You have to love The Mission District! I mean, where else can you go out on a Sunday afternoon and run into an amazing Latin punk band playing on the corner, right outside the BART station? I guess that’s why everybody wants to move here, oh, and the fact that it’s the sunniest neighborhood in this foggy city, yeah that too…
Anyway, Sunday was Columbus Day, in case you didn’t know, a controversial semi-holiday that for some commemorates the European discovery of America (the continent!) while others consider it more of a tragic date because it was the beginning of the end for most of the native civilizations. Leaning more towards the second category, a group of political and non profit organizations chose that specific Sunday to carry a protest demanding a stop to the I.C.E. raids against immigrants (among other more unrealistic goals like asking for “unconditional amnesty for everybody now!” –sorry guys but they NEED us to remain illegal, so they can treat us like cheap disposable workers, but if you wanna dream, go ahead, dream on).
So the rally itself would’ve been kind of boring –I’ve seen and heard the same things many times—if it wasn’t for the closing performance by La Plebe, definitely one of the best Latino underground bands in the Bay Area. Their high-energy loud ska-punk with combative bilingual lyrics that resemble The Clash was ideal for the occasion, so it didn’t even matter that the sound system was precarious and there was no stage. I just loved the fact that I ran into this when I was barely waking up at noon trying to get rid of a hangover. I love La Misión!