CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS : 7,000 Attend Protest Denouncing Proposition 187

Amid a sea of red, white and blue American flags, about 7,000 people on Sunday attended an anti-Proposition 187 concert in Monterey Park, where they heard dozens of bands and speakers denounce the measure as a racist attack on Latinos.

“California does not need Proposition 187. California needs human rights for all,” one of the event organizers, Juan Jose Gutierrez, told the crowd assembled at the football stadium at East Los Angeles College.

That theme was repeated throughout the daylong event as the predominantly Latino immigrant crowd listened to political speeches and heard banda and mariachi music. The event was sponsored by “Contacto/1020,” a program on Spanish-language talk radio station KTNQ-AM and radio station KLVE-FM. Police reported no arrests.

In contrast to a massive anti-Propostion 187 March on Oct. 16--when thousands of demonstrators carried Mexican flags--the organizers of Sunday’s event sold 3,500 American flags at $3 apiece to help convey an image of patriotism. A number of critics had denounced the Mexican flags at the earlier march, saying they represented a display of foreign nationalism that played into the hands of the pro-187 camp.

“Where’s the American flag that people say you don’t want to display?” Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Hernandez said in Spanish as the crowds waved their small flags in approval.