For 12 years, public artwork near the Baldwin Park Metrolink station never caused a stir.
But when a Ventura-based group that opposes illegal immigration got wind of what was inscribed on the artwork this month, they organized a protest that garnered attention when it was announced on the "John & Ken Show" on KFI-AM (640).
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Tuesday May 17, 2005 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 48 words Type of Material: Correction
Monument protest -- An article in Sunday's California section about a protest over a public monument in Baldwin Park said the event was announced on the "John & Ken Show" on KFI-AM (640). The monument was discussed on several talk shows, but not the "John & Ken Show."
By Saturday, activists on both sides of the immigration issue mobilized, resulting in a sometimes chaotic confrontation in the San Gabriel Valley community.
Members of Save Our State, a 7-month-old organization, say they are offended by "anti-American" inscriptions that read, "It was better before they came" and "This land was Mexican once, was Indian always and is, and will be again" on the 20-foot-high arch.
"I find it incredibly offensive," said Joseph Turner, the group's executive director. The quotation "is seditious in nature. It essentially talks about returning this land to Mexico."
Turner said he wants the offending quotations removed before the Fourth of July.
The artwork, "Danza Indigenas," was commissioned by the city and created by artist Judy Baca, who was asked by residents for a structure that evoked the historic San Gabriel Mission and reflected the community's heritage. Baca said the structure is a "layered history piece" that honors the Native Americans, immigrants and others who have lived over the centuries in what is now Baldwin Park.
Other inscriptions on the artwork include, "Use your brain before you make up your mind" and "The kind of community that people dream of rich and poor, brown, yellow, red, white living together."
The irony, Baca said, is that Save Our State's complaint about the quote being a Latino lament over the coming of Anglos is wrong.
"It was better before they came" was uttered by someone Baca described as "a white man from Arkansas, a civic leader" who was lamenting the influx of Mexican immigrants after World War II.
As a Chicana, she said, the remark offended her, but she was also intrigued by it.
"When it went on the arch, its ambiguity became profound," she said. "The 'they' could be any 'they.' "
Most of this nuance was absent at the rally, which quickly descended into a heated face-off for over two hours at Pacific and Downing avenues. Protesters on both sides hurled obscenities and taunts, and at times argued face-to-face before police arrived.
