Hillary Rodham Clinton at East LA College / Credit: Helen Stickler

Last Thursday, I attended a Hillary Clinton rally at East Los Angeles College as part of her sweep through California before the June 7th primary. Thousands attended, and the majority of the crowd were women, people of color, immigrants, and LGBT people — a cross section of the Democratic party. All economic classes and income groups were present. There were young children and elderly grandparents. All there to be a part of history in the making, to be inspired and enlightened. Unfortunately we all shared an experience that many of us would rather forget, thanks to some misguided Bernie Sanders fans.

As the line of Hillary rally-goers stretched three blocks down Avenida Cesar Chavez, a gaggle of Sanders’ supporters assembled on a traffic island across from the college entrance. A public Facebook event page for an unpermitted protest had received more than 700 RSVPs, but for now only a few dozen stood around holding signs. Periodically they’d chant “Bernie!” and the line would yell “Hillary!” back.

The rally was on the 154th anniversary of Cinco de Mayo, and protesters wanted to let Hillary know her efforts to appeal to the “East Los” 98% Latino demographic were not welcome, hashtag: Hispandering. A millennial dressed in black clothing and combat boots held a handmade sign: “You need to EARN my vote”. A parade of several hundred protesters arrived across the street, led by a giant banner reading “Black Lives Matter / Not Superpredators.” They shouted “Hillary fuera de East LA!” and “She’s Not With Us!” A second group marched in from the opposite side holding Bernie signs and shouting “Hey Ho, Hillary has got to go!”

Bernie Sanders supporters at East Los Angeles College

After passing through airport-like security, I finally made it into the gymnasium just before the cutoff at about 2K capacity. Minutes into Hillary’s speech, a 20-something Latina screamed “you killed Berta!” from the bleachers. Hillary raised her voice and spoke louder until the protester was escorted out, but only a few minutes passed before the next disruption. A pattern emerged as the bernie supporters around the room erupted, whipping out cloth banners hidden in their clothing, stained with angry words. A Sheriff’s deputy led a young agitator out by her arm, asking “Are you all right?” then he politely added, “Thank you for coming.” Hillary never let herself be interrupted, but was only able to relax into a conversational tone a few times. Her 14 minute speech seemed short.

During the rally, the protesters massed in front of the college. Police had arrived with riot gear and horses, and officers strung plastic caution tape but it ended up on the ground. There were none of the usual tools used for crowd control such as metal barriers, or even a coherent police strategy for isolating the protesters from the event. The crowd overtook the front lawn of the campus, carrying flags from Cuba, Guatemala, El Salvador, Puerto Rico, Peru, Philippines, Ecuador, Mexico, Honduras and Libya. A banner read “Hillary lied, heroes died.” A woman shouted through a megaphone about voter fraud, hacked memory cards, and how “Killary” stole her 3 million vote lead in the primary.

As Hillary supporters made their way out of the gymnasium, an officer in riot gear pointed and said “that way only.” I stopped in my tracks when I saw where he wanted us to go. The sole exit from the campus was a narrow walkway approximately 40 feet long, lined 2-3 people deep on each side with more than a hundred screaming, cursing, jeering, angry Bernie supporters pushing hateful signs into people’s faces. They stood above the path on a two foot cement border wall, looming over and into the walkway, shouting SHAME ON YOU!

A scan of the signs revealed the same tired slurs rotated out against Hillary for decades. “Liar,” “Wall Street Shill” “Murderer” “Frack You” “Hillary Deports Children” “Clinton Crime Family” “Release the Transcripts.” A large sign written in drippy red paint screamed “Honduras!” and “You killed Berta Cáceres!” Conspiracy theories abounded, each one could easily be refuted with basic research from reliable sources, or even a visit to snopes.com.

Entering the gauntlet, two protesters cursed and shouted through megaphones mere feet away, causing eardrums to ring. One of the megaphone men was dressed in a loincloth, partially exposing himself, his face painted red and wearing a headdress of feathers. A young girl in a pink jacket jabbed her fingers at people as they passed and yelled “Get out of here, get out of here! You’re not from here, none of you!”

Every single Hillary supporter was forced to pass through the tunnel of hate. Some smiled defiantly, flashed peace signs, sang and danced their way through. Some angrily flipped the bird and shouted back, shoving signs out of their faces. Some took pictures, some covered their faces and ran, some sheltered their children and elders. A number of people using wheelchairs or walkers navigated carefully through the bellowing mob. No one was spared. A handmade sign with Hillary’s autograph was ripped from a child’s hands and torn up. Children cried and parents’ faces registered shock, gears turning: “How will I explain this behavior, and why they’re so mad at us?”

Bernie Sanders supporters at East Los Angeles College / Credit: Mary O

The protesters’ modus operandi mixed tactics from abortion clinic harassment, and Cersei’s walk of atonement from Game of Thrones. Most of the protesters appeared to be in their early 20s, new to politics and clearly frustrated by their candidate’s diminishing chances of success. This hall of shame created by young people standing in the name of Bernie Sanders was no revolution, it was a firecracker looking for a match. A gray haired woman leaned in, unfazed, and said to me: “You know what they say about Democrats? When they form a firing squad, they stand in a circle.”