GUEST COMMENTARY: WE MUST FIGHT POVERTY, NOT THE POOR COMENTARIO: DEBEMOS COMBATIR LA POBREZA, NO A LOS POBRES

The People’s Mission Coalition

Guest Commentary

On April 8, The People’s Mission Coalition (PMC) held a vigil for survivors and victims of police and gendered violence at the 24th St. BART Plaza. The vigil opened up a space to collectively grieve and remember people who the city would prefer we forget.

We lit candles on an altar for Amilcar Perez Lopez, Luis Gongora Pat, Jessica Williams, Mario Woods, Tortuguita (born Manuel Esteban Paez Terán) and countless other victims in the Mission and beyond.

Alongside the vigil, we set up a free community store with food, water, hygiene products, clothes, Narcan, COVID tests, and other supplies.

Historically, the plaza has been a gathering space where all walks of people come together to provide resources, hang out, and generally create the radical community care and resistance the Mission District is known for. This still happens. But it’s increasingly limited by heavy police presence.

Over the past year, the plaza — and San Francisco as a whole — has become a hot political topic, with the city government, local businesses and nonprofit leaders using it to scapegoat poor people for the complex problems the whole city is facing.

Unfortunately, PMC’s vigil was interrupted by the police. San Francisco Lowrider Council leadership, who were having a cruise down Mission Street later that day, appeared to send the cops over to us, demanding that we take down the vigil and clear out from the plaza. We know that the roots of lowrider culture is anti-police, a history that is at odds with the Council’s recent participation in calls to increase policing in the Mission.

The People’s Mission Coalition Opinión Invitado

El 8 de abril, The People’s Mission Coalition (PMC) celebró una vigilia en honor a los sobrevivientes y las víctimas de la violencia policial y de género en la Plaza BART de la calle 24. La vigilia abrió un espacio para el duelo colectivo y para recordar a personas que la ciudad preferiría que olvidáramos. La vigilia abrió un espacio para llorar y recordar colectivamente a personas que la ciudad preferiría que olvidáramos.

Encendimos velas en un altar para Amilcar Pérez López, Luis Góngora Pat, Jessica Williams, Mario Woods, Tortuguita (Manuel Esteban Paez Terán) y otras incontables víctimas en la Misión y otros lugares.

Junto a la vigilia montamos una tienda comunitaria gratuita con comida, agua, productos de higiene, ropa, Narcan, pruebas de detección del COVID-19 y otros suministros.

Históricamente, la plaza ha sido un espacio de reunión donde todo tipo de personas se dan cita para proporcionar recursos, pasar el rato, y en general, crear el cuidado de la comunidad radical y la resistencia que caracteriza al Distrito Misión. Esto sigue ocurriendo, pero cada vez está más limitado por la fuerte presencia policial.

En el último año, la plaza y San Francisco en su conjunto se ha convertido en un tema político candente, que el gobierno municipal, las empresas locales y los líderes de organizaciones sin ánimo de lucro utilizan como chivo expiatorio de los problemas complejos a los que se enfrenta toda la ciudad.

Acción Latina

Executive Director

Fátima Ramírez

Cultural Arts Manager

Rebeca Abidaíl Flores

RAICES Art Fellow

Yano Rivera

El Tecolote Founder

Juan Gonzales

Acción Latina

Board of Directors

David J. de la Torre, President (2022-2024)

Dennis Jaramillo, Secretary (2022-2025)

Scott Weaver, Treasurer (2022-2023)

Katynka Martinez, Outgoing

Board President (2022-2023)

Juan Gonzales (2022-2025)

Sandra Buenrostro (2023-2025)

Patricia Flores (2022-2025)

Ana Montes (2022-2025)

Brooke Oliver (2022-2025)

Fátima Ramírez, Ex-officio

El Tecolote is published by Acción Latina, a San Francisco non-profit organization. The mission of Acción Latina is to promote cultural arts, community media, and civic engagement as a way of building healthy and empowered Latino communities. Please, send us your feedback: editor@eltecolote.org

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Instagram: @eltecolotesf and Legislative Aide to Supervisor Shamann Walton) arrived midday and began discreetly filming us.

