‘I don’t believe anyone is safe’: drought rules spark accusations of racism in California outpost
“I love the smell of diesel power in the afternoon. It smells like victory.”
The line, a play on the quote from the Vietnam war movie Apocalypse Now, is the first uttered in a July video by Doug LaMalfa, the US congressman for Siskiyou county. In the background, bulldozers are destroying what appears to be a field with marijuana plants.
LaMalfa’s video was a response to a call from the Siskiyou county sheriff, who had invited citizens in this remote region in northern California to help his department in the fight against illegal marijuana grows.
The sheriff’s request, and the congressman’s video, were the latest in an intense standoff between Siskiyou officials and Hmong American residents of the county.
The Guardian always looks through the racialized lens.
