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Klan Routed From Border

By VVAW

Ku Klux Klan Grand Dragon, David Duke, and a handful of his cronies offered their services to the U.S. Border Patrol in San Diego on October 16. The news media made a big splash--the Klan was going to keep Mexican "illegals" out of the country. But what happened instead was that Duke and others discovered, once again, the wrath of the people as they were confronted by about 30 people, including members of VVAW.

The Dragon and the lizards arrived at the lizards arrived at the border between San Diego and Tiajuana in a helicopter and found they had landed in a "hot LZ" as they were met with a barrage of eggs and rocks. The Klan turned sheet white and after a brief "mad minute" they made a tactical withdrawal to their waiting limosine. But the workers, students and vets chased them an one vet ripped the jacket off of Duke. As the Klan hurried to the car they were spit on so much so that one veteran said "they got pretty soggy."

Panicked, one klansman tried to escape in his car, almost running over three people. The cops, standing by, let him go. At the same time, the cops arrested one Chicano veteran and charged him with assault with a deadly weapon and put him on $3,000 bail. Witnesses didn't see anything in his hand.

While all this was going on, leaflets were handed out at the border. Most people, both Mexican and American opposed the Klan's activity. One Black sailor stationed in San Diego joined in the picket line.

The Mexican people who come over the border into the U.S. are looking for jobs that they can't find in Mexico, which has an incredibly high unemployment rate. The ruling class in this country tries to stir up people's anger by saying that Mexicans and other foreign born workers are the cause of unemployment. The Klan and other such organizations aid them in pitting workers against workers. The fact is that unemployment, whether in this country or Mexico is caused by the inner workings of capitalism. The capitalists, among other things, prop up their profit margin by laying off workers and speeding up the rest, and by running off overseas where they pay pennies in hourly wages. People want to, and have to, work to survive. The point is not to attack people looking for work, but instead to go after the cause of unemployment, and unite all working people--native and foreign born--to demand more jobs, fight against runaway shops, unemployment benefit cutoffs and the U.S. economic and political domination of foreign countries, which keeps them underdeveloped.