Posts Tagged ‘San Francisco’

Recap of Netroots Nation San Francisco Event

// January 15th, 2010 // No Comments » // Immigration, Racism

I had the pleasure of attending a fantastic Netroots Nation event yesterday where once again, advocates brought up the terrible idea of ‘piecemeal approaches,’ derided DREAM advocates and then proceeded to say that the best we could hope for is that things do not get worse in this climate.

A speaker from Nancy Pelosi’s office told us all that we did not have votes to pass the DREAM Act and that they were looking towards President Obama to frame the issue. The CHC was NOT going to support any ‘piecemeal approach.’ That was the best they could do. It was so positively empowering for all the young people in the room. My immigrant youth friend and I gained a lot from the event; we realized that we should skip going to anything where we are not represented.

I believe the most enlightening quote of the night was from the Asian Law Caucus representative, who said “the only thought out there in the universe promoting a piecemeal immigration effort is MALDEF.” Fantastic. The only thought in my head after hearing that is DUMB. Don’t get me wrong. I totally support comprehensive immigration reform but anything short of a complete overhaul (including the inclusion of UAFA) is ‘piecemeal’ so I will never understand why young immigrants are so derided for taking reins of their own cause. It’s like accusing queers of only wanting marriage for themselves. Now regardless of what we think about marriage, WHO goes around saying that?

Now of course, people will be clamoring to ‘talk to me’ about ‘MY issues’ after the fact, which is so typical of our (racist) hierarchical power structure. The outspoken queer woman of color (aka B-I-T-C-H) has ‘issues’ of course and everyone else doesn’t. Now why is it that people of color have to be offended before being taken seriously and called for dialogue? Don’t bother answering that because I am highly disinterested in wasting an iota of my precious time talking to anyone and their lackeys.

This is precisely what happens when immigrants and immigrant youth get purposely left out of panels concerning their own issues even by so-called allies. I repeatedly asked to be included on the panel concerning “online organizing for immigration rights” only to be told that there was no space for me. Literally. And I have no interest in listening to citizens talk about immigrants and “their rights.” That’s like being gay and sitting in a room where straight people are lecturing about tenets of the LGBT movement. My mind is not colonized enough to accept that.

For the ‘white liberal racist’ we are mere tokens, only for interest when it comes to collecting stories and posing for documentaries. And when their million-dollar strategies fail to bear fruit, we are blamed for ‘ineffective advocacy.’ We, the immigrant youth, fighting to keep our homes, find and hold down jobs, somehow get 3 meals per day and struggling to grapple with refugee status in our own homes just did not try hard enough to lobby for ourselves. We failed even though we are mere caricatures in a simulated game.

Luckily for us, I know how to create alternative spaces so people haven’t been able to entirely put the ‘ignore and discard’ stamp on us. You can’t control messaging online, and that is why real voices are more powerful, more successful than the mutts guarding traditional gates would like.

I am in the “moving on” and “moving out” process in my life. This chapter is so closed that it hardly matters. It’s NEVER going to come in the way of my actual life what with full tuition offers from law schools filling up my mailbox. But I thought I would mention it in passing to the other ships still blindly navigating the waters in the dark to nowhere. Your biggest opposition is not the ignorant anti-immigrant foes with their copy-paste comment spam. Your biggest opposition is the attrition you will face from people supposedly on your own side. Trust no one. Good luck.

Testifying at San Francisco Immigrant Rights Commission

// October 28th, 2009 // No Comments » // Immigration

Comprehensive Immigration Reform Symposium:
San Francisco’s Role in Shaping National Immigration Policy

November 9, 2009
5:30- 8:00 p.m.
State Building, Milton Marks Auditorium
455 Golden Gate Avenue
San Francisco, California

SYMPOSIUM DESCRIPTION: The purpose of this Symposium is for the Immigrant Rights Commission to hear from national experts on comprehensive immigration reform and obtain guidance on how local governments, commissions and community organizations can weigh in on the issues. This symposium serves as the Commission’s monthly meeting for November 2009. A five-member expert panel will (a) contextualize the immigration policy debate and discuss prospects for passage of immigration reform by Congress; (b) summarize the main issues of new proposed reform bill(s); and (c) provide recommendations to the Immigrant Rights Commission on how San Francisco can best impact immigration policy. Three community members will relate their immigration experiences at the end of the panel discussion.

