Report on the Michelle Malkin Speech Protests

[Note: All links are to pictures currently being housed on CalStuff Extended, where other lengthy content will go for now.]

First, let me explain my own personal feelings on the subject. I have not read Malkin’s book, but have read reviews of it, both attacking and defending her. My own understanding is that she misrepresents evidence both about the extent of the threat of Japanese Americans on the Pacific Coast as well as the reasoning behind the internment of those people. That being said, the veracity of her claims is almost entirely irrelevant to this post.

I was told protesting was supposed to start around 6:30, so that is when I arrived. There were roughly 30 to 40 people outside: a picket line of the Spartacus Youth Club on the steps of Dwinelle, a table for a different socialist organization, and a crowd of largely Asian people who represented a number of groups on campus (NSU and APC among others) holding signs. They were chanting various slogans denouncing Malkin and racism.

At 7:00 I went into 145 Dwinelle where the speech was being held, and then went back into the hallway between 145 and 155 where the protesters had congregated. There were police officers guarding the door preventing protesters from getting inside, and I noticed around 10-12 different police officers at the event. One woman was recording the entire protest on a digital video recorder.

My estimate is there were around 80 people crammed into the hallway between the two classrooms, and they spent over an hour chanting different slogans. Whenever the door was opened they would begin yelling “shame” really loud, partially drowning out Malkin’s speech.

The protesters were behaving themselves (as much as yelling as loud as they could to drown out a speaker can be described as behaving themselves), and I did not see the police having to cite or detain anyone. At the end of the protest, they chanted, “This was a peaceful protest.”

After the speech Malkin went into one of the classrooms in the hallway behind 145 Dwinelle. A crowd of about 30 people eventually showed up there and split into two groups in the hall on both sides of the classroom, and began singing something in Tagalog. After about ten minutes two police officers showed up, went into the room, and re-emerged quickly leading Malkin through the line of protesters. As the crowd of protesters surged along after Malkin shouting slogans and shaming her, one of the members of BCR spit at the protesters going by, hitting someone on the leg.

The protest groups that were present for the speech signed off on a unified statement about their beliefs on the subject. The full text of this letter can be found at CalStuff Extended.Email This Post!