Normally, Southern California city-council meetings can put even highly caffeinated individuals to sleep.
But last night's Santa Ana meeting didn't just have a raucous crowd demonstrating for the construction of Orange County's tallest building.
There was also a tense argument over awarding special council recognition to the American Independence Day Planning Committee that included a crusty old white man who called young Latinos in Santa Ana “fucking wetbacks” to their faces at a Fourth of July event outside the city's main library.
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The young men who recorded Gary Hynds' slur didn't hesitate to fire back, calling him a “fucking white guy” and “an ignorant motherfucker.”
Hynds' reply?
“You wetback motherfuckers.”
A two-minute video (shot by Naui Huitzilopochtli, according to Orange Juice blog–which broke this story) of the encounter posted on YouTube follows:
Then, last night, Councilman David Benavides gave Hynds' group City Council recognition for their community service.
During Benavides' presentation, Mayor Miguel Pulido and Councilwoman Claudia Alvarez left the council dais in disgust.
After the presentation, Councilman Sal Tinajero said he wanted nothing to do with Benavides' action. Pulido and Alvarez, who'd returned to the room, concurred forcefully. Alvarez noted that the man in the video had called Santa Ana Latinos “effin' wetbacks.”
“Thank you for standing up for the community,” community activist Sean H. Mill told Pulido, Alvarez and Tinajero. “It's time to stand up to evil.”
A red-faced Benavides stared down at his notes but was eventually defended by one of the Independence Day group participants who said patriotism–not bigotry–had been the group's mission on the national holiday.
CNN-featured investigative reporter R. Scott Moxley has won Journalist of the Year honors at the Los Angeles Press Club; been named Distinguished Journalist of the Year by the LA Society of Professional Journalists; obtained one of the last exclusive prison interviews with Charles Manson disciple Susan Atkins; won inclusion in Jeffrey Toobin’s The Best American Crime Reporting for his coverage of a white supremacist’s senseless murder of a beloved Vietnamese refugee; launched multi-year probes that resulted in the FBI arrests and convictions of the top three ranking members of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department; and gained praise from New York Times Magazine writers for his “herculean job” exposing entrenched Southern California law enforcement corruption.