Save Our State (SOS) is an 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 Poverty Law Center. As of November 2009, the Saveourstate.org has become inactive and bears the message "Saveourstate.org forums and website have been closed indefinitely." The Northern California Chapter has since taken over direction of the organization. Origin The group takes its name from California's 1994 Proposition 187, known as the "Save Our State" initiative. The proposition, which would have denied taxpayer-funded health care and education to undocumented residents of California, was approved by a majority of voters in 1994 but was immediately challenged in court and was eventually struck down by a US district court four years later. The group was incorporated in July 2004 by Ventura resident Joseph Turner, who was unsatisfied with the existing immigration-reform groups whose letter-writing campaigns he deemed ineffectual. In an interview, Turner stated, "Our belief is that if that worked or had any sort of positive influence, we wouldn’t be in the situation we’re in." In contrast, SOS's tactics are statedly "aggressive", and "in-your-face". Their language reflects this, intentionally eschewing what they perceive to be the political correctness that characterized the language of the 1990s. In the opinion of Turner and many of his supporters, political correctness and multiculturalism are both factors that contribute to the continued entry of illegal aliens into the United States. Tactics Members of Save Our State frequently travel outside of their hometowns to protest day labor sites in other communities, sometimes eliciting criticism from locals for doing so. They are known to carry signs, pepper spray and other weapons, and video cameras with which to post footage from the day's events to video-sharing services. The underlying philosophy of the protests is referred to by Turner as "the transference of pain", a tactic for which he credits his wife. Activities SOS's first action was in December 2004, when, after launching a website with a forum, they announced a boycott of Home Depot for funding day labor centers on or near their store locations. This campaign continues to the present, and SOS members routinely travel to Home Depot locations to protest. Baldwin Park The group's next action provoked a great deal of controversy. SOS protested the monumental artwork Danzas Indigenas at the Baldwin Park Metrolink station.