Protesters Disrupt Rose Event : Pasadena: Demonstrators call for minority representation on parade tournament’s board.

Denouncing the Tournament of Roses organization as racist, protesters blocked traffic Thursday on Pasadena’s Orange Grove Boulevard while tournament members arrived for coronation ceremonies of the Rose Parade queen.

The hourlong demonstration was the opening salvo of a campaign by critics to embarrass Tournament of Roses members and get racial minorities on the group’s Executive Committee.

There were testy exchanges between the protesters, led by Brotherhood Crusade President Danny Bakewell, and tournament members, who were gathering at the group’s mansion headquarters for the coronation of 18-year-old Erica Beth Brynes of Arcadia, who will preside over the 105th Rose Parade on New Year’s Day.

“I could kill you,” an elderly woman told demonstrators, some of whom responded with obscenities.

One Tournament of Roses member, who declined to give his name, snapped angrily at a visibly pregnant female demonstrator: “Shut up, you tramp.” He said he was speaking “only for myself,” not as a Tournament member.

Police arrested one demonstrator, Artie Morris, 28, for failure to obey an order to move a vehicle, and one car was towed before demonstrators cleared the street. Morris was released with a misdemeanor traffic citation.

The protesters were demanding that the tournament add four minorities, including at least one woman, to its eight-member executive committee, all of whom are white males.

“We want to transform the Tournament of Roses into something truly representative of the community,” Bakewell said.

William Flinn, tournament associate executive director, citing recent efforts to increase minority membership, denied that the organization is “racist or exclusionary.”

Shortly before 11 a.m., Pasadena developer Jim Morris pulled up near Tournament House in a rented truck and Bakewell pulled up next to him in a Lincoln sedan. Both got out of their vehicles and raised their hoods, blocking southbound traffic on busy Orange Grove Boulevard. Two cars did the same in the northbound lanes, leaving a narrow space for traffic.

At one point, Bakewell tried to block the opening by moving the Lincoln back a few feet, but Pasadena Police Sgt. Dennis Grammer stood behind the car.

“Danny, it’s a felony,” Grammer said when the car’s rear bumper touched his knee. “It’s assault with a deadly weapon. I’ve identified myself, sir.”

Bakewell got out of his car and held his hand on the horn button. Meanwhile, other cars obstructed traffic north and south of Tournament House, and about 40 demonstrators gathered on the sidewalk, holding up a banner and chanting, “Four now!”

A car owned by Curtis Owens, head of the Los Angeles-based African American Unity Center, was towed by a truck from S. N. Ward & Son, a towing company owned by Tournament President Michael Ward. The firm has a towing contract with the city. Others, who eventually moved their cars, were each billed $65 by tow truck drivers who had responded to police calls.