SoCal cowboys present assist for LA immigrants with horse journey from Paramount to Compton

PARAMOUNT, Calif. (KABC) — After the weeks-long ICE raids and protests, a peaceable present of unity was led by individuals on horseback driving from Paramount to Compton in assist of immigrants.

Hooves echoed by the streets and flags waved excessive as members of the southeast Los Angeles cowboy neighborhood saddled up for a three-mile unity journey to Compton Metropolis Corridor Sunday.

“The horses are an enormous a part of this neighborhood. It’s who we’re as Connecting Compton, it’s who I’m as Hector Gomez, it’s a part of our tradition. You’ll be able to’t have one with out the opposite,” mentioned Connecting Compton Co-Founder Hector Gomez.

“If you recognize something in regards to the equestrian neighborhood, that is our neighborhood. The immigrant neighborhood is embedded on this, and it is crucial for all of those guys to get out right here and present that assist,” mentioned Lynwood Metropolis Councilmember Luis Cuellar.

Dozens of riders on horseback led the protest, together with California State Assemblymember Mike Gipson (District 65). They have been joined by supporters on foot and in vehicles, holding indicators and honking in assist.

“What you see right here is our method of elevating our voices, talking out in opposition to what’s going down right here by one, the horse neighborhood coming collectively in unity, strolling from the place what transpired right here in Paramount all the way in which to Compton,” mentioned Gipson.

Paramount was chosen as the place to begin as a result of it is the place protests first erupted in early June after federal brokers have been noticed at a staging space close to a House Depot.

“That is the battlegrounds, you possibly can say, of actually what’s been happening, what began all of it. It unfold out to all of our communities, to ours included, Montebello, Cudahy, Maywood, Bell, Bell Gardens. And, you recognize, to return again with this neighborhood, it reveals rather a lot and we hope everyone sees that assist,” Cuellar mentioned.

“Let’s stand for one thing, let’s stand for equality, let’s stand for human rights,” mentioned Compton Unified Faculty District Boardmember Dr. Ayanna Davis.