Heads Roll at the LAPD

Los Angeles Police Chief William J Bratton took action against two of his top officers who were involved in the MacArthur Park incident on May 1st, in which police in riot gear swung batons and fired rubber bullets into crowds of people in order to break up the immigration rally. The police chief saying he was "embarrassed" apologized for the behavior of the department. "I feel comfortable apologizing," Bratton said. "Things were done that shouldn't have been done."

The two top officers who faced disciplinary action were, two-star deputy chief, Cayler "Lee" Carter Jr., commanding officer of the operations central bureau and his second-in-command, Louis Gray. Cayler "Lee" Carter has been in the department for more than three decades and was responsible for deployment of 1,700 officers serving more than 1 million residents. He was demoted to commander and ordered to work from home. Cmdr. Louis Gray joined the force 39 years ago. He was moved to a post where he will have less authority. Police Chief William Bratton announced the changes at a news conference along with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the president of the city's civilian police commission, John Mack.

"As chief of the department, I have to be comfortable with the leadership team I have around me," Bratton said. "This is not a witch hunt."

This does not look like the end of disciplinary action. There are currently four separate ongoing investigations. The police department has announced that it will conduct two internal investigations of the May 1 incident, and the department's Office of the Inspector General will conduct a third. The FBI has also begun an inquiry. In the meantime Bratton announced that "about 60 of the department's most-experienced officers, who were involved in the incident, will be taken off the street pending the investigations."

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa condemned the Police Department's use of force against demonstrators and reporters at an immigration rally, saying he was "deeply, personally troubled" by the clash. The Mayor cut short his trip to Latin America, returned to Los Angeles and issued the following statement:

"I have reviewed extensive video of the incident and, like every Angeleno, I am obviously and deeply concerned. I have asked Chief Bratton to oversee a complete and comprehensive review of this incident," he said. "While we won't make any rush to judgment, we can't be afraid to make tough judgments about this or any incident."

John Mack, president of the Los Angeles Police Commission, said he, too, was "deeply disturbed and very disappointed" by the TV images, and vowed that police officers and commanders who violated city policy "will be held accountable."
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T0doonBu3U]

In 2000, Los Angeles police also used force against demonstrators at the Democratic National Convention. The city eventually paid $4.1 million in settlements to those injured. Police have since created a protocol for crowd control to keep officers from firing on peaceful demonstrators and to create a safe area for news media. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa acknowledged last week that those rules were not followed.

Immigration - A Journey through Mexico

For the most part the immigration debate centers around Mexicans who come into the US illegally. Although Mexico is responsible for the majority of illegal aliens there are many others who are here in the US illegally. Some, who come from Central and South America, have to pass through Mexico in order to cross into the US. In fact Mexico itself has an immigration problem. Every year Mexico deports over 220,000 people who have entered their country illegally.

The Washington Post did a moving presentation on the hardships faced by many who try to cross through Mexico on their way to the US. For most the journey starts at Guatemala's border with Mexico and ends in a detention camp in Tapachula. The detention center houses people from Central America, Cuba and even Ethiopia, waiting to be sent back to their respective countries. The presentation is divided into four parts: The River, The Train, The Clinic and The Detention Center.

Click below to watch this presentation:

Barack Obama Attracts Attention

Since declaring his candidacy for President Barack Obama has seen his popularity soar. One poll even had him ahead of Hillary Clinton, the once-assumed Democratic nominee for President. He has proven his ability to match her in fundraising and popularity. He has also attracted the attention of others who see him as a threat. Because of this Barack is the first candidate in the race to be placed under the protection of the US Secret Service.

Obama's status as the first African-American with a realistic chance of winning the presidency highlights the ambivalent state of racial tolerance in the country: Even as he attracts massive and adulatory crowds, he also inspires hateful remarks and threats that carry distinct racial undertones.

An example of this racial component is evident in a parody that was popularized by Rush Limbaugh called "Barack the Magic Negro". This is a parody sung to the tune of Puff the Magic Dragon and features an Al Sharpton impostor complaining about Barack's popularity with whites saying he is "Black, but not authentically" like Snoop Dog, or me, or Farrakhan. Barack, when asked how he felt about the parody, said “I don’t mind, I don’t mind, I don’t mind folks poking fun at me,” Obama said. “That’s part of the job.”

Even though Barack doesn't take this incident seriously enough to make an issue out of it, there are other circumstances that have given rise to some concern. The U.S. Secret Service determined that the Illinois senator merited a special security detail and assigned one not only to him but to his house in Chicago's Kenwood neighborhood. The decision followed recommendations from Obama's colleagues in Congress, including Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who had reviewed, among other things, racist Web postings and letters.

"Unfortunately, many of the things that concerned me had a lot to do with race," Durbin said last week. "I wish we lived in a country where that is not a problem, but it still is. And the fact that Barack Obama is such a highly visible African-American candidate, I think, increases his vulnerability."

On a more positive note, Oprah Winfrey announced her support for the Obama Presidential campaign. This marks the first time that the influential TV personality has endorsed a political candidate. In an interview on “Larry King Live” on CNN, she said she was backing the senator “because I know him personally.”

“I think that what he stands for, what he has proven that he can stand for, what he has shown was worth me going out on a limb for,” Ms. Winfrey told Mr. King on Tuesday. “And I haven’t done it in the past because I haven’t felt that anybody — I didn’t know anybody well enough to be able to say, ‘I believe in this person.’ ”

This of course was welcome news to the Obama campaign which issued the following statement: “Barack Obama has tremendous respect for the kind of role model Oprah Winfrey is for young women like his two daughters, and he is honored to have her support”

Obama's appeal has also crossed the political divide. Former Republican supporters even some of President Bush's ex-political allies have endorsed Barack Obama. These include Tom Bernstein, went to Yale University with Bush and co-owned the Texas Rangers baseball team with him, Matthew Dowd, Bush’s chief campaign strategist in 2004, Robert Kagan, a leading neoconservative and co-founder of the Project for the New American Century, John Canning, a “Bush pioneer” and investment banker and John Martin, a Navy reservist and founder of the website Republicans for Obama among many others. Celebrities have also declared for Obama, here is a clip of some endorsements:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQkYVYM0wzc]

Here is a video from the Obama '08 campaign:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSgC5f1PEXs]

Barack's wife Michelle offers the following testimonial to him:

"His name was Barack Obama, and I thought, 'Well, I'm sure this guy is weird, right?" Obama said, to laughter. When she found out he grew up in Hawaii -- "Spent his formative years on an island. And I thought, 'Well you've got to be a little nuts. "Obama said she quickly changed her mind after their first conversation."I realized we had more in common than we thought," she said. "Like you I am desperate, so desperate for something different," she said. "I think that Barack Obama can do that, if I didn't I wouldn't be here. I'd make him do something else."

Immigration - The Search for a Better Life

The recent May Day Immigration March held nationwide drew hundreds of thousands demanding reform of US immigration policy. Although it was much smaller than the year before, it still showed that this is a topic that deserves national attention. In a recent speech President Bush affirmed his support for a comprehensive reform of immigration policy.

"I'm looking forward to working with both Democrats and Republicans to get a comprehensive immigration bill done this year. We have a good chance to get it done. It's important for our fellow citizens to understand comprehensive immigration reform is in the nation's interest. And I'll continue working with members of Congress to encourage them to do the hard work necessary to make sure a system that is not working is reformed in a way that meets our national needs and listens to our national heart. After all, America is a land of immigrants. Immigration helps renew our soul. It helps redefine our spirit in a positive way."

Bush also laid out what he considers to be a "Comprehensive" overhaul of the system:

• Help people learn English


• Uphold our laws and enforce our borders humanely


• A Temporary Guest Worker Program


• Employers have to obey the law


• Humane treatment of illegals already here

Congress is due to take up the immigration question on May 14. For a look at some of the issues involved and the process click here. In the meantime the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) began a program in May 2006 called "Return to Sender". Its purpose was to collect undocumented immigrants who have ignored deportation orders, have been convicted of crimes or pose a threat to national security. It has netted to date more than 18,000 people by conducting a series of raids on businesses and residences. Even though the targets of the program are illegals who are under court order or have committed crimes, many of those rounded up do not fall into these categories.

ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice said that while the main goal of Operation Return to Sender is to capture those who have evaded the law and ignored court orders, immigration officers who stumble upon other undocumented individuals will take them into custody, too.