PMC supports all types of street cultures, including lowrider cruises and sideshows. We think there is plenty of room on the street and at the BART Plazas for everyone.

Unfortunately, this perspective was not shared by the SF Lowrider Council leadership present that day, who called some of us “outsiders, gentrifiers, and bitches” (ignoring that core members of PMC are born and raised in the Mission District).

The machismo and blatant disrespect of women and femmes in our community is one of the many reasons we need to hold these vigils. BART police and security then began patrolling the plaza and forced “illegitimate” vendors to pack up and leave. These vendors are just out here to support themselves and provide cheap goods during these times of high cost of living.

Policing generally increases the likelihood of violence, which we saw play out that morning when SFPD profiled a Black elder and aggressively arrested him in front of El Farolito (they released him later that day with a citation for resisting arrest, despite confirming he was the “wrong person”). SFPD also went on to violently arrest a passerby and two PMC members who were filming on their phones, one of whom was sent to the emergency room as a result of brutal handling by police.

Por desgracia, la vigilia del PMC fue interrumpida por la policía. Los dirigentes del Lowrider Council de San Francisco, que ese mismo día recorrían la calle Misión, parecieron enviarnos a la policía para exigirnos que retiráramos la vigilia y nos fuéramos de la plaza. Sabemos que las raíces de la cultura lowrider son anti-policiales, una historia que está en desacuerdo con la reciente participación del Consejo en las llamadas para aumentar la vigilancia policial en la Misión.

El PMC apoya todo tipo de culturas callejeras, incluyendo los paseos de los lowrider y sus sideshows. Creemos que hay mucho espacio en la calle y en las Plazas BART para todos.

Desafortunadamente, esta perspectiva no fue compartida por los dirigentes del SF Lowrider Council presentes ese día, que llamaron a algunos de nosotros “forasteros, gentrificadores y zorras” (ignorando que los miembros principales del PMC son originarios del Distrito Misión).

Despite this attempted repression, PMC held space on the plaza from 10 a.m. until 7:30 p.m. We distributed much-needed supplies, and when several community members saw us doing this, they returned with their own donations to distribute as well.

Los miembros de The People’s Mission Coalition (PMC) realizaron una vigilia el 8 de abril en honor a los sobrevivientes y víctimas de la violencia policial y de género en la calle 24. En la vigilia, se instaló un altar para Luis Góngora-Pat, un maya sin hogar que fue asesinado por la policía de San Francisco en 2016. Members of The People’s Mission Coalition (PMC) held a vigil for survivors and victims of police and gendered violence at the 24th St on April 8. At the vigil, an altar was set up for Luis Gongora-Pat, a mayan unhoused man who was killed by police in 2016. Courtesy photo Este machismo y la flagrante falta de respeto a las mujeres de nuestra comunidad es una de las muchas razones por las que tenemos que celebrar estas vigilias. La policía y la seguridad de BART empezaron a patrullar la plaza y obligaron a los vendedores “ilegítimos” a recoger sus cosas y marcharse. Estos vendedores sólo están aquí para mantenerse y ofrecer productos baratos en estos tiempos de alto coste de la vida.

La vigilancia policial generalmente aumenta la probabilidad de violencia, que vimos esa mañana cuando la policía arrestó agresivamente frente a El Farolito a un anciano negro (lo liberaron más tarde ese día con una citación por resistirse al arresto, a pesar de confirmar que era la “persona equivocada”). La policía de también detuvo violentamente a un transeúnte y a dos miembros del

We provided an open art space with free supplies and invited participation from children and families. By holding this public space, it was used in a grassroots way, filled with more possibilities than it ever would have under the policing of the BART PD, DPW, and SFPD.

PMC que estaban grabando con sus teléfonos, uno de los cuales fue enviado a urgencias como consecuencia de su brutal actuar.

