Comments
IN TOUCH WITH LA - Chilling ambushes on L.A. County residents by masked ICE agents took a deadly turn last week near a Home Depot in Monrovia. The martyrdom of Roberto Carlos Montoya Valdez, chased like a hunted creature onto the 210 Freeway where he was struck and killed by a passing vehicle, infused urgency and moral force in the growing movement to boycott the mega-retailer.
Adding another surge to the groundswell was a rally August 17 by East Area Progressive Democrats (EAPD) that drew more than 250 participants outside the Home Depot in Cypress Park, in Northeast L.A. Homemade placards, many adorned with American flags, called attention to the power of peaceful protest and the criminal hypocrisy of the Trump Presidency in its targeting of immigrants. Several signs highlighted the federal court injunction outlawing “roving patrols” by ICE that seek to prey on residents based on race or language to meet arbitrary arrest quotas.
But the most salient message of the rally was Boycott Home Depot. That exhortation drew hundreds of honks from passersby, more than a few of whom turned around before entering the parking lot, presumably to shop elsewhere. Members of Centro CSO, a youth-focused economic-justice group rooted in Eastside neighborhoods, joined EAPD members for the large and spirited gathering that pulsed with passion, rhythmic chants, and immediacy.
The rally earned excellent coverage on local television. CBS, Spectrum, ABC, and other outlets showed up for the rally Sunday and showed video in their newscasts. The ABC7 News story highlights the growing push for the boycott.
Bigotry associated with the chain worsens the ugliness of seeming complicity in unlawful thuggery by ICE. Home Depot’s founder and largest individual stockholder is Ken Langone, a major donor to Trump and Republican politicians. In a July cable news interview, the right-wing billionaire endorsed the Big Awful Bill making ICE the nation’s largest armed paramilitary force. Langone also appeared to issue a bizarre racist threat to put U.S. citizen and winner of the Democratic primary for New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani “in a tent” in order to denaturalize and deport him.
In the face of such hate, dozens of residents turned out at the rally to be part of the solution. They called out another billionaire’s collusion in Trump’s lawless cruelty, as Ken Langone auditions to become the next Elon Musk. They showed the strength of nonviolent resistance that is turning back the federal invasion of L.A.
And they showed the People Power needed to call a public-facing retailer on the carpet for complicity in unlawful thuggery and to take customer shopping power elsewhere. Purchases of hardware, home improvements like paint or appliances or lighting supplies, and flowers and garden products need not subsidize hate and violent repression. Nor do shareholders or conscientious large investors. Corporate accountability in the age of Trumpism: What a revolutionary concept.
(Hans Johnson is a longtime advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, environmental justice, and public education. His columns have appeared in USA Today and leading newspapers across more than 20 states. Based in Eagle Rock, he serves as president of East Area Progressive Democrats (EAPD), California’s largest grassroots Democratic club with over 1,100 members. Hans brings decades of organizing and policy experience to his work, advancing equity and accountability in local and national politics.)
