The Video Everyone is Talking About – Islamophobes Go Wild in Yorba Linda!

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[UPDATE from Vern, Tuesday the 8th: George Collins, who shot some of the footage used in the above video, had it taken down yesterday from YouTube for copyright infringement.  See below for TWO videos – 1) ICNA has now put up the same video againThe CAIR-produced video’s been uploaded A THIRD TIME in a game of cat-and-mouse; and 2) Collins’ original unedited one-hour video of the “rally” that preceded the melee – complete with the politicians’ unedited speeches.  Back to your regularly scheduled blogger…]

This is a pockmark on the ass of Orange County. As the above video shows, people filed into a women’s shelter fundraiser hosted by the Islamic Circle of North America last month only to have protesters in Yorba Linda sound a chorus of bigotry. “Go Back Home!” they chanted. Insults were then hurled at the Muslim faith. Worse yet, elected officials participated in the fray. Republican Congressmen Ed Royce and Gary Miller joined Villa Park Councilwoman Deborah Pauly in the stupidities. Royce defended the fray the very next day releasing a statement saying in part:

The other side has its right to free speech. But so do we. We have a right, indeed an obligation, to challenge voices that seek to bring down our very system of liberty. That’s what we did yesterday. Kudos to Karen Lugo and Deborah Pauly and the other protest organizers.

Two imams present at the event were singled out for criticism, but when you watch the video collage released by our local chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), rants about the Prophet Muhammad being a child molester points to a more generalized Islamophobia. And then there were those wonderful signs saying “No Sharia Law in Yorba Linda!” — who knew the ‘threat’ was looming!

It’s interesting to note the players in the game and how Islamophobia intersects with xenophobia. As memory recalls, Pauly was the whack job…err councilwoman who wanted to pass a resolution in support of Arizona’s anti-immigrant SB1070 legislation. Yorba Linda was the first city in OC to successfully do so! Now when Muslims came together for a fundraiser they got the Yorba Linda/Pauly welcome. The “Go Back Home” chant is something Latino immigrant rights advocates hear all the time from minutemen pendejos.

My sole objection to the YouTube video is its title “Hate Comes to Orange County.” Nah, hate never left.

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The CAIR-produced video of the protest and rally:

Collins’ unedited video of the speeches at the 4PM rally
Ed Royce at 20:15
Gary Miller at 30:50
Deborah Pauly at 42:30

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About Gabriel San Roman