Families of Los Angeles workers custody on ice are seeking justice
Families of those detained in the Los Angeles ice attacks are seeking justice for their loved ones.
LOS ANGELES — A day after a downtown protest against federal immigration crackdown, I walked down the typical bustling boulevard of Los Angeles Avenue, showing chaotic wreckage.
With black and white police squad cars lined up from nearby cities, including Montebello, Campbell and the Alhambra, we could see a great deal of police presence stretching into the block. The blasphemed graffiti spread across several downtown buildings targeting US immigration and customs enforcement agencies, and was painted in a variety of colours.
They were mixed with some “return the Homies” messages and famous quotes from Thomas Jefferson: “When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes a duty.” Shattered glass pieces were littered with glass fragments, including the Metropolitan Detention Center at the Los Angeles Police Department and the nearby federal building.
And not too far from where police fired tear gas and rubber bullets and protesters threw rocks and concrete, the ruins of five self-driving Waymo cars burned as onlookers passed and took photos with their smartphones.
A visual reminder was clear after tensions escalated in Los Angeles between law enforcement and protesters on June 8 as National Guard forces arrived to quell the demonstrations against President Donald Trump’s immigrant crackdown. Residents who investigated the damage and vandalism were disillusioned with what had unfolded in their cities and feared what might come next.
“Bad species group”
In the aftermath of Los Angeles Avenue, local photographer Raymond Delgado stopped by again this time to take photos of five destroyed Waymos compared to the “skeleton.”
Delgado said it was unusual for so many unmanned vehicles to be parked in the streets after police moved protesters away from federal construction as the activity became chaotic.
“It kind of ditched me. Why was there so many Waymos on this street,” said Delgado, 38. “I thought (Waymos) would turn into ashes, I didn’t think it was a bone. I was surprised to see the skeleton still here.”
He saw a “bad species group” among the protesters who became violent. According to Delgado, they initially destroyed property, including throwing things at the police, spray paintings, stomping, and burning Waymo, who was eventually called to the scene.
“A few younger kids, just trying to destroy things and just look for a reason to destroy things,” Delgado said. “I haven’t seen that point. I think it’s frustration, a lot of hatred, and it’s just a fight back against the machine against the system.”
Delgado was attacked by a rock during a skirmish, saying he “dodged some rubber bullets” and missed tears as illicit protesters were using the premise of the protest. He said the young woman, who had come to protest peacefully, may have been struck by a rubber bullet and suffered from her broken little finger.
“I think they’ve been honest with you, they caused chaos and made us look horrible,” Delgado explained. “And that’s something we don’t want, people are getting hurt. To be honest with you, I’m happy that no one shot last night.”
However, he expects more violence to occur in future protests.
“I hate it,” Delgado admitted. “I actually hate that.”
“It was quite fascinating at the level of destruction.”
Kate Williams, the town’s artist for work, was walking down a peaceful street where protests exploded the night before and investigated the aftermath.
She said she approached the police officer by the ice building and asked if she should be concerned and if they were expecting anything on June 9th.
“And they said, “I’m actually going to order. I’ll order two meals. It’ll probably be a bad thing tonight,” Williams shared. “As I was walking here, I saw them barricades for the roads around city hall.”
Here, near the intersection of Los Angeles and Arcadia Street, Williams encounters a burnt-out Waymo. All five cars have been reduced to tile rubs, and people have taken photos with their mobile phones, so they are lined up almost completely one after another.
“I’m pretty speechless,” Williams said. “Of course, I saw the car news photos before it burned out when it was all scribbled. And I don’t know. I mean, it’s a crazy time. It’s an interesting time.”
Williams said she was a photographer and came to document the aftermath.
“So when I saw the mountain of tiled rubs, I was quite captivated by the level of destruction,” she said. “When I saw something like this that I had such an outrage and had such a passion to reach this point, I just remembered it.”
“They just set the fire.”
Diana Do, a nonprofit worker and activist who lives just blocked from downtown Los Angeles, said she saw three Waymos before initially seeing them while protesters headed north down Los Angeles Street.
“Then I saw five people there…and I said, ‘Oh, oh, they’re destroying the car,'” Doo said. “I said, ‘I hope they don’t burn them.’ I went crazy.
“And after they started with the first one,” she continued. “And this illuminated this and they just ‘burning’. ”
The museum was destroyed during protest
The Chinese American Museum is located about 20 feet from Waymos, covered in graffiti and broken windows. But it wasn’t the only museum that was destroyed during the protests, said Mariana Gutt, co-founder and executive director of the Italian-American Museum in Los Angeles.
“We caused serious damage,” Gutt said. “The building is historic. It is listed on the national register of historic sites. Therefore, all historic bricks, windows and entries have been badly destroyed. This is the second time in six months.”
Gatt said the museum is free and open to the public, serving marginalized communities.
“We are grateful for the rights of those to express their freedom of initial revision, but this is not a peaceful demonstration,” Gutt said. “It destroys our community.”
“I’m not playing in my town.”
Others viewed rebellious destruction as a direct message to Trump and the ice.
“I don’t play in my town,” said Trinity Clay, 21, a 21-year-old from Los Angeles who currently lives in Woodland Hills. “We didn’t play during Rodney King. I was hooked after George Floyd. Now you’re sending the National Guard against my people. That’s a violation of our civil rights.”
Clay, a second-year sociology major at La Valley College, said that if some of her Latino classmates don’t show up at school, she must tell her 7-year-old daughter what’s going on.
“I had to warn her about the ice, and I had to make sure they wouldn’t be scared if they might come to her school and take their friends away,” Clay said. “That’s true.”
However, Clay said she didn’t want to intensify the violence if the protests continue “as we want each other to hurt each other.”
As a group of masked protesters holding Mexican and US flags that passed by Clay and the destroyed Waymos, Clay offered them advice.
“Hey,” Clay said. “Please try to keep it peaceful, OK?”