ABOUT THE IMMIGRANT RIGHTS COMMISSION (IRC): The mission of the IRC is to improve, enhance and preserve the quality of life and civic participation of all immigrants in the City and County of San Francisco. The IRC is charged with the primary duty of providing advice and making recommendations to the Mayor and Board of Supervisors on issues affecting immigrants working and residing in the City. This symposium will help the Commission recommend improved immigration policies. For more information, please visit our website www.sfgov.org/immigrant.

ABOUT THE OFFICE OF CIVIC ENGAGEMENT & IMMIGRANT AFFAIRS (OCEIA): OCEIA promotes civic participation and inclusive policies that improve the lives of San Francisco’s residents, particularly immigrants, newcomers, underserved and vulnerable communities. The Office is responsible for a broad range of areas, including: the 2010 Census, language rights, civic engagement initiatives, immigrant affairs, and community education and outreach.

AGENDA

Item No. Title and Description Approximate Time
1. Call to order and roll call 3 minutes
2. Welcome & Introductions
Commissioner Angus McCarthy, Chair 7 minutes

3. Greetings by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, 13th Assembly District and Mayor/Board President 10 minutes

4. Opening Remarks by Elected Officials 10 minutes
5. Keynote Address: Framing the Immigration Reform Debate
Dan Siciliano 12 minutes
6. Panel Discussion on CIR
• Panelists Remarks (3-5 minutes each)
• Invited Testimony to Panelists (10-15 minutes- Dream Act Candidate, Business Owner, Family)
• Moderated Panel Discussion (20 minutes) 60 minutes
7. Public Comments 30 minutes
8. Adjournment End by 8pm

BART – New Media, Old Services

// July 7th, 2009 // No Comments » // Sports

BART is getting new media savvy, especially since the Oscar Grant shooting incident, but unfortunately, that doesn’t translate into better services.

My bike seatpost with a women’s saddle was stolen on July 4th at Civic Center in front of the agents booth at 7th and Market.

I twittered my complaint to @sfbart, who told me:

@MaverickLal101 hi, there is contact info here where you can make a report of it: http://twurl.nl/hnc16s

So as per instructions, I emailed the Chief of BART Police and the appropriate officers with my complaint. All I got was an apology:

Dear Mr./Ms. Lal:

I regret the loss of your bicycle seatpost. One would assume that a bike would be safe and secure in front of the agent’s booth. But, unfortunately, when the booth is left unstaffed, that presents an opportunity for a thief and other wrong-doers.

Sincerely,

Gary Gee
Chief of Police

Pssst, it probably happened on their watch. The replacement for the three parts comes up to around $80-$100.

Yesterday, I went janitorial with my mom so she has promised to fork over some spare cash for it. Still, when is BART going to take responsibility for thefts that happen on their watch?!

Revisiting the Letter from Birmingham Jail and a Report on Join the Impact San Francisco 11/15

// November 19th, 2008 // 2 Comments » // All things LGBT

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I have already written about how tolerance discourse has been twisted by the media and proponents of H8 to characterize us as militants, unlawful, undemocratic, fascist and even terrorists.

To every person that is pro-gay marriage but bewildered and unsupportive of the uprising among LGBT people and allies, this paragraph by Dr. King is quite apt and to the point:

First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.” Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.

Forget the moderate who wants to wait for laws to change. I am disappointed with the ‘liberal’ that believes in equal rights but votes to ban ‘gay marriage.‘ I am disgusted with the undocumented students around America who call for an end to discrimination against immigrants but post ‘Yes on H8′ videos. I am annoyed at so-called gay icons acting like ‘Uncle Toms’ of the gay community telling us not to ask for ‘marriage rights.’

