The Guardsman, Vol. 172, Issue 6, City College of San Francisco

Vol. 172, Issue 6 | Oct. 27 – Nov. 1, 2021 | City College of San Francisco | Since 1935 | FREE | www.theguardsman.com

"Richmond neighborhood and Golden Gate Park enveloped in fog." City Series. Oct. 29. Photo by Onyx Hunter/The Guardsman.

City College Wins Entrepreneurial College of the Year Award

By Emily Margaretten

margarettene@gmail.com Only three years old, the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CEI) at City College exemplifies the success story of a plucky start-up, as it prevailed over other community colleges to capture the Heather Van Sickle Entrepreneurial College of the Year Award from the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE).

Interim Vice Chancellor Dianna Gonzales affirmed the college’s commitment to advance entrepreneurship on its campus and wider community when she signed the Presidents for Entrepreneurship Pledge during a press conference on Oct. 12.

Rebecca Corbin, President and CEO of NACCE, praised the leadership of City College and its willingness to embrace entrepreneurial programming as part of its institutional culture. “I think the

leadership of the college really has empowered the faculty to start these programs,” Corbin said in an interview.

“And that's what we see all over the country from hundreds and hundreds of colleges,” she continued. “Leadership in an entrepreneurial way needs to happen at multiple levels. It's got to start with the chancellor and the president and flow through the entire institution.”

While Corbin emphasized

the importance of leadership in top administrative positions, the implementation of entrepreneurial programming at City College largely came to fruition through the vision and grit of one particular faculty member, Vivian Faustino-Pulliam, or “Prof. V” as affectionately called by her students.

Faustino-Pulliam pitched her entrepreneurship ideas to City College administrators in 2018. Initially, they expressed

skepticism about her proposal, but Faustino-Pulliam was undeterred. “Entrepreneurs always are being told no,” she said. Instead of giving up, she decided to run the center like a start-up and appealed to different deans and department chairs to back the initiative.

Faustino-Pulliam also realized that showing results was the most effective way to generate support.

“I couldn’t get their buy-in until I Award continues on pg 2

Radical Street Theater Honors Mission’s History

Juan Gonzales, Paul S. Flores and friends at the History Matters in The Mission docutheather on Oct. 23. Photo by Bob Kinoshita/The Guardsman.

By Julie Zigoris jzigoris@mail.ccsf.edu “Here I am with this big-ass puppet,” said producer, playwright, and poet Paul Flores, as his cast and crew rehearsed in front of the Brava Theater along the 24th Street corridor.

Flores’ latest work “History Matters in the Mission” debuted in the namesake neighborhood on Saturday, Oct. 23. The event

highlighted five local activists with a dramatic spectacle of song, dance and word, including City College’s own Juan Gonzales.

The performances showcased stories from the Mission in the 1970s, when the first wave of gentrification swept through the neighborhood. “The establishment of BART in 1973 forced development and disrupted the neighborhood,” Flores said. “What

were once mom-and-pop stores became McDonald’s, Walgreens, and Popeyes.”

Further down 24th Street in front of the Acción Latina building, Flores played Gonzales in a short piece about El Tecolote newspaper. A five-piece band on a flatbed truck warmed up the crowd of about 40 as simple props were assembled: a square platform stage for a dancer, a small black

table with a red telephone and a 1970s facsimile of El Tecolote newspaper.

Flores wore Gonzales’ original tan trench coat in his performance as he answered the phone to address topics ranging from Fidel Castro to the need for bilingual healthcare workers at San Francisco General Hospital. The lack of Spanish speakers in the hospital led to a young woman losing her baby, an

episode highlighted in the piece with great emotion.

“What if this was us?” Flores asked in the performance, referring to Gonzales and his partner Anna.

“History Matters in the Mission” was inspired by the feminist artist Yolanda López known for her superhero images of the History continues on pg 5

2 | NEWS

Vol. 172, Issue 6 | Oct. 27 – Nov. 1 2021

Award continued from pg 1

got small wins,” she said. So, she started with free entrepreneurship workshops that attracted large numbers of attendees and a year later expanded this to an introductory class that quickly exceeded its enrollment cap of 40 students.

The administration took notice and small wins turned into bigger ones when CEI started to secure national recognition through award competitions, partnerships, and funding opportunities with larger industries and community organizations.

Not at all surprised by these accomplishments, Ysabelle Bernal, a student who took Faustino-Pulliam’s introductory class, commented, “She’s small in stature but goes after what she wants. She’s a go-getter.”

Today, CEI offers six interdisciplinary certificates with two more in development, demonstrating the fluidity and applicability of entrepreneurial thinking to a diverse range of academic disciplines. As Marina Noel, a staff member at CEI, stated, “We have a variety of certificates that students can take because we believe that entrepreneurship is not just for business majors. It's for everybody.”

