“I would have been thrashed and killed if there were not about ten police fifty feet behind the guys carrying the banner. You can kind of see police caps etc if you look hard.
The BBA had come to attention for a Spanish (from Spain) TV crew who was filming on the marshalling field prior to a big march. The rally took place before the march. I snapped this photo while the BBA were proudly posing for the TV crew. I was wearing a red Che hat and sunglasses to be undercover. My taking the photo must have made somebody suspicious and the hat and glasses were smacked off my face by the crowd around me. I was surrounded by 100s of these guys. The BBA got right up in my face, pushing me around. There is no fighting back against 100s of extremely angry hostiles. You talk your way out (in Spanish) or you are going to die. Or in this case, you talk for a minute (in Spanish, keeping to the U/C role) while waiting for the cops to notice. They did, and I split.”
Mercy!
I’m glad I’m out of SoCal. I was pushing the envleope on U/C work, since I’m a 73” gringo with blue eyes.
A Che hat and sunglasses and gringo-accented Spanglish only take you so far.