Joseph Salazar (placa #1142), un conocido policía abusivo que acosa violentamente a la gente en la Misión, estaba allí amenazando a la gente. Incluso horas después de que la policía y el Consejo hubieran aceptado la presencia de la vigilia y nos hubieran dejado en paz, Tracy Gallardo (de Latino Task Force y ayudante legislativa de la supervisora Shamann Walton) llegó a mediodía y empezó a filmarnos discretamente. A pesar de este intento de represión, el PMC mantuvo un espacio en la plaza desde las 10 a.m. hasta las 7:30 p.m. Distribuimos suministros y cuando varios miembros de la comu- ability for his death, concurrent with the killing of Jordan Neely in New York City, is alarming. The vigilante, right-wing, and political violence occurring from coast to coast must concern everybody in neighborhoods where BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, immigrant, working-class, and poor folks live.

Joseph

Salazar (badge #1142), a well-known abusive SFPD cop that violently harasses people in the Mission, was there threatening people with his nightstick. Even hours after the police and Council had accepted the vigil’s presence and left us alone,

Tracy Gallardo (of Latino Task Force

We distributed everything and received over $400 in donations from folks who enthusiastically assured us that mutual aid is what the plaza needs, not policing.

We emphasized political education, distributed literature and copies of the PMC statement, and had many genuine conversations with people who are deeply concerned about the political direction of the Mission.

As we write this report back, the community tragically witnessed the horrific result of the city’s violent war on the poor. On April 27, Young Women’s Freedom Center organizer, homeless youth, and Black transgender man Banko Brown was shot and killed by Michael Earl-Wayne Anthony, an illegally armed security guard outside of the Walgreens at 825 Market Street.

Banko’s killing marks a violent escalation, and the lack of account-

Here in San Francisco, the blame lies squarely with the political, business, and non-profit elite of the city, who have relentlessly stirred anti-poor sentiment by pinning the city’s “doom-loop” on those deemed “undesirable.” Additionally, Brooke Jenkins continues to rack up reactionary prosecution decisions. She dropped the charges against SFPD

See PMC, page 10

“Return, with a withered forehead, the snowflakes of time gave me silvery temples!

To feel that life is but a short breath, that 20 years is nothing!...”

- “Volver” (Return), Tango

By Carlos Gardel & Alfredo Lepera

Carlos Barón

El Tecolote

Igrew up in the South of the American continent. “Volver” (Return) a tango sung by the famous Argentinian crooner Carlos Gardel, accompanied me more than the other “Volver, Volver,” of the also iconic Mexican singer Vicente Fernández.

My parents sang that tango all the time. They did it very well. Since I was a little boy, I heard that “20 years is nothing!” and the phrase twirled inside my brain. How could that be true? “How can it be that 20 years is nothing?” I asked myself. My question made sense. At 8 years of age, life seems infinite. If we are lucky, life will regale us with a countless myriad of emotions and places to discover. 20 years, when you are a child, is a long space. An eternity.

As we go on living, new experiences regale us with new perspectives.

Sept. 11 of this year 2023 will mark 50 years since the Military Coup in Chile. 50 years!

It truly seems an eternity. Today, I can sing the verses of Gardel’s “Vol- ver” and really feel that 20 years is nothing. Especially if we sing the remembrances of that fateful Sept.

11. Alive, still burning in our brains.

“Our little Sept. 11,” many Chileans say, with more than a bit of irony, comparing it to “the Other Sept. 11,” the one that occurred in the USA in 2001.

All over the world, Chileans and people from all nations prepare to commemorate that “Little Sept. 11,” which ushered 17 years of the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet in Chile. Today, that dictatorship has been replaced by a fragile and puzzling democracy, not as representative as it could be.

From Europe, a Chilean exile asked me to write about “a thing” which I hid when the military Coup happened. Something which I simply could not abandon. Books, music, photos, weapons?

Of course, I hid things! I believe that many of us, people forced to disguise, rapidly and radically, whichever we think or are because Death hovers all around us, still might take the time to safeguard a significant so- mething.

Before any mentions of objects, I think that we must first remember people, those human beings who also had to hide. Or disguise. Because they had to leave the country, or because they chose to keep on fighting in Chile in a militant secrecy…or simply to survive the untied fascism. Fascism capable of killing anyone for the mere sin of having a beard, or long hair, or because they might possess “a dangerous book.” A book on “The Art of Cubism” (CUBA!), long hair, a beard, or “a foreign accent”,