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Chanting "no business as usual" and "ICE out of SF", activists in San Francisco's financial district demonstrated against the treatment of immigrants on January 26. Protesters chained themselves together and blocked two intersections downtown for several hours. At least 15 people were arrested.
The demonstrators demanded that newly elected Sheriff Vicki Hennessy comply with San Francisco's sanctuary city policy and end the systemic abuse that people experience in San Francisco due to an outdated immigration system. The San Francisco Sheriff's Department recently called the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Department (ICE) as part of their process after detaining a man from El Salvador who had reported his car stolen.
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Previous Coverage: Halloween Protest to Stop ICE (2008)
Bradley Allen writes: Salinas Chinatown, a six block, twenty-nine acre neighborhood, is a refuge for members of our society who have been marginalized and discriminated against. Taylor Farms, the world’s largest producer of cut vegetables and salads, built their new five-story headquarters in Oldtown Salinas, with a view of Chinatown.
Hundreds of people from more than two dozen groupings responded to the Anti Police-Terror Project’s (APTP) call to come together for 96 hours of direct action over the Martin Luther King Day weekend, January 15-18, in San Francisco and Oakland. Mayors and police chiefs were targeted for protest. The weekend’s events culminated in a Reclaiming King’s Radical Legacy March and a surprise shutdown of the Bay Bridge on January 18.
On Oct 21, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raided family homes in Monterey County by pretending to be local police, including wearing jackets that said "POLICE" on them, knocking on people's doors pretending that they just wanted to ask some questions, and then arresting them without any warrants.
Two of the people detained in these raids were Jesus (Chucho) Cirino Jimenez and his good friend Eduardo Cuevas Vasquez in Seaside, CA. ICE is claiming that because Chucho has a previous DUI conviction and Eduardo has two DUIs, they are irredeemable and disposable.
Chucho is a 51-year-old father of 3 U.S citizens and the grandfather of a 3-year-old boy who he helps raise. He has lived in the United States since 1989. Eduardo is a 29-year-old father of two little U.S. citizen children, a 3-year-old girl and 5-year-old boy. The 5-year-old was telling his classmates that a group of men took his daddy away, and Eduardo's wife Mirna had to explain to the teacher what was happening. Eduardo has lived in the U.S. since 2005.
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August 27 marked the sixth officer-involved shooting by Oakland police in 2015, and the fourth resulting in death. This does not count Richard Linyard, who police claim suffocated to death after he squeezed himself between two buildings during a police chase. All of OPD's victims this year have been of African descent. The victim was 30-year-old Yonas Alehegne and it's been reported that he was homeless and an immigrant, possibly from West Africa.
Police were called after Yonas was found sleeping in or around the parking garage of a Lake Merritt-area apartment building near the intersection of MacArthur & Van Buren, next to I-580 and just above Grand Avenue. OPD responded by racing up to the man and shooting him down in the street after he reportedly swung a chain at Jennifer Farrell, an 18-year veteran of the department.
Witnesses report that police let the man bleed out without rendering medical aid, while a police officer with non-life-threatening injuries was rushed to the hospital. That evening, protesters gathered at the scene, speaking out against the continuing slaughter of Black men and women by police and cops' refusal to utilize proven de-escalation techniques rather than hurtling headlong toward the use of deadly force. Protesters marched through the streets as night fell.
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Previous Related Indybay Feature:
Nate Wilks Shot and Killed by Oakland Police for Running While Black
Same-sex weddings took place across the country after the Supreme Court ruled on June 26 that all 50 states must now permit LGBTQ couples "the fundamental right to marry." The historic decision puts an end to marriage equality bans that remained in 14 states, impacting tens of thousands of couples. The plaintiff in the case, Jim Obergefell, celebrated the victory: "Today’s ruling from the Supreme Court affirms what millions across this country already know to be true in our hearts: Our love is equal..."
After the Supreme Court’s historic ruling on marriage equality, many LGBT organizers are now redirecting their attention to obtaining federal, state and local legal protections in areas of employment, housing and commerce. Nationwide, anti-discrimination laws for gay people are inconsistent and unequal with only 22 states barring discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Locally, activists want to shift the focus to issues that LGBT immigrants face in detention centers across the U.S. Transgender activists indicate that LGBTQ immigrant detainees are uniquely vulnerable to abuse, including sexual assault, while in custody. In prison settings, non-heterosexual prison inmates report sexual assault is higher than heterosexual inmates, with almost 40 percent of transgender inmates in prisons are sexually assaulted.
In San Francisco, kicking off Pride weekend on June 26 was a trans rally and march. As is custom, the rally was held in Dolores Park, then the Trans March worked its way through the streets of the Mission into downtown SF. The San Francisco Trans March is San Francisco’s largest transgender Pride event and one of the largest trans events in the entire world.