The center’s focus on inclusivity and accessibility also reflects a deeper commitment to equity in higher education. The mission of CEI explicitly draws on Faustino-Pulliam’s experiences

"Leadership

in

an

entrepreneurial way needs to happen

at

multiple levels." as a Filipino-American woman and immigrant. Being an entrepreneur, she explained, was more than running a business. It was a mindset and life skill that gave her the chance to prove her ideas mattered—something she wants to extend to other underserved populations.

“With the explosion of entrepreneurial opportunities around us, I'd like to make sure that women of color, those with accents, and those without the strong pedigrees, such as a Harvard education, can also participate in and reap the benefits of this growing social movement,” Faustino-Pulliam said during the press conference.

For Bernal, this inclusivity and accessibility was critical to her own growth as an entrepreneur.

“Fifty percent of the courage that I got presenting a loan [in front of industry leaders] I got from her,” Bernal said. “If she can teach at

"View of Sutro Tower from Grand View Park." City Series. Oct. 29. Photo by Onyx Hunter/The Guardsman.

City College with an accent and as a woman, I also can do it.

While the NACCE award provides external validation of CEI’s approach to entrepreneurship, the center has experienced its share of challenges. FaustinoPulliam, who teaches part-time, described a large portion of her work as “pro bono” and CEI as “one of the least funded centers” at City College. Noel corroborated Faustino-Pulliam’s statements and noted that even invited speakers waive their usual fees and present as unpaid volunteers.

The shoestring budget of the center has not hampered its growth though. Using the model of an agile start-up, CEI has responded quickly to student interests, creating entrepreneurial programs to meet their needs. The newness of the center actually is an advantage.

“It’s a blessing I had to start from scratch, Faustino-Pulliam said. “I didn’t have any kind of legacy issues. I was able to start with a vision. And with the help of other consultants and administrators, we were able to build something more relevant to the current demographics rather than continuing on and changing things that already were well-entrenched.”

The demographics of CEI skews to an older student population, many of whom already have advanced degrees. FaustinoPulliam explained that her students often are underemployed and looking to start their own businesses.

Staff

Richard Zavalo fits this profile. He is working towards a certificate in Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management and recently pivoted from a nonprofit career in marriage and family therapy to open a wine bar. Zavalo credits Faustino-Pulliam with showing him how to create and present a business plan and to raise funds for his new venture.

Similarly, Melanie Tam developed the idea for a selfimprovement app, Dreamly, while taking Faustino-Pulliam’s entrepreneurship course. Tam explained that she benefited from the structure of the class, which helped her meet deadlines, and from the expertise of Faustino-Pulliam and the entrepreneurs-in-residence program.

Tam’s proposal won first place in the pitch competition presented

at the end of the class, and she is looking to launch Dreamly, as a fully-built product, next year.

“Vivian definitely has been a big part of my journey,” Tam said.

“Whether Dreamly works out or not, I'm always going to remember what I learned in her class and what she taught me. I'm going to embody that and continue to build products.”

Illustration by Erin Blackwell/The Guardsman.

News Editor Annette Mullaney

Sports Editor Kaiyo Funaki

Illustration Editor Skylar Wildfeuer

Photographers Onyx Hunter

Photography Editor Skylar Wildfeuer

T: @jtwildfeuer

Culture Editor Casey Michie

Layout Editor Skylar Wildfeuer

Illustrators Erin Blackwell

Max Hollinger

Chief Copy Editor Colton Webster

Online Editor JohnTaylor Wildfeuer

Opinion Editor Ava Cohen

Social Media Editor Derek Chartrand Wallace

Editor-in-Chief JohnTaylor Wildfeuer

T: @blackwelldrawingfool

Bob Kinoshita

Yuchen Xiao

Janna Velasquez

Copy Editor Tim Hill

NEWS | 3

Vol. 172, Issue 6 | Oct. 27 – Nov. 1 2021

City of San Francisco Shuts Down Periodical Pop Up Provide Fisherman's Warf In-N-Out Pantries Assistance to Bay NEWS BRIEF

Area Residents; Rams Food Market to Return

"Sin-N-Out." by Max Hollinger/The Guardsman.

"Leviticus 14:37-38" by Skylar Wildfeuer/The Guardsman.

"Sunset neighborhood in western San Francisco." City Series. Oct. 29. Photo by Onyx Hunter/The Guardsman.

Staff

Angela Greco

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By Emma Cummings ecummin3@mail.ccsf.edu Food assistance resources are available to students even as the campus plans to host the majority of classes virtually again next semester.