Stop telling the LGBT community to ‘wait’ for change; stop telling us to not demand our civil rights. Playing ‘Mr. Nice Gay’ and ‘waiting’ has gotten us to this juncture where discrimination has been shamefully written into the California Constitution. As Dr. King wrote in the Letter from Birmingham Jail:

We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was “well timed” in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word “Wait!”… This “Wait” has almost always meant “Never.” We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that “justice too long delayed is justice denied.”

Now is not the time to ‘wait and watch.’

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San Francisco May Become First City in the United States to Decriminalize Prostitution

// October 22nd, 2008 // No Comments » // All things LGBT, Anti-Capitalism, Political Theory

And Michael Foucault wishes from his grave that he could have lived 25 years more had it not been for his misadventures in Iran.

(Hey, I love Foucault)

The jibe was in reference to his opposition to the repression of human sexuality and how governments had made ‘prostitution’ into a social problem. Government control of ‘prostitution’ does not just entail repressive mechanisms (following from Foucault’s repressive hypothesis), but has also created acceptable prostitution (the billion-dollar porn industry) and unacceptable ones (people forced to work the streets out of sheer desperation)

The ballot question technically would not legalize prostitution, since state law still prohibits it, but the measure would eliminate the power of local law enforcement officials to go after prostitutes.

Often, innocent transgendered and transsexuals are targeted by law enforcement for just ’standing there’ – That should stop.

The first thought in my head upon hearing about Proposition K was a Why Not? Whoring is already decriminalized Re:Capital Hill, handsomely rewarded and more virulent! Does it matter whether it’s whoring out your body, your conscience or your principles? San Francisco district attorney Kamala Harris is protesting that ‘prostitution is not a victimless crime’ – Yes Ms. Harris, the American people know that by now.

Our bourgeois, not content with having the wives and daughters of their proletarians at their disposal, not to speak of common prostitutes, take the greatest pleasure in seducing each other’s wives.

Alas, our wives and daughters are not enough. Now they are whoring out our livelihoods.

Vote Yes on Prop K

When Sanctuary equals shooting self in the foot – Protecting undocumented juvenile “crack dealers”

// July 1st, 2008 // 2 Comments » // Human Rights, Immigration

Disclaimer – I LOVE SAN FRANCISCO

The experiment was a noble one — Instead of complying with federal immigration law, city officials in San Francisco would take on the cost of flying juveniles convicted of drug crimes to their countries. That would prevent federal deportation and criminal proceedings against these youth, giving them a clean slate and fresh start.

I have to give it up for San Francisco. It was a truly progressive, forward-thinking idea until 8 Honduran youth escaped from the Southern California group homes where they were being housed prior to their flights back to Honduras. Now, the city is the laughing stock of the country.

These are the kind of stories that annoy even progressive-minded Americans. Local San Franciscans are angry. Why are their tax dollars being used to fly these youth to their countries when they can be simply handed over to the federal government to prosecute? Well, the city has a sanctuary policy of not complying with federal immigration laws and harboring undocumented residents. Also, law enforcement in San Francisco and Berkeley are generally much more relaxed about drug laws than other places in the country. As a result, we start abusing our SANCTUARY CITY policy to harbor and protect juvenile crack cocaine dealers.

Yes, the alternative is worse from a human rights point of view–we are talking about juveniles after all who probably have no other means of subsistence. The problem is that the battle lines have been drawn and there is no middle ground in our restrictive immigration system. So when stories like these break out, it is tough to defend the “undocumented immigrant” or sanctuary city policies since we are no longer talking about undocumented students, hard-working immigrants who stay out of trouble, or migrant women slaving away in used-clothing factories (re:Houston).

Given by the comments at the SF Chronicle, an overwhelming majority of San Franciscans think the city is absolutely absurd for this sort of behavior. This one is actually in-line with how the city could be more forward-thinking:

Dear Gavin – Please just release them prior to booking, and save us some money. Love, the Taxpayers

Another way of looking at it: