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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Road Walker who wrote (232951)	5/15/2005 8:34:42 PM
From: Jim McMannis	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1575802

Are we stupid or what? ------- Artwork Angers Calif. Immigration Foes 13 minutes ago BALDWIN PARK, Calif. - Members of a group that opposes illegal immigration protested a piece of public art with inscriptions they claim are anti-American, sparking heated exchanges with residents of this heavily Hispanic city. Police in riot helmets separated the 40 members of Save Our State and scores of residents during the rally Saturday, but there were no reports of arrests or injuries. The protesters were then escorted away from the site. The artwork, called "Danza Indigenas," has a 20-foot-high arch with inscriptions that read, "It was better before they came" and "This land was Mexican once, was Indian always and is, and will be again." The Ventura-based Save Our State organization, formed seven months ago, said it wants the inscriptions removed before the Fourth of July. "I find it incredibly offensive," said Joseph Turner, the group's executive director. He said the inscription "is seditious in nature. It essentially talks about returning this land to Mexico." The artwork was created 12 years ago by artist Judy Baca and commissioned by the city. Baca said the structure is a "layered history piece" that honors American Indians, immigrants and other groups who have lived for centuries in the area. Baca said that Save Our State's complaint was misguided. She said the quote, "It was better before they came," was originally uttered by a "white man from Arkansas," who was complaining about the arrival of Mexican-Americans after World War II. "When it went on the arch, its ambiguity became profound," she said. "The `they' could be any `they.'" Baldwin Park, about 70 percent Hispanic, is 15 miles east of downtown Los Angeles.