Calling all Mexicans
to
Corona del Mar State Beach

by
Ernesto Cienfuegos
La Voz de Aztlan

Los Angeles, Alta California - July 10, 2003 - (ACN) There is something ominous against Mexicans brewing in Newport Beach, California. If the angry statements expressed at their city council meeting on Tuesday is any indication, Mexicans planning a picnic at Corona del Mar State Beach this Saturday may be in for a nasty confrontation.

There is no doubt that the wretched and racist remarks made by Councilman Richard Nichols against Mexicans who use Corona del Mar State Beach, have now inflamed the most vile xenophobic passions of the local white residents. Councilman Nichols's remarks also attracted some of the most vehement anti-Mexican bigots known in Southern California to last Tuesday's city council meeting. Among these is the well known Huntington Beach resident Barbara Coe who has ties with Glenn Spencer of American Patrol and other anti-Mexican vigilante groups.

Barbara Coe, who heads a California based anti-Mexican immigrant group, spoke, along with many others, at the Newport Beach City Council. She angrily defended Councilman Nichols remarks about Mexicans "dominating" the state park and said they were a statement of fact. Many of the other speakers said that Mexicans in the area were a big a problem. Area resident Todd McAndrew stated, "It's a heartbreaking reality at Corona del Mar State Beach. Your beach has been overrun by Mexicans." Another area resident referred to Mexicans at Corona del Mar State Beach as "criminal invaders from Mexico." A Corona del Mar resident called for the Mexicans to be deported back to Mexico. Another speaker said that Mexican groups are mobilizing to take back California, Arizona, Texas and New Mexico.

These statements were made at the Newport Beach city council meeting on July 8th. This Saturday, July 12, Mexican organizers have scheduled a large family oriented picnic starting at 10:00 A.M. in part to protest the exclusion of Mexicans from the "public" Corona del Mar State Beach. The picnic will have great symbolic meaning. The organizers have asked that the participants bring "Mexican flags" to "wave in the sun" as they once did in Alta California.

What happens on Saturday and subsequently, will all depend on the actions of the area's white residents. The entire incident could end up in the indefinite "take-over" of the state park by Mexicans in a similar way that Catalina Island, just offshore from Corona del Mar, was re-occupied by the Brown Berets in 1972 under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.