The Guardsman, Vol 168, Issue 2, City College of San Francisco

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Vol. 168, Issue 2 | September 11 – September 25, 2019 | City College of San Francisco | Since 1935 | FREE

Students Unite Against Border Detention

Protestors rally outside of ICE headquarters in San Francisco on August 29. Photo by Peg Hunter / Special to the Guardsman.

By Diana Guzman dianaanaid.gf@gmail.com

City College students are protesting the detainment of children at the United States-Mexico border, as part of the Bay Area Coalition to Close the Camps (BACCC). Hundreds of children are being kept in a migrant detention center in Texas after being separated from their families and held in what the coalition believes to be deplorable conditions. On their Twitter page, the coalition describes itself as “a network of organizations to disarm ICE” and believes they can use their right to assembly to persuade ICE’s contracted firms, like data analyst company Palintir, from being complicit in the border detention and deportation. In a July 22 statement, they said, “We refuse to stay complicit as the tech giant responsible for the intelligence apparatus used to track, terrorize, deport, and imprison migrants, refugees at our border and their families, continues

operations in our backyard. We are calling on all who are they will ever see their parents again. And of course, we opposed to the repression of migrants and refugees and have to mention that people have died in detention because the existence of concentration camps to join our coalition.” of Border Patrol's inhumane policies,” said Hidalgo. City College student Mica Jarmolowsky-Schneider has The ANSWER Coalition alongside the BACCC are been working alongside the BACCC for several months and currently working on putting together a public demonstration attributes their involvement to being pro-prison abolition. on Sept. 16 with an end goal of securing amnesty and full “I think the child detention centers are so heartbreaking and rights for all immigrants, closing the border camps and horrible. And we want those closed. We also want all the abolishing ICE. concentration camps closed,” said Jarmolowsky-Schneider. “The key right now is to continue building solidarity for The group held an emergency mobilization at the Palantir immigrants and all oppressed people. To build education building in Palo Alto on August 16, accusing the company and action around these issues, so people can truly of providing “the technology ICE used to steal 680 people understand what is going on, and start working to undo during the largest single-state immigration enforcement the racist, capitalist system that is at the root of all this action in US history last week.” The raid itself took place suffering,” said Hidalgo. on August 7 and was focused on detaining workers from Over 500 children from Buena Vista Horace Mann seven food plants throughout central Mississippi. Community School will lead the march to City Hall. There In early 2017 the American Immigration Council will also be families, faith-based groups, activists, and union requested a document from the Homeland Security members attending the march. Investigations Unit and, through the Freedom of Information The “Free the Children” protest and march on Act, a document which explained the relationship between September 16 will begin with a rally on 24th and Mission ICE and Palintir was revealed. St. at 11 a.m. After the rally, the march will initiate around In a May 2019 article in Slate magazine by April 12 p.m., actions and delegations will start at 3 p.m., and the Glazer, the links between Palantir and ICE are portrayed: day will conclude with a 6 p.m. celebration back at 24th “ICM is a system built by Palantir, funded initially by a $41 and Mission St. million contract with ICE in 2014. With the ICM system, The BACCC can be contacted at (415) 206-0577 and immigration agents are provided access to intelligence meets every Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the ANSWER office from the Drug Enforcement Agency, the FBI, and other at 2969 Mission St. The group also encourages anyone law enforcement agencies, in addition to information like interested to check out the Sept. 16 event’s Facebook page, a subject’s criminal record and work history.” A Day Without Immigrants SF. The South Texas Family Residential Center is a substantial immigration building in the United States in which ICE detains children with very little access to medical care or basic care needs. Erika Hidalgo, a member of the ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) Coalition and member of the BACCC, believes activists should focus on bringing attention to President Trump’s inhumane treatment of immigrants. “Holding cells are packed with two or three times the amount of people they were designed to hold, to the point where people can't even lie down. Children are facing the trauma that will last a lifetime, and for thousands of them, the Protestors rally outside of ICE headquarters in San Francisco on August 29. Photo question is still up in the air if by Peg Hunter / Special to the Guardsman.

All-Gender Restroom Rollout Continues Despite Vandalism By Tyler Breisacher tbreisac@mail.ccsf.edu

An all-gender restroom in Cloud Hall was vandalized shortly before the start of fall classes, continuing a pattern that has plagued City College, as some restrooms are converted to all-gender restrooms. Fake binary restroom signs were placed over the all-gender signs on the third floor of Cloud Hall. The signs were first noticed on August 15, in between the summer and fall sessions. City College is nearing completion of its plan to make all-gender restrooms available throughout its campuses. While there hasn’t been significant property damage, this sort of vandalism is still a serious issue according to Jennifer Carlin, chair of the behavioral sciences department, who said incidents like this should be taken seriously because “they’re hateful incidents and they have a deep impact on people in the community.” This is part of a string of similar incidents that have occurred as more all-gender restrooms are added, including one in which a “W” was written on the wall outside an all-gender restroom that was previously designated as a

women’s restroom, as the Guardsman reported in March. Konrad, a nonbinary City College student, was upset by the ongoing vandalism: “I don’t take this stuff super personally for myself as a nonbinary person, but it does enrage me that it’s going to hurt so many other nonbinary people or nonconforming people. That’s really irritating to me.” Sgt. Tiffany Green said the campus police have not received any reports of vandalism related to all-gender restrooms, since January 2019. She noted that nearly all officers have gone through a transgender sensitivity training, provided by the US Justice Department, as part of the department’s compliance with a new California law which requiring police departments’ basic training to include trainings related to sexual orientation and gender identity. However, anthropology professor Natalie Cox says an increased police presence isn’t necessarily the best way to combat the vandalism. Trying to fight vandalism with increased surveillance “is not a solution so much as a problem in and of itself,” she said. All-Gender continued on page 7 Illustration by Chiara Di Martino


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