I attended the Placer County (CA) BOS meeting today. The GOP had recruited their members to come to the meeting and speak in support of the Placer BOS joining an amicus brief in the lawsuit against SB54, the California Values Act (aka Sanctuary State Law). The majority of the speakers were representing the Anti-SB54 point of view and it was eye-opening.
The first speaker was Dennis Revel, the chair of Placer Republican Central Committee. He proceeded to recite some cherry-picked statistics to try and establish the point that all undocumented aliens are murderers and rapists, willing to commit violent assault, or worse. A broader brush could not have been used.
Some speakers spoke about murders committed by undocumented aliens (not protected by SB54). Yet, they were willing to conveniently overlook the fact that the most successful killers of Americans were native born (Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols in Oklahoma City, 1995).
Tom McClintock’s representative made an appearance reminding the Supervisors that McClintock had asked the board to make a statement against SB54. He has recently denounced SB54 as a nullification of federal law and has likened our state elected leaders to the Confederates in the Civil War. Uninformed of history as he usually is, McClintock doesn’t realize that during the Civil War, nullification was by the North, not the South. As I recall, the North, was on the correct side of history. What say you McClintock?
GOP Gubernatorial candidate Travis Allen was in attendance as was CD4 GOP Congressional Candidate Mitchell White. They provided more blatant mis-information designed to inflame their supporters. Their mission is NOT to inform, but to separate.
The rest of the speakers proceeded to recount and recite a litany of mis-information about SB54:
* that dangerous criminals will be released wholesale on our communities,
* that immigrants bring crime to our communities,
* that police will be unable to work with federal authorities,
* and that the majority of Californians do not want a Sanctuary State.
None of these things are true.
Nonetheless, the speakers are propagating their lies and their faithful lap it up. Worse, when our speakers were trying to present their information and point of view, the GOP supporters would shout “lies”, “liar”, “ILLEGALS” and so on in an effort to disrupt our speakers. Despite Supervisor Jim Holmes’ warning the hecklers to be polite and allow the speakers to make their points, the GOP supporters persisted with their derisive comments.
After the open comments were closed, PCDP Vice Chair Angela Torrens presented the DCC statement amid cries of “TIME” (meaning time had expired) in a stoic and focused manner. Well done, Angela!
Looking back on this with a few hours’ contemplation under my belt, it is painfully clear that we can not, in any way, give ground on this issue, or any other issue. The GOP, here in Placer County and nationwide, is clearly intent on undermining or overturning EVERY gain made in civil rights, immigration reform, environmental protection, health care, labor rights and virtually every other aspect of our modern lives.
Our mission is clear. We must keep going until hatred, racism, misogyny, and division are cast out of our society once and for all. But the only way for us to accomplish this is if we all work together, in harmony and in unison. This task won’t be accomplished overnight. It will take years to make Placer County a place where all are welcome. We work, not for ourselves, but for those who are currently oppresed and repressed.
We have work to do! Join Us!
Bless you for your courage in attending and I assume speaking. It was my intent to be there but slept through my alarm and can only express my sorrow that I was not there. I assume all rational folks did not scream and disrupt the meeting; I am sure the BOS respected that. Good showing !
You are not alone. A “Defend Sanctuary” campaign is underway, thanks to a group formed called ICEOUTOFCA.org. Visit this site, review the campaign and take steps to gather material supporting California’s push back to the lawsuit. Seek out people in your community with stories that will make the strongest argument. You are right, the deadline to support the Trump administration expired in April. But California’s deadline to add friend of the court briefs is May 18th and you better believe this group is busy preparing the very best. They need you!
I was there. Your summary and analysis is spot on. Well done. I would just add one detail.
When we went outside for a short meeting of the supporters of AB54 several of the belligerents (and trust me they were belligerent) walked right into our group and started harassing some of us. Luckily the PlacerCounty Sheriffs were Jonny on the spot to back them off from our group. I’m just glad they didn’t bring their guns.