[ilbegone]

Good. It's about time.

Here are some excerpts from a Commentary piece by Gustavo Arellano a couple weeks after the 1-3-06 Monsoor incident.

It seems the subject lacks sensible timing concerning when to shut up...

Razin' La Raza

Whether posing as protesters or cutting off speeches, OC police clamp down on immigrant-rights activists

Gustavo Arellano

January 19, 2006


Coyotl Tezcalipoca wanted to wrap up his speech with a dramatic flourish, and a police chokehold helped him get there more quickly.

On Jan. 3, Tezcalipoca, a 25-year-old from Santa Ana, stood before the Costa Mesa City Council and berated them for approving a motion that would allow the city's police to check on anyone's immigration status. Proponents and other opponents of the ordinance also spoke that night. Most used the full three minutes Mayor Allan Mansoor allowed for public comments.

But just a little over two minutes into Tezcalipoca's speech, Mansoor cut him off. "I'm not finished," Tezcalipoca protested. Three officers quickly surrounded the podium; Tezcalipoca turned to leave but stopped short when one of the officers grabbed his arm. "Don't touch me!" Tezcalipoca told the officers. The stand-off lasted briefly, until Costa Mesa Police Chief John Hensley, dressed in something like a baby blue Hollywood Suit Broker ensemble, leaned into the little circle and said something to his men. The three officers suddenly, forcefully grabbed Tezcalipoca and removed him from the council chambers. KABC-TV video shows they placed him in a chokehold and dragged him into the Costa Mesa Jail (conveniently located next door) as an officer kneeled on Tezcalipoca's back (see video of the incident here; link courtesy of immigrationwatchdog.com). Officers booked him on suspicion of disturbing an assembly, interfering with a council meeting and resisting an officer.

Tezcalipoca faces a Feb. 3 court date in Orange County Superior Court. That same day, Los Angeles resident Hugo Sarmiento will appear for a trial-setting hearing. He's charged with three felonies and a misdemeanor for allegedly throwing a full Shasta Cola can at police officers during a May 25 protest in Garden Grove following a speech by Minuteman founder Jim Gilchrist.

Local activists and the Orange County chapter of the ACLU are monitoring both cases closely. They fear that a conviction in either will chill the growing number of young Latinos who counterprotest anti-immigrant groups like the Minuteman Project across Southern California. But it may be too late: as the stories of both Sarmiento and Tezcalipoca show, law-enforcement officials are already working hard to squash the movement before it blooms...



...Tezcalipoca declined comment, citing his pending court date. Mansoor returned a call but refused to say whether he agreed with the actions of the Costa Mesa Police Department. Mansoor did say he couldn't remember "off the top of my head" if he knew any other speaker being accosted by cops during a council meeting.

But Jan. 3 wasn't the first time Mansoor stopped Tezcalipoca from speaking. On Dec. 7, when the Costa Mesa City Council approved the police-immigrant ordinance, Mansoor ended the public comments section after Tezcalipoca called him a "fucking racist pig." Tezcalipoca was about halfway through his three minutes...

Full article: http://www.ocweekly.com/2006-01-19/news/razin-la-raza/2

Arellano works for the OC Register and writes the !Ask a Mexican! column.

He also has a book out by that title.