Whether it was the in-your-face racism of the Republicans or the more deceptive racism of the Democrats, leading presidential candidates from both ruling-class parties were taking jabs at San Francisco’s status as a “sanctuary city.” On July 19, a rally in the city’s Mission District hit back.
Earlier this month in San Francisco, an undocumented Mexican immigrant was involved in the shooting death of a woman at Pier 14. Prominent right-wing political figures took the opportunity to push their unapologetic, blatantly racist views in light of the incident. Donald Trump, who currently tops the Republican polls, has brandished his shameful persona as a dangerously bigoted populist demagogue, making the statement: “Mexico pushes back people across the border that are criminals, that are drug dealers. …The American people deserve a wall to protect our jobs, economy, and our safety. I am the only candidate who would build it.”
Prominent liberal figures from the Democratic Party also pounced on the opportunity to take a racist stance on immigration. Hillary Clinton made the statement: “The city made a mistake, not to deport someone that the federal government strongly felt should be deported. … So I have absolutely no support for a city that ignores the strong evidence that should be acted on.”
In San Francisco, local ordinances prevent the police from acting as an extension of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, providing undocumented immigrants with protections not at all guaranteed in other parts of the country. California Senator Diane Feinstein has called for San Francisco to adopt the Department of Homeland Security’s Priority Enforcement Plan, which allows local law enforcement to detain the undocumented, who are already vulnerable in their communities in the face of white supremacy and racist police violence, and hand them over to ICE for deportation. The last thing that SFPD needs is a go-ahead from the feds to further criminalize the city’s Latino community, after already having murdered young Guatemalan immigrant Amilcar Perez-Lopez earlier this year with six shots to the back while he fled for his life, only to have Chief Greg Suhr fabricate the entire incident to make Amilcar look like a criminal.
The ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) Coalition, led by local elementary school teacher and union leader Frank Lara, issued a call to action in conjunction with local radio producer Edi Monterroso, with support also coming from San Francisco mayoral candidate Francisco Herrera and other community members. Under the banner of “#Ni1InsultoMas/ #Not1MoreInsult Latinos Unidos Contra el Racismo,” the statement read in part: “Knowing that our unity gives the strength needed to succeed in respect to our right to live, it is time to stop the discrimination! We don’t accept the insults by national figures like Donald Trump, Ann Coulter, or the large and growing list of right-wing Republicans who look to blame the Latino community for the problems of the country. Like in San Francisco, we are against the mass media that looks to use one crime of an undocumented person to criminalize the whole community … we are disgusted by the opportunist Democratic representatives like Hillary Clinton and Diane Feinstein who have criticized the politics of sanctuary cities and whose party has overseen the worst abuse of immigrant rights in a generation.”
Two piñatas in the likeness of Donald Trump accompanied the banners in the demonstration on July 19, which began with a rally in front of the BART station at 16th and Mission streets.
Evelyn Martinez, a local school teacher representing Women Organized to Resist and Defend, accurately summarized the feelings of many in the community by saying: “As usual, before campaigns begin, there’s always a scapegoat. And who are the typical scapegoats? Immigrants. All the time. … No one is going to intimidate us and we’re not going to be divided, we’re not going to be scared, we’re going to stand up for our rights.”
Richard Becker, Western Regional Coordinator of the ANSWER Coalition, spoke on the reactionary tactics of the Trump campaign: “Many white people are deceived if they think white supremacy benefits them, because it’s what divides us, and when working class people are divided, that is the pathway for the rich, for the powerful, the banks, the corporations, to take away everything we need. … All working-class people should stand together to fight for what we need. That’s what the ANSWER Coalition stands for.”
Once the speakers had finished, the first Trump piñata was held from a rope as the community that had gathered sang, cheered, and repeatedly bashed the hated symbol of white supremacy with a large wooden stick. A march then began down Mission street, with marchers holding signs reading, “#DumpTheTrump Fight White Supremacy!” and “#BastaYaTrump ¡A Resistir La Supremacia Blanca!” The multi-national contingent was well received by onlookers who smiled, took literature, and honked their horns in solidarity.
A second round of Trump bashings ended the march as it reached the plaza at 24th and Mission streets, as children, their parents, and others present collected candy from the piñata.
Liberation News then had the opportunity to speak with Gloria Esteva, an undocumented worker who has lived in San Francisco for the last 15 years and is an outspoken activist in the community. She spoke to the meaning of the protest, saying, “In all the Mission, the only ones I see working hard are my community, the immigrants. We are in the hotels, the restaurants, cleaning the houses, we are taking care of the children, we are taking care of the seniors. This space is beautiful like this because of our work. … There is not only people like Trump who are discriminating against us. I know that there are people from everywhere that love us because we are all workers. We love each other because we know what we are worth, we know we have a lot of dignity, our dignity is shown in our work. And we also know that we are the ones that produce the wealth in this country. This country is made of immigrants.
“The Native Americans have never discriminated against us, and they are the ones who really belong to this land. How come they (rich whites) say we can’t be here, if we are here without violence? The ‘pioneers’ who arrived here killed the real owners of this land. They have no moral authority to tell us to go. The only ones that can say anything are the Native Americans and they also love us, because they know we are workers, people of peace, justice, and love. They have accepted us here, I have never seen a Native American telling us to leave this land. So the piñata was a symbol, and as Latinos we know we are not teaching violence to our kids, what we are teaching them is to organize themselves. And the symbol of the piñata is to practice our courage.”
With the presidential election campaigns gaining momentum, it is crucial that every reactionary attack on the poor, working, and oppressed people in this country is combated from a unified basis of class solidarity against the racist, bigoted, and imperialist ideas that make the United States so “exceptional.”