LGBTQ Weddings, Pride Celebrations Follow Historic Supreme Court Ruling on Marriage Equality |
Chelsea Manning Contingent in the SF Pride Parade |
Armed Trans People Will Not Get Bashed! |
 Trans Pride SF 2015 - audio from the stage and march |
Stonewall Was a RIOT: No Pride in Police Brutality |
Transgender Immigrants Taking A Stand Against Abuse: Trans March 2015 |
 Trans March! 2015 |
Open Letter to SF Pride (re: Pink Brick for AirBnB)
The farm worker movement mourns the passing on June 7, 2015, of Rev. Deacon Sal Alvarez, who played a key role with Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta in the farm worker movement and on behalf of many other worthy causes over seven decades. Sal was motivated by deep faith in a movement grounded in the Catholic Church’s social justice teachings and dedication to Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Amilcar Perez-Lopez was a 21-year-old man from Guatemala, living and working in the Mission District. Amilcar and his household were facing eviction at the end of March. On February 26, plain clothes SFPD officers Craig Tiffe and Eric Reboli shot and killed Amilcar between two parked cars. In their public campaign to justify the death of Amilcar, the police have stated he was in the process of stealing a bicycle. This claim is called into question by a number of witnesses, some who say the cyclist had stolen Amilcar's phone. Witnesses have reported being intimidated and bullied by SFPD since Amilcar's murder.
Friends, neighbors, and community members held a vigil for Amilcar on March 1. Side by side with praise of Amilcar from his friends and neighbors were calls for justice in his death. Speaker after speaker connected the dots between anti-immigrant racism and the killing of Amilcar. Community members spoke of the inability of San Francisco police to work with Spanish speakers. Amilcar was not an English speaker. A number of the witnesses are also facing eviction.
Neighbors for Justice for Amilcar Perez-Lopez issue a press release on March 2 to denounce a SFPD townhall meeting and demand justice for Amilcar. The night of the killing neighbors were not allowed to leave their homes and witness the aftermath. They were told things like "lock your doors" and "get away from the windows" by the plainclothes officers. Amilcar bled to death in the street, rather than being raced to SF General's Trauma Unit just blocks away.
On March 7, people gathered at 16th and Mission and marched throughout the Mission District to protest the police killing. A banner in front of the march read, “It’s Always Justice When Police Kill.” A chant went out: "¿Qué queremos? ¡Justicia! ¿Cuando? ¡Ahora! What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!”
Mission Protest of Cop Killing in SF |
Fight For Amilcar Perez-Lopez |
Neighbors For Justice 4 Amilcar Perez-lopez |
Sunset Vigil Held for Amilcar Perez-Lopez in The Mission |
March Against Police Violence! No One Should Die Over a Bike!
See Also:
Broken System: A response to non-indictment of Alex Nieto’s killers
San Francisco youth are holding a fast for 5 days to call our attention to the crisis of the children trapped at the U.S. Mexico border. Youth from ages 16 to 20 held a press conference at City Hall on August 12 and announced their plan to set up a tent across from City Hall Tuesday and Wednesday for donations. They will then return to ICE headquarters Friday at noon to end their five-day fast. Youth are taking this action to get the word out about the inhumane treatment of children languishing at the border. They asked us, “Put yourself in the kids shoes; they are just children!” One youth spoke of being inspired after learning that Cesar Chavez often fasted for causes for the farm workers. Another youth’s inspiration came from students in LA holding similar actions.
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Latino activists in solidarity with Palestinians marched down Market Street in San Francisco on August 2 in a unity call for saving the children of Central America who are languishing at the US-Mexican border, as well as the children dying in Gaza. Movimiento por la Reunifacacion Familiar organizers reached out to everyone to join together in a march chanting, “No mas ninos deportados nuestros ninos son sagrados!” “No more children deported; our children are sacred.”
After speakers were heard at 16th and Mission, the protesters took the street and marched to 24th and Mission for another rally. People were then given chalk and invited to join in an art project, drawing stick figures on the sidewalk to represent the immigrant children detained at the border, as well as the names of the 300 children killed in Gaza.
Patricia Jackson writes: "SF is receiving hundreds of children seeking refuge from US-created violence in Central America and Mexico. San Francisco is a sanctuary city and we need to take action to protect the children and call for an end to deportation of children who come here to escape violence...Many children trapped at the border are fleeing threats of death from the Drug Wars in their countries. Drug dealers force young children at gunpoint to join their gang. They are refugees and should be protected as that status. Other children flee for the U.S. to be with their families. All these children are refugees and should be protected."
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