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Dissident Voice - November 2nd, 2007
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2007/11/the-tale-of-two-stadiums/

The Tale of Two Stadiums
Which side are you on?

by Sharon Smith

When fires raged through Southern California last week, George W. Bush
flew into action. The unfolding disaster presented the perfect
opportunity for the unpopular president to finally recover from the
public relations disaster that exposed the Bush administration's
indifference toward New Orleans' Hurricane Katrina survivors two years
ago.

This time, the White House carefully choreographed every detail of
Bush's visit to Southern California. Fellow Republican Arnold
Schwarzenegger joined him in a back-slapping press conference, praising
Bush for "quick action-quicker than I expected, I can tell you that."

Bush, in turn, praised Schwarzenegger. "It makes a significant
difference when you have someone in the statehouse who's willing to
lead," Bush said, in an obvious jab at Louisiana's Democratic Gov.
Kathleen Blanco, as if she obstructed federal evacuation efforts during
Katrina.

The mainstream media has dutifully lapped up Bush's every orchestrated
photo op and sound bite. There was Bush, abandoning the luxury of Air
Force One that once whisked him over the wreckage of New Orleans,
slumming it in a helicopter as he viewed the charred California
landscape.

When the presidential motorcade arrived at San Diego's devastated
community of Rancho Bernardo, Bush emerged with sleeves rolled up as if
eager to help with recovery efforts. While cameras rolled, Bush
embraced distraught resident Kendra Jeffcoat, while telling reporters,
"Those of us who are here in government, our hearts are right here with
the Jeffcoats."

Soon thereafter, Bush climbed back into Air Force One to return to
Washington. Mission accomplished.

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) officials, however, took
their stage management of media coverage one step too far in a
potentially embarrassing incident.

On October 26, FEMA's deputy administrator Harvey Johnson called a news
briefing-giving journalists just 15 minutes notice beforehand. Not
surprisingly, no reporters were able to make their way to attend, but
several television networks broadcast a live feed nonetheless.

The "reporters" asking questions turned out to be handpicked FEMA
administrators feeding Johnson a prepared repertoire. One "reporter"
asked, for example, "Are you happy with FEMA's response so far?"-to
which Johnson responded, "I'm very happy with FEMA's response so far."

Ultimately, a few diligent reporters exposed the phony press
conference, but the scandal quickly disappeared from news headlines.

Indeed, most news outlets focused on the contrast between the squalor
and neglect experienced by Katrina survivors at New Orleans' Superdome
and the seemingly idyllic conditions at San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium.

"There was a banh mi picnic in the parking lot, beef empanadas on the
chow line, Caesar salads, cartons of fresh Starbucks House Blend, free
magazines, toys for the kids, cots for grandma, pizza by the slice or,
if you wished, the box. There was a man playing jazz guitar, a blues
band, massages and acupuncture," gushed the Los Angeles Times on
October 24.

The mainstream media conveniently overlooked the real story of the
California wildfires. Just as in New Orleans, race and class loomed
large-even inside Qualcomm Stadium. Suburban whites exited the stadium
en masse in midweek, leaving poorer and nonwhite survivors behind. And
the atmosphere inside the stadium changed decisively when Border Patrol
officers arrived to harass and deport immigrants.

As the San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium described, "Yesterday
[Wednesday, October 24], the police initiated an immigration enforcement
action that was contrary to their policy of not calling in Border
Patrol/ICE unless and until they file a formal criminal charge against
a person.

"Police detained approximately 12 evacuees (at least four were
children) who they alleged were 'looting' donated blankets, food and
toys for the children." Six family members were deported within hours.

Although both San Diego Police Department officials and Border Patrol
agents initially claimed the detained immigrants had confessed to
"looting" (reminiscent of accusations against New Orleans' desperate
African Americans in the aftermath of Katrina), the ACLU noted that
none of those deported was actually charged with robbery by San Diego
police.

The San Diego Union-Tribune initially repeated the looting charge, while
defending racial profiling: "[B]ecause some members of the group spoke
Spanish, officers called Border Patrol agents who were at the stadium
for relief efforts. They determined the people were in the country
illegally and arrested them."

Without retracting its initial claims, the Union-Tribune later admitted
that none of the deportees had admitted to stealing anything-nor were
charges filed.

But the deportations, however unjust, offered the excuse for
authorities to patrol the stadium, demanding evacuees to show "proper
identification." ACLU immigrant rights attorney Andrea Guerrero
estimated that up to 1,000 people were forced out of the stadium
because they lacked proper identification, according to immigrants'
rights activist Josi Fusti in an October 27 post to the San Francisco
Bay Area Independent Media Center.

But most migrant workers never made it to Qualcomm Stadium. Indeed,
even as others evacuated dangerous areas, many farmworkers continued to
labor in fields as ash rained on them because their employers did not
allow them to leave.

The New York Times reported on October 27: "'There were Mercedeses and
Jaguars pulling out, people evacuating, and the migrants were still
working,' said Enrique Morones, who takes food and blankets to the
immigrants' camps. 'It's outrageous.'"

Christian Ramirez from the American Friends Service Committee commented,
"Some farmers are not following evacuation orders and have kept workers
in the fields despite orders being given to evacuate."

Many migrant workers without papers who turned to authorities for help
found themselves deported on the spot. By Friday, October 27, Border
Patrol agents claimed they had arrested 100 immigrants since the fires
started.

Those now returning to their evacuated homes face military-style Border
Patrol checkpoints when they try to return, aimed at "detaining and
handing over people suspected of being undocumented to U.S. Border
Patrol," according to the San Diego ACLU.

As Fusti remarked, "People need to know that the same way that the
government doesn't care about Black people in New Orleans, it also
doesn't care about immigrant families in California."

[Sharon Smith is a columnist for Socialist Worker and author of Women's
Liberation and Socialism (Haymarket Books).]

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