….just like civil rights marches and during Vietnam the government had people posing on our side to try and stir up or goad the marchers to violence and as they have already done in some of the anti-war marches.
lifted and altered words of Lennon – but his song rings through my mind when I read your diary
Some say you’re a dreamer
but you’re not the only one
Someone burned an American flag at the Peace Rally in Portland on 3/19 and you should have seen the fire trucks haul ass… for some piece of plastic.
I can’t say enough how ashamed and how sorry I am for the “people” you may encounter on this journey of peace and unity who wish to continue the hate and bloodshed. Please know that this family considers you family.
marched with me yesterday, DJ. I took each of you, and the inspiration you spread, with me as I joined the crowd. As for the “people”, I’ll take a positive message any day over their divisiveness.
There is a shift 🙂 I was bumming out earlier today. I had a pinecone of doubt sticking out of my ass. Then I see these photos and diaries…
We are NOT alone. We are NOT meaningless.
We are united.
Great diary and recommended.
Just as a trivia sidebar, did you know that the full and legal name of the country is the “United States of Mexico”?
Pax
I’m also amused with the full name of Los Angeles:
El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula
🙂
I just got done reading the Post-Intelligencer story about Seattle’s rally. They estimate 15,000 marchers, and you and I both know those numbers are always undercounted.
This was interesting from my point of view, because when I think of immigrants in Seattle I tend to think of immigrants from places like Japan, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Korea. In fact I remember seeing somewhere that something like 11% of Seattle is of Asian descent (including two of my grandchildren, who are 1/4 Thai). But I don’t usually think of Seattle having a large Hispanic population. Well, that’s the great thing about a big city, always something new to discover.
As for the flag-burning cretins . . . screw ’em. I wish I could forward a story I just heard last week about a Chinese immigrant who owned a restaurant in Calgary. Every Friday this one guy would come in, order fried rice, make racist remarks, and generally act in a rude manner. The owner’s son wanted to know why his father didn’t just kick the miscreant out of the cafe.
That night he awoke his son and the two of them went to the cafe, to the booth where the racist always sat. They burned some incense and after consulting I Ching, the father decided to show his son how to deal with a bully. He did things like sawing a quarter inch off the legs of the bench every week so the table gradually rose up the racist’s chest. He subtly altered a picture that the man admired on his weekly visits, gradually changing it from a summer lake scene to a snowy landscape. He added about a teaspoon of extra fried rice every week until the man couldn’t eat it all. And eventually, the racist stopped coming back.
“Just as the Sage said,” the man told his son, referring to the reading of I Ching. “He dried up and blew away.”
The real point of this story is that these clods are no doubt wrapped up in their egos and their identities as patriotic Murrykins. There’s no need to stand by and take the crap they dish out, but there are almost certainly ways to make them feel like they would be more comfortable spewing their hatred somewhere else.
Here’s an example. Not one I necessarily condone or support, but use it as a jumping-off point for brainstorming. These bastards are committed to burning a Mexican flag every time there’s a rally, right? Alert the Fire Department that there is going to be a fire, and give them the bastards’ location. Then when they put the match to the flag, the firefighters can put the fire out. At as high a water pressure as possible. (C’mon, there’s got to be some sympathetic Latinos in the Tucson Fire Department.) I briefly thought about arming a group of Merry Pranksters with Super Soakers but best you leave that sort of thing to the uniformed and authorized professionals, no?
It’s late and I may be rambling, but the bottom line here is, you don’t have to put up with this. You can fight back without fighting. I’ll dig out my copy of I Ching if you like.
the super soakers probably wouldn’t be a good idea, considering the reason one of the protesters was arrested was because they doused the vigilante burning the flag with water from their waterbottles, but I’m loving the high-pressured firehouse idea O;–)
Yeah, that’s what I’m thinkin’. Leave the putting out of fires to uniformed professionals who can’t be charged in the performance of their legitimate duties.
There’s got to be some other measures that can be taken. Do a little research on their cars and see if a sympathetic policeman can’t arrest them for driving while Anglo.
There are all sorts of things you might try. I read one time about a frontier city way back in the way-back that organized the local kids into a “whistling and whittling brigade.” Whenever anyone undesirable came to town, the order would go out for these kids to just follow the undesirables around, whittle on their sticks, and whistle as they whittled. Didn’t matter what they whistled, or even if they could whistle. They were to stay out of contact range, and of course nothing would be worse than to be seen assaulting children, right? Maybe you could organize a group of people to just hang around these bozos, snapping their fingers and humming the break from “Low Rider.” Videotape them — nothing irks these clods more than getting their mugs shot.
I don’t know. There are minds more devious than mine out there, and I’m doing a Bill Frist by trying to diagnose the situation from 1500 miles away. I guess the best thing is just to keep on doing what you’re doing. The mere fact that these clods show up exposes them for what they are.
from the Border Action Network folks, they are getting a team of lawyers pro bono to defend the protesters. Thanks to you all for your support.
Great news
Excellent news! Now maybe you can defuse the situation by just placing a cop within close proximity to them if they show up again.
Assuming they let him out of jail, that is. Unfortunately he probably has buddies who have more money than they have humanity.
Excellent press release. Well done. Hope the press conference went well.