Many illegal immigrants have families with children born in the US. Such is the case with Pedro Ramirez and his wife Isabel Aguirre. Pedro Ramirez, who had worked at an Albertson's supermarket, was deported in February. His wife, Isabel Aguirre, was arrested and ordered deported at the same time but given a monitoring ankle bracelet and some time to make arrangements for the children and to purchase a ticket home.

"We've been working with these people for years," said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Lori Haley. "Now it's up to the parents what they want to do. They can take the children with them, or leave them with relatives or people they can entrust them to." They have four children Pedro 15, Adrian 12, Yadira 10, and Adriana 6. While crying Adrian tried to describe his feelings:

"I want my family to be together," he said, wiping away tears as Yadira, 10, and Adriana, 6, stared at their shoes. "I want them to stop these laws. I don't know what life would be like in Mexico. My home is in Palo Alto."

The two younger children want to stay with their parents but Pedro 15, a sophomore at Gunn High School, struggled with the decision, trying to keep up with school but breaking into tears at times, "He wants to stay. He has a life, aspirations here," said Chris Schulz his Math teacher "But he's decided to go, to support his mother and his family."

"Is it really a choice? Staying in foster care, or leaving with their parents?" asked Samina F. Sundas, the founder of American Muslim Voice, which is trying to help the Ramirez family.

In another incident Lilo Mancia and his family face a similar predicament. The day after his wife was deported to their home country, Honduras, Lilo Mancía grieved as though she had died.

Mr. Mancía and his wife were among 361 workers arrested on March 6 in an immigration raid at Michael Bianco Inc., a leather goods factory in this faded manufacturing town. She remained in detention while he was released to care for their boys, Jeffrey, 2, and Kevin, 5. On April 18, Ms. Amaya was awakened at 4 a.m., driven by immigration agents to Kennedy Airport in New York and placed on a passenger flight to Honduras, Mr. Mancía said. Telephoning her husband as soon as she could place an international call, she said little, only that she was disoriented and more afraid of her home country than an American jail. She has no house, property or job in Honduras.

Mr. Mancía said he and his wife had decided to leave their home in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, for their safety, because criminal gangs used the streets as a combat zone. Ms. Amaya’s sister was on a public bus returning from Christmas shopping on Dec. 23, 2004, when gang gunmen shot it up, killing her and 27 other passengers, he said.

“We walked over dead bodies in Honduras,” Mr. Mancía said. “The children see that and they don’t grow up well.”

Mr. Mancía is fighting his own deportation order. He was preparing for any outcome, even the prospect of a separation from one or both sons so they could remain at least temporarily in the United States.

“My son is an American,” Mr. Mancía said “He needs to be educated in American schools, to speak English. He needs this country.”

Police Brutality at Immigration Rally

On May 1st 2007, many cities hosted rallies in support of illegal immigrants. This year the participation was smaller than the million plus marchers last year but still hundreds of thousands turned out nationwide to participate. In Denver, Chicago, Atlanta and many other cities the rallies were well organized and peaceful.

However in Los Angeles a rally was broken up amid accusations of police brutality and promises from the Police Chief William Bratton to fully investigate the matter. Reports say that the police used rubber bullets, batons and tear gas to disperse the crowd. Many people were injured including reporters and cameramen who were on the scene. Here is an account from FOX NEWS by Christina Gonzalez who was personally involved in the incident:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AljZqoGqK8k]
Below is another account of what happened by another reporter. Be aware that this account contains strong language:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1kEu6eRklo]

Police Chief William Bratton said "certain elements of the crowd" started the disturbance but "the vast, vast majority of the people who were here were behaving appropriately". He issued the following statement:

"I regret and am, as are all of you, disturbed by the events so vividly depicted in the various news report videos. Police use of force in any context is always visibly and emotionally upsetting, even when necessary and lawful – our challenge in reviewing and investigating the actions of our Department and its officers, and that of the public, is to determine if that use of force was an appropriate response to the level of threat, disturbance and danger that the officers were encountering,"
"If you have information or complaints concerning yesterday's incident, we encourage you to contact Internal Affairs at 1-800-339-6868 or the Inspector General at 213-202-5866."

Bratton said investigators will also be interviewing injured members of the media and will work to identify the officers involved in the uses of force.