Before the pandemic students visited an in-person “pantry”, known as the Rams Food Market, which operated as an on-campus food bank with regular hours.

Limited access continues for student resources that cannot be provided in a virtual capacity. The food pantry is one such resource that cannot be replaced virtually.

Offering food assistance programs requires the campus to take a different approach in a postpandemic environment, but there are still resources available. For example, food cards, pre-loaded $50 Safeway gift cards, are available through the 18 different campus resource groups.

Additionally, pop-up pantries are periodically being hosted on campus again. The Student Activities office is working to get the Rams Food Market back on campus, but it relies on support from local food banks. “We are working with the San Francisco Marin Food Bank and intend to bring the Rams Food Market back to campus as soon as possible.

Due to the pandemic, the Food Bank closed most of their pantries for specific populations in order to serve the greater Bay Area.” said Student Life Clerk Sophia Montano.

Facebook @theguardsman Mailing Address YouTube 50 Frida Kahlo Way, theguardsmanonline Box V-67 San Francisco, CA 94112 Bungalow 615

4 | CULTURE

Stories Are Shared and History Celebrated Through the Powerful Images of the Murals In the Mission

By Janna Velasquez jvelas42@mail.ccsf.edu

Vol. 172, Issue 6 | Oct. 27 – Nov. 1 2021

CULTURE | 5

Vol. 172, Issue 6 | Oct. 27 – Nov. 1 2021

The Pride of the Game

By Angela Greco a_greco511@mail.ccsf.edu Description: “We All Rise Up: Leveraging Collective Knowledge and Social Capital to Improve Racial Equity and Achievement at CCSF: Film is an art form that can touch our lives through a variety of senses and can be a vehicle to deliver powerful messages; the Office of Student Equity’s film festival is an opportunity where advocacy for educational equity meets the arts. Our selection of documentaries for the fall 2021 semester intends to support the CCSF community (i.e. students, staff, faculty, and administrators) with framing and advancing conversations about promising practices for supporting student access to, retention in, and transfer from our institution.”

The film fest is put on by the Office of Student Equity, and uses film as a vehicle to promote discussion among CCSF with 3 documentaries. For this story we will cover how this virtual festival is important to the CCSF community as well as how film (in particular documentaries) is important in telling our collective story.

The next conversation will take place on Nov. 17!

History continued on pg 1 Virgin Guadalupe. “Then she passed, and that was real hard for us,” Flores said, big tears gathering in his eyes. “I want people to understand why the neighborhood we love and enjoy is like this,” Flores continued.

López had encouraged Flores to embrace radical theater techniques — like giant puppets and a “cranky” (a moving painted illustration) — for his latest project.

While she imagined a work about homelessness, Flores decided to go more in the direction of the awakening of ethnic identity post-1969.

“In the 1970s, the neighborPerformer Vero Majano at the History Matters in The Mission docutheather hood began educating itself,” on Oct. 23. Photo by Bob Kinoshita/The Guardsman.

Flores said. “Chilenos were learning about Día de los Muertos from the Chicanas. Mexicans were learning about Carnaval.”

At the same time, the Mission also served as an artistic and literary crucible, according to Flores. The mural movement that began in 1968 flourished and El Tecolote newspaper was founded

by Gonzales in 1970, the same year that Carlos Barón underscored the AIDS crisis with his procession of coffins in the Día de los Muertos celebration.

“I was real pleased and a bit surprised,” said Gonzales on learnPaul S. Flores’ performance in a dedication to Juan Gonzales at the History Matters in The Mission docutheather on Oct. 23. Photo by Bob Kinoshita/The ing he was one of the figures to Guardsman. be honored in Flores’ piece. “It never dawns on you how people will recognize your efforts.”

The El Tecolote founder and City College Journalism

"The paper was not only an informational tool but an inspirational one."

Professor Juan Gonzales speaks to the crowd at the History Matters in The Mission docutheather on Oct. 23.

The History Matters in the Mission Band at the History Matters in The Mission docutheather on Oct. 23.

Photo by Bob Kinoshita/The Guardsman.

Department Chair said he had a “deep-hearted feeling of gratitude” and the piece was important because it brings further identity to the neighborhood while also giving a glimpse into its history.

“People will be better for it,” he said.

Bilingual newspaper El Tecolote, the longest running in California, began at a time when there were a lot of issues prevalent in the neighborhood, according to Gonzales. It brought attention to concerns like the need for bilingual health care, telephone services, and demanding jobs. It also spotlighted popular culture in the neighborhood.

“The paper was not only an informational tool, but also an inspirational one,” Gonzales said.

It brought greater identity to the neighborhood and Latino community while also serving as a training ground for future journalists.

Gonzales also acknowledged the

"I want people to understand why the neighborhood we love and enjoy is like this.." “army of volunteers” that made the paper possible.

The other foundational Mission artists highlighted in the performance include: Michael Rios, founder of the modern mural movement; Yolanda López, the artist known for her superhero Virgin Guadalupe paintings; San Francisco State University theater teacher Carlos Barón; and playwright Joan Holden of the San Francisco Mime Troupe. Flores has been working on the piece since 2019, when he decided he wanted to create something in honor of El Tecolote’s 50th anniversary.

The outdoor parklet at Adobe Books, another performance site for “History Matters in the Mission,” likes to host “guerillastyle performances,” according to Heather Holt, one of the bookstore cooperative’s members who specializes in operations.

The Community Music School performed in the parklet with 29 youth musicians as part of Flores’ production.

“This is the first live event since the pandemic, and Precita Eyes is having their first Balmy mural tour since the pandemic,” Holt said. “It’s uplifting for people to come out and celebrate live music and performance. Having an in-person event feels very meaningful,” she continued.

“Transitioning from isolation to being in public is so important right now,” Holt said. “All the participants are really enthusiastic, and it’s an honor to participate.”

Flores has been working on this type of musical-oriented theater for the last six years, producing documentary-style performances that dramatize real events. Past subjects for his work have included the police killing of Alex Nieto — performed on City College’s campus — prison re-entry, and Afro-Cuban immigrant artists.

Mural on Balmy Alley, Oct. 23. Photo by Bob Kinoshita/The Guardsman.

6 | OPINION

Vol. 172, Issue 6 | Oct. 27 – Nov. 1 2021

The Vigil

A Social Medium For Outrage

By Ava Cohen avaocohen@gmail.com Recently, I was sexually assaulted. Again. And this time, I brushed it off, again.

I wanted to play the role I prefer, and choose for myself. helpful, understanding, warm hearted. It’s funny; there’s that trend now on Twitter of all the different silly little red flags that one might see in a potential partner. I’m never unaware of those red flags anymore, it’s just something I’ve begun to ignore at certain points.

To many men, they’re maybe pet peeves or irritations that they want to steer clear of in a partner. And yet for me, sometimes all those posts serve to remind me that because I was born with female anatomy, red flags are more than irritants. They could signal whether I am to be traumatized by that individual, assaulted by them, or even whether my life is at risk. And this time around, I have decided again to give someone the benefit of the doubt. To want to see the better in someone.

I told my abuser I would let people know who they were, that I would post screenshots of their messages to me. In response, they threatened to post videos they had taken of me (without my consent) during intercourse.

Different Scales Even as I sit here, I am immersed completely in the consequences of a situation I let happen, one that I let snowball, and I do not wish them harm. When I let the anger flash before me, overtake my sadness, I begin to imagine scenarios where I could make them feel even a fraction of the pain they have contributed to in me, and yet I know that underneath that rage, there is a very hurt, vulnerable individual.

Underneath the both of us.

Last semester, I took a course at City College called Politics of

survivors or abusers. Restorative focuses on the healing of the survivors, whereas transformative justice focuses on both the healing of survivors and their abusers. The emerging tranformative justice movement generally involves a process where abusers are held accountable, and while survivors’ healing is priority, also leaves space for abusers to learn and heal from their own traumas.

I became obsessed with this idea, engrossed in the concept that not only could I leave room for myself to heal, but that those who had hurt me could receive rehabilitation and no longer harm others in the ways they had harmed me.

not to insult them back. I was accused of gaslighting, and of being an apologist.

Throughout it all, I got private messages from people who agreed with me, but who didn’t want to say so publicly for fear of being treated the same way.

What this account failed to realize was how triggering those things were to hear, being someone who has gone through the real harm caused by gaslighting and abuse. Gaslighting is not when someone shares their opinion online, it is when your boyfriend rapes you, but when you eventually realize what it was and call it out, he says you liked it, or had

Social Media Vigilantism A few months ago, I was following an Instagram account that made posts with pictures of abusers to watch out for; oftentimes including their victims’ stories, anonymous for their sake. Initially, it was empowering to see. It made me feel less alone and thankful to have a community.

In time, however, I began to see posts of this account’s messages with anonymous burner accounts.

I remember one message specifically where a user with a burner account claimed they didn’t know the accused and that this person hadn’t ever treated them that way, as detailed in their posts.

My immediate thought was that they were being manipulated and abused, and that they had not yet come to see their situation entirely.

And yet, the account posted it, calling the complainant an apologist and following with the admin committing tofind out who it was. When I let them know in a message, “hey, it seems like they’re being abused by this person and haven’t yet realized it,” the account said that that seemed true and that they hadn’t

"Kirkham and 15th, looking out westward." City Series. Oct. 29. Photo by Onyx Hunter/the Guardsman.

Sexual Violence. In it, I learned about the differences between carceral, transformative, and restorative justice. Carceral justice involves shoving people in prisons without healing for either

everyone hated me for it.

Some weeks pass, and then I see the same account posting an artist’s work, one that features lots of children’s entertainment characters in pornographic situations, including characters from Sesame Street and Sailor Moon engaged in sexual interactions.

The slides in the post included photos of the artist. The caption implied he’s a pedophile for this, and the casual accusation didn’t sit right with me.

I realized that if I said something, I would likely face a fair amount of backlash. So I sat on it, spoke to friends about it, and then finally decided to draft a

even noticed. I brushed it off, and yet I had this lurking feeling, a feeling that forced me to remember when people had told me my ex was no good and I hadn’t listened, when I thought

Illustration by Yuchen Xiao/The Guardsman.

long, respectful comment.

What’s so ironic to me about it, to this day, is that I posted that comment on my way home from work where I encountered real, and unreslated, harrassment as I worked through my response.

A man asked me for a cigarette at the BART station, and then started to walk with me. He immediately began talking about sex, how women always think that’s all he wants from them. I tried to lose him, and he followed me all the way home, and then paced back and forth in front of my apartment, which is on the first floor. I ended up speaking to my property manager, who was luckily right outside, and he let me inside to go around the back to get to my place without the man seeing where I lived.

I was shook up all over again, and I couldn’t fathom that a community that’s supposed to be a safe space was trying to cancel someone for their art, when events like these happen all the time in offline reality.

I checked my comment, and of course I was already receiving a copious amount of angry replies. And yet some people were liking my comment, too. I kept trying to reason with them, to no avail. It took so much effort

asked for it. It is when your partner hits you, and when you tell them they were wrong for doing that they say it never happened, or was justified. It’s when a woman comes out publicly with their side of the story, that they were violently raped and attacked, and the perpetrator makes it about college drinking instead of sexual assault.

Rage and Healing Over time, I have gained more understanding and sympathy for whoever is behind that anonymous account, and I have realized that they are doing what they can to heal in the ways they know how to. I don’t think their idea was a bad one, I just wish that there were more ways for us to come together and heal. I wish that there were ways for all of us survivors to heal in ways that don’t focus on trauma bonding and anger.

Anger is a more than reasonable reaction, but from my own personal experience, it only gets us so far before we are confronted with the pain that still lingers behind that rage. To allow ourselves to feel only that anger is a disservice to our own healing and wellbeing. Rage begins to be

too heavy a burden to carry, for any one of us.

In certain situations, such as deplatforming, in the of case of those who have continuously inflicted harm upon others without consequence or remorse, I think the only option we really have left is often to ‘cancel’ them, to remove their megaphone and the tacit implication that there is validity to what they are saying.

In situations where people, typically men, are in positions of power over others and they take advantage of that, I don’t think it is so much a matter of a knee-jerk trauma response as it is a reaction to an abuse of power.

Regarding those people who we must coexist with, abusers or apologists who live in our communities, I think it is helpful to our own wellbeing as well as theirs to remember to have some empathy for them, even if they cannot have that for us in that moment; a balance of empathy that does not require us to sacrifice our own wellbeing and growth. When we respond to that violence with more violence, we desensitize ourselves to it all as a whole, and such action should be reserved until it is our very last option.

And while I realize that throughout history, a lot of progressive changes have been made through ‘violent’ retaliation and that it is absolutely necessary in some cases, I think we often forget that a lot of those individuals who are inflicting pain upon others are doing so in response to their own pain, in response to the ways that our capitalistic world works to encourage us deeper into our own self interests. When we exile and demonize them, we leave little room for them to seek healing and to break their cycles. That said of course, we must focus first on the healing of ourselves as survivors, before we are able to do anything to help abusers.

I think one hurdle that is hard to find a solution to is how we come together and make sure everyone, particularly survivors, feel safe, as well as spreading this empathetic understanding.

The internet is a place where we can often express our rage, however justified, with the world on anonymous platforms. It is not always a place to be constructive, and it becomes easy to fall under the influence of what other social media users are saying without critically thinking about our own opinions. I have certainly been guilty of this behavior, I’m sure most of us who use social media have, but it is not enough to simply avoid the perpetration of pain if the rest of us are determined to respond to it with perpetuation.

COMMUNITY | 7

Vol. 172, Issue 6 | Oct. 27 – Nov. 1 2021

A Crisis Within A Crisis:

Undocumented Essential Workers Relied On Charity During the Pandemic

By Andy Damian Correa acorrea@theguardsman.com This piece was produced by the City College of San Francisco Journalism Department and the Democracy and Informed Citizen Emerging Journalist Fellowship initiative of California Humanities.

On a cold evening in San Francisco, Sofia Muñoz leaped off the bus at Van Ness Avenue and Market Street and ran to clock in for the night shift at Crossroad Pizzeria. The 38-year-old quickly disinfected the counter and then posted signs that directed customers to follow COVID-19 health protocols when entering the premises and ordering at the counter.

Muñoz cleaned the floor, arranged the bottles of Mexican Coca-Cola and made sure there was an appetizing view of the pizzas, salads, and desserts on the counter. But there were no walkin customers or to-go orders. The restaurant was empty.

“At least I have some work, little but enough to pay my rent and food,” Muñoz said.

An essential worker who contracted COVID-19 and made a full recovery, Muñoz is back to work. But the virus caused her setbacks that most others would never have faced. Why? Because she is Guatemalan, living in the U.S. undocumented.

The pandemic exposed the dire reality of the 46,000 undocumented San Francisco residents. Despite making up 5% of the city’s population, they are not eligible for meaningful governmental support.

“There were many challenges and inequities exposed during the pandemic and many challenges for our undocumented residents that will continue during the recovery period,” said Adrienne Pon, executive director of the San Francisco Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs.

think I got infected in my work at the restaurant.”

Muñoz was the first in her family of nine to test positive for the virus, followed by her husband a few days later. The couple quarantined inside their room in the College Hill neighborhood. They both struggled to breathe and took four weeks of sick leave without any legal rights to secure an income. Ultimately, Muñoz lost her job.

“I spent all my savings,” she said. “I have no other option.

I have to work from what is available, but how else will I survive?”

Muñoz struggled to pay her rent and bills and sought assistance.

She obtained two weekly grocery boxes from a community fridge at the non-profit Mission Fud Hub. The queue for pick up could take four hours, and wrapped around the block.

contracted COVID-19.

Many nonprofit organizations have sought to help as many immigrants as possible. Although California already has aid programs for the undocumented, it is not enough, according to Susana Rojas, executive director of Calle 24 Latino Cultural District.

“It is never enough.

Undocumented people are the people who most need support because they do not have access to food stamps, Medi-Cal, or unemployment,” Rojas said.

UndocuFund San Francisco, founded by a coalition of immigrant workers and community organizations, provides direct assistance to undocumented families who live, work or have recently been unemployed in San

survived from his long-earned savings and food donations around the city and meal distributions on Hyde Street.

“I felt that the city did very little for us. I never received any kind of help,” he said.

Gutierrez never contracted the coronavirus, and he received his second Pfizer vaccine last month.

After the city reopened at the orange level for counties with moderate transmission levels, Gutierrez was able to find two fulltime jobs, pay his rent, and help his sixteen-year-old daughter, who lives in Cerrito del Norte.

Gutierrez now works from seven in the morning to eleven at night, five days a week.

While it may be taxing, he is happy because he can receive an income and support his family in Yucatan, Mexico.

She applied for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s coronavirus emergency assistance plan, a program designed to provide disaster assistance payments up to $1,000 dollars per household, but she was never awarded the funds.

"The intense pain in my body and the experience of the coronavirus could have been avoided," she said, referring to the fact that the federal government could have prevented this health crisis in the country.

A year into the pandemic, Muñoz qualified for the city’s “Right to Recover”, a local assistance program that pays a wage replacement of two weeks, or an eighty-hour equivalent, to any San Francisco worker, regardless of immigration status, and who had

Francisco. The collective formed after government websites offering aid were overloaded by the demand, proving that the need was high and the help available was minimal or depleted.

Martin Jesus Gutierrez, 48, is another of the more than hundreds of undocumented immigrants in the city who have lost their job, cannot pay their rent and cannot receive any federal, state or city relief.

“I did not get any help from the city,” he said.

For the past five years, he has lived in the heart of the most impoverished San Francisco neighborhood, the Tenderloin, a mere block from City Hall.

Gutierrez left Mexico 20 years ago, and during the pandemic, he

T h e California Department of Social Services launched the Disaster Assistance Project for Immigrants to provide a one-time payment for eligible undocumented adults for five hundred dollars and a maximum of one thousand per household.

Still, the support was only available until June 2020 or whenever funds ran out. Gutierrez did not receive any assistance from this fund.

CDSS-funded nonprofits distributed seventy-five million dollars in disaster relief assistance to approximately one hundred and fifty thousand undocumented adult immigrants in California.

Nonprofit organizations began providing these disaster assistance services in May 2020, but it seems

Charities Try To help

Sudden Infection In July 2020, the symptoms occurred suddenly in Muñoz.

She simultaneously had a high fever, chills, general pain and sore throat. She immediately got tested at a facility in the Mission neighborhood. The clinicians immediately diagnosed her with COVID-19 and placed her in an isolation room with cardiac monitoring due to her altered blood pressure, pulse and temperature.

The next day, she experienced a dry cough and her skin formed a type of cyst. Days later, she was discharged with a slight fever but no respiratory complications “Easy to say it, write it, but to live it? Touched my feelings very intensely,” she said.

Muñoz’s temperature remained elevated and she began to experience shortness of breath, consistent coughs and episodes of diarrhea.

"I couldn't believe that I had been infected,” she said. “I took great care of myself, but I

the service was not enough for all residents.

Latinos have been affected at steeply higher rates, with 41.1% of infections in the city, as revealed in DataSF. Alex Cabrera, 32, an essential undocumented worker from Mexico who worked at a restaurant, received his one-time $500 hundred dollar benefit a month after the city shut down.

Three months later, he received 1,000 dollars from UndocuFund San Francisco.

“I almost forgot about this help. It took too long,” he said. “The government doesn’t care about how I will survive, but they get my taxes every year.”

Access Issues Over the summer of 2020, in a survey funded by Workers United, 295 Latinx adults who live and work in the city said they did not have access to any emergency relief funds during the pandemic.

It was also revealed that 93.8% of the Latinx adults surveyed were interested in learning more about worker’s rights and that 82.5% of them lost their jobs.

The state of New York offered one-time payments of up to $15,600 to undocumented immigrants who lost their jobs during the pandemic, while the Golden State cannot do the same and offered payments of $500 on a first-come, first-served basis.

When undocumented immigrants were excluded from federal stimulus checks, San Francisco launched its program to provide financial assistance to undocumented immigrants.

To meet the needs of community members, Mayor London Breed announced the launch of Give2SF, a fundraising effort to provide food, shelter, and aid. As San Franciscans struggled to maintain their businesses and stay in their homes, the city offered rental and small business assistance.

San Francisco, the second most expensive city in the country, relies heavily on the tourism, information technology and financial service industries. Despite relying on undocumented workers, the city’s next moves to support them are unclear. They work long hours in restaurants, supermarkets, and building cleaners, risking their lives.

As San Francisco recovers, Muñoz got vaccinated over summer, as advised by the doctor because her immune system remains weak due to the consequences of the virus.

Day by day she feels better and with a positive attitude toward life.

She will continue to apply for all the aid available to the undocumented, Muñoz was left without savings and with debts from the last three months of rent. Every Wednesday and Saturday she will continue to collect her basket of free products from non-profit organizations in the Mission.

SPORTS | 8

Vol. 172, Issue 5 | Oct. 11 – Oct. 20 2021

Undefeated and Undeterred:

Men’s Basketball Returns Looking To Finish What It Started Last Season

By Kaiyo Funaki kaiyo.funaki@gmail.com The growing influx of Pacific Islanders finding representation in sports does not come as a surprise for those who share the culture, but it is still a prideful thrill nonetheless. This belief is reflected in a joke told among those of Samoan heritage: Their biggest exports are tuna, military troops, and football players.

For most Pacific Islanders, playing sports does come easily.

Some credit their natural knack for competition or perhaps their larger physique. City College defensive lineman Kahiau “Dino” Kahaulelio, who is of Hawaiian descent, recognized football as one of the predominant sports that he felt his culture was built for.

"They've been someone that many people have to lean on."

Similarly, Rams defensive lineman Caleb Lagafua understood he was different growing up.

As a second-generation TafunaSamoan, he would occasionally get in trouble for playing too rough with the other kids when he was younger—not on purpose but simply because he was stronger.

Certainly, there are recognized traits players embody to succeed in the sport. “You have to be big, you have to be strong, you have to be fast. We mostly fit those three categories extremely well, and it gives us opportunities in life that sometimes other sports don’t give you. I think football was really the best option for us,” Kahaulelio said While football was also a way for him to connect with his father and much of his family, Kahaulelio also believed that the sport could be used as a platform for further opportunities in life, such as scholarships and education.

“Most Polynesian families, their parent’s didn’t go to college.

They got jobs straight out of high school to support their families, or they didn’t have any other options besides going to work,“ he said.

“So having football as an escape is a way for us to go out and get a better education and get better jobs to help support our families.”

As the youngest boy of 11 cousins, Lagafua recognized the importance of family in his culture. Some of his cousins grew up in tough neighborhoods, like Hunter’s Point in San Francisco.

He strived to set an example that success can be achieved despite distractions and undesirable influences.

“I play not just for me, but I also play for my cousins, for my nephews and nieces, and to show that there’s other ways to get out here,” Lagafua said.

Having 45 cousins himself,

defensive lineman Jahvius Leur is more than comfortable with the camaraderie of a team sport. A third generation of Samoan descent, Leur felt that while most Pacific Islanders have a unique physique, they also have specific characteristics necessary for football.

His family instilled qualities, such as tough skin and an easygoing nature. He said that growing up in a “lively household” allowed him to carry over that attitude onto the field, where supporting one another is imperative.

This belief resonated with Kahaulelio, who said, “Most Polynesians have grown up in situations where they’ve been around a lot of family members.

They’ve been someone that many people have to lean on, so having that ability to not only lead a group of people but to be dependent on is a big thing that probably helps escalate them into the NFL.” One of the largest active NFL players today is Vita Vea - 6’4” and just under 350 pounds. He is not only of Tongan descent but a household name in the Bay Area for football fans and players alike.

Being a local boy himself, Lagafua remembered having several friends who grew up with Vea’s family. Watching Vea’s success, which he attributes in part to his own parents who migrated from Tonga, was a source of pride for the Pacific Islander community.

Lagafua said he still recalls the day the Tampa Bay Buccaneers drafted Vea. His mom, who has always emphasized the importance of education, looked straight at him and said, “You think I was playing?” drilling in her reminder to keep focused on making grades (and plays) to have a successful

future.

Lagafua said, “[My mom] would always tell me ‘I’m happy for you and your accomplishments in football, but those accomplishments won’t mean anything later down the line if you can’t finish it.’”

A darker side of the culture stems from a rivalry between Tongans and Samoans. But Lagafua was quick to point out how much that is changing, considering he has cousins who are of both ethnicities. Like Leur said, “We’re a team—we don’t care about skin color.”

A progressive shift for recent

"That ability to not only lead a group of people but to be dependent." generations is this ability to acknowledge but see past ethnicity. While giving a nod to their physical strengths, there is always more than meets the eye. It is more than what they bring to the field, but the experience and ability to bring people together from a multitude of backgrounds.

Like Lagafua said, being on the football team with like-minded teammates feels like home. Their culture keeps them united, but on the field, everyone is family.

He said, “There’s people from all different walks of life. Everybody’s going through something, and it’s amazing that even though we’re all struggling in different ways, we can all come together for a common goal.”

Photo courtesy of the Athletics Department.

Rams Seek to Dominate Upcoming Hoop Season to Capture State Title

By Seamus Geoghegan dchin20@mail.ccsf.edu Remaining unbeaten in their 2020 season, the men’s basketball team is looking to continue its reign after a long hiatus due to COVID-19.

The team won all 30 of the games they were able to play before the season was cut off just before they were able to compete for what would have been their fifth state championship.

Guard Ezekiel Holman recalls it being difficult for the squad, who was so close to achieving another trophy for City.

“It was very rough having the season cut short,” Holman said. “That team especially was so close, we only had ten guys that really played and got quality minutes so we were all pretty in tune with how each other played which made for some pretty entertaining basketball.”

After the season was called off, players were left to train and prepare on their own. Guard Seyi Reiley spent as much time as possible training and watching basketball while

taking care of his family in Oregon, hoping to come back for another season of basketball at City. “[The team] wasn’t doing anything at City because everything was shut down. I was training really hard in my high school gym with a trainer who was a friend of mine.”

Reiley said. “I was so excited to get back. I knew that I’d done so much work, and I was just waiting to put it out there, to show it off.”

The side got back to practicing in the spring, but what they were able to do was greatly limited.

Certain contact drills and scrimmages were eliminated from training sessions, leaving the squad bound until restrictions eased up.

Despite that, Reiley could tell his team had put in as much effort outside of team practices as he had over the break.

“I think a lot of guys put in a lot of work in the offseason. And it definitely showed because our practices aren't easy.” Reiley said.

“So when you get back out there, it's really hard cardio and if your body is not in shape it's going to show pretty fast.”

Despite the much longer break between seasons and the strange circumstances surrounding their preseason, Coach Justin Labagh isn’t worried.

“I think everybody else is in the same boat,” Labagh said. “We have some big guys that are gonna take a little more time to develop, but if we can get them up to their potential, we’re gonna be really, really good.”

So far, the team has dominated in their preseason matches, winning all of their games by at least a 20 point margin.

With the great performances put on by the squad in the preseason, Holman is confident that his side is more ready than ever for their regular season.

“I would say that this team this year is very prepared for next, and I’d attribute that to just repetition.”

Holman said. “We’ve all gotten pretty used to playing with each other” “We have a really good squad this year, a lot of talented guys,” Reiley said, “I feel like everything's clicking for us, we just have to gel a little better and to get our defense down...we're going to be very, very dangerous.”