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It is Time. [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-06-11

I just finished listening to Gov. Newsom’s blistering speech. This is a call to action for us all.

We currently live in Beaverton OR, but I grew up in L.A. as did my partner of 54 years. We both still have family down there. We lived and voted in every election in California until we moved in 2017.

Given the above, we have had to live through two Trump instigated violations of the peace in our neighborhood, fabricated “insurrections” brought about by these corrupt thugs. The Portland “riots” were caused by White Nationalist thugs (Proud Boys and ICE). No one else. Things didn’t calm down until they left. But that was just the opening round. Now it is L.A.

For those of you who have never been to L.A., other than watching TV shows or movies set in the city, it is far more than just a sprawling metro area of 4,700 square miles (1,300 Km2 for everyone in more advanced countries) as compared to Manhattan at a mere 34 square miles.. There are more than 3.8 million people who live there. And that is just L.A. itself. The whole metro area has 12.9 million and if you combine Riverside and San Bernardino counties that comes to 18.5 million. When I was a kid, those counties (including Orange county) were separated by orange groves, miles of them. No more; it is all merged together. It is a huge place populated by all kinds of folks, most of whom moved their because the Red State or the country where they were born was a sh*thole place.

But there is something else.

The city is and always has been Latino as has been the whole of California. It was founded in 1781, nine years before the Constitution was written, not ratified, written . It was a Pueblo before those old white guys even decided that three branches were enough… And yes, Latino. It always has been. A long time elementary school friend of my partner has a great-great-?-uncle (don’t remember how many greats...) who used to play poker with Pio Pico who was born in 1801 at Mission San Gabriel. He was Native American, Spanish, Italian, and African — just like so many of today’s Latino Angelenos. That was 1801, two years before Marbury v Madison was decided and three years before Lewis and Clark set out to get lost on the way to Oregon; they were saved by a woman (typical), Sacagawea who was not afraid to ask her cousins for directions… Pio Pico lived also for a while in San Diego when he was little which itself was founded in 1769, seven years before Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. He was also the last Mexican Governor of California, thanks to yet another war started by an ambitious Anglo (John Fremont).

So where does this leave us?

Now that you know some of the history, consider that some/many of those rounded up by ICE thugs have abuelos y abuelas, for those who are ignorant of Spanish, grandfathers and grandmothers, who can trace their heritage back in L.A. itself to Pio Pico’s times. Think about that. Trump’s great-grandfather (Fredrick), also a draft dodger, didn’t flee the authorities in Bavaria to the U.S. until 1885. Their families were here for generations before that. So who really is the (unwanted) immigrant here?

BTW, my partner’s childhood friend I mentioned above? She married a Polish guy so she no longer had her Hispanic surname. When they moved into their house in Burbank, the neighbor lady welcomed her and said, “I’m so glad you young people moved in here. I was afraid that some Mexicans would move in. And you know, they park their cars on the lawn and throw their beer cans all over.” Yes, her silent response was, “Well, I’ll just have to throw some beer cans out on the lawn...”

This is who these people and Trump are. Immigrants who blame everybody else, even those who were here long before George Washington was sworn in, for their inability to assimilate to our diverse (since the beginning) American culture.

This is not a “Black” or “Brown” or “Red” or even a “Yellow” problem. It is a “White” problem; “Whities” who adamantly refuse to integrate/assimilate themselves and expect everyone else to put up with their rude attitudes and behavior.

Enough. No more.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/6/11/2327312/-It-is-Time?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

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