Anti-immigrant rally draws 200
By Daily Bruin Staff
May 5, 1996 9:00 p.m.
Monday, May 6, 1996
Protest calls for speedy enforcement of Proposition 187By
Michael Angell
Daily Bruin Contributor
About 200 flag-waving, hardhat- wearing protesters yesterday
called for the closure of America’s borders. An anti-immigration
group called American Spring organized the protest outside the
Federal Building along Wilshire Boulevard which attracted support
from drivers passing by.
"We’re here to say enough is enough," said Joe Fields, American
Spring spokesman. " Let’s throw ’em out, close the border, and put
all our troops on the border and that will take care of it."
On a day when Mexican Americans celebrated their cultural
heritage and Native Americans celebrated the annual UCLA Pow Wow,
these Caucasians advocated America’s complete return to one
culture. Fields believed America has been declining since 1965 when
the Immigration Control Act eliminated immigration quotas.
"What we would like to see is a complete repeal of the 1965
Immigration Control Act that allowed Third-Worlders into this
country," Fields said. "We believe America was basically founded as
an outpost of European civilization. It was basically a white
country until 1965 when the teeming hordes were allowed in."
Current immigration issues also made these Caucasians brave the
noon-day sun. People at the march were frustrated by the current
delay of Proposition 187 in federal court. They believed that the
government has become illegitimate because they have not enacted
the measure. Fields especially singled out Judge Mariana Pfaelzer
who has held up enforcement of the proposition.
"It’s outrageous that a federal judge can thwart the will of the
people like she has," Fields said.
Illegal immigration was also a topic at the UCLA Pow Wow. G.
Lola Worthington, graduate student in the School of Education,
argued that something should have been done to stop immigrants a
long time ago.
"Immigration laws are 500 years too late," Worthington said
referring to America’s colonization by Europeans.
But the Federal Building protest also demanded that the
government not prosecute two Riverside sheriff deputies who are
accused of beating two Mexicans.
"What happened in Riverside, all those people protesting and
carrying foreign flags in our country demanding rights," Fields
said. "They don’t have any rights because they’re not citizens.
Right George?"
"Yes sir!," George Kadar barked back.
Kadar is also a member of American Spring. He came to America
from Hungary 25 years ago. When asked if he may have benefitted
from the Immigration Control Act, Kadar responded that "I never
ripped off the system. I never entered country illegally.
"I’ll go back to Hungary when all these Mexicans go back to
Mexico," Kadar added.
Kadar like many others at the march wore a hardhat, a popular
symbol for ’60s conservatives. American Spring sold the hats with
their logo emblazoned on the front. They copied a freeway sign
warning drivers to watch out for illegal immigrants: A man, woman
and child running.
"It was something very familiar to Southern Californians,
Mexicans running across the border," said Alex James, American
Spring supporter. "We have a red line going through it. This
symbolizes our displeasure with the government allowing a free
reign at the border. We have to harp on this issue to save Southern
California before it’s too late," James said.
Based in Orange County, American Spring was founded six years
ago as a reaction against illegal immigration. The group worked to
pass Proposition 187 in November 1994, which denies many government
services to illegal immigrants. They have also staged protests at
the border calling for its closure.
"We saw what was happening at the border," James said. "All the
illegal aliens coming across the border ending any kind of
civilization that we have here in Los Angeles."
Asked what Fields’ ideal America would be, he invoked that great
American cultural well-spring  Hollywood  as providing
the model society.
"There was a scene in ‘Back to the Future’, when Marty McFly is
standing in the middle of a city in the late ’80s and the park is
unkempt, there’s winos all over the place, illegal aliens and
graffiti," Fields said. "Then he steps into the time machine and
goes back to the ’50s. Everyone around him is white, they look
sharp and cleancut, and the park is clean.
But Olin Tezcatlipoca had a different idea of what America is
and who the actual illegal immigrants are. As the director of the
Chicano Mexicano Mexica Empowerment Committee, a cultural and
educational organization, he believed America is not a "white
country."
"We have to rent land that once was ours," Tezcatlipoca
said.
Illegal immigration could easily be stopped Tezcatlipoca said,
but Americans are truly not willing to give up the benefits of
illegal immigration.
"They won’t arrest rich white people in Beverly Hills who use
immigrant labor, they won’t arrest restaurant owners," Tezcatlipoca
said.
PATRICK LAM/Daily Bruin
Anti-immigrant and pro-Proposition 187 protestors gathered at
the Federal Building yesterday.
