Baldwin Park station is a Metrolink

train station A train station, railroad station, or railway station is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight, or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track, and a station building providing suc ...

Baldwin Park, California Baldwin Park is a city located in the central San Gabriel Valley region of Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 72,176, down from 75,390 at the 2010 United States c ...

, United States, between Pacific Avenue and Ramona Boulevard next to Baldwin Park City Hall. The station is owned by the City of Baldwin Park.

Station artwork

''Danza Indigenas'' is outdoor

artwork A work of art, artwork, art piece, piece of art or art object is an artistic creation of aesthetic value. Except for "work of art", which may be used of any work regarded as art in its widest sense, including works from literature ...

at the station by

Chicana Chicano (masculine form) or Chicana (feminine form) is an ethnic identity for Mexican Americans that emerged from the Chicano Movement. In the 1960s, ''Chicano'' was widely reclaimed among Hispanics in the building of a movement toward politic ...

artist

Judy Baca Judith Francisca Baca (born September 20, 1946) is an American artist, activist, and professor of Chicano studies, world arts, and cultures based at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is the co-founder and artistic director of the ...

which includes a concrete footpath that represents ceremonial steps performed by early California inhabitants, the

Gabrielino The Tongva ( ) are an Indigenous people of California from the Los Angeles Basin and the Southern Channel Islands, an area covering approximately . In the precolonial era, the people lived in as many as 100 villages and primarily identified by ...

and

Chumash Chumash may refer to: *Chumash (Judaism), a Hebrew word for the Pentateuch, used in Judaism *Chumash people, a Native American people of southern California *Chumashan languages, Indigenous languages of California See also

* Pentateuch (dis ...

Indians. The monument bears several engraved statements whose origins are not attributed. In mid-2005, "

Save Our State Save Our State (SOS) is an Activism, activist organization opposed to illegal immigration in California. The organization's methodology revolves around the 'transference of pain' and it has been described as a hate group by the Southern Povert ...

", an anti-

illegal immigration Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of that country's immigration laws, or the continuous residence in a country without the legal right to do so. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upward, wi ...

group based in

Ventura County Ventura County () is a county located in the southern part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 843,843. The largest city is Oxnard, and the county seat is the city of Ventura. Ventura County comprises ...

, launched a series of protests over an inscription''It was better before they came'' that Save Our State claimed was directed against whites. According to Baca, that sentence was uttered by a white Baldwin Park politician in the 1950s; he was lamenting the influx of persons of Mexican ancestry into the

San Gabriel Valley The San Gabriel Valley (), sometimes referred to by its initials as SGV, is one of the principal valleys of Southern California, with the city of Los Angeles directly bordering it to the west and occupying the vast majority of the southeastern ...

following

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The protests drew counter-protesters, and required city expenditure on crowd control and riot police, an admitted goal of Save Our State.

References

External links

*
''Danza Indigenas''
at the

Los Angeles Metro The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA), branded as Metro, is the county agency that plans, operates, and coordinates funding for most of the Transportation in Los Angeles, public transportation system in Los Ang ...

website
''Danza Indigenas''
at the

artist website Metrolink stations in Los Angeles County, California Railway stations in the United States opened in 1993 {{California-railstation-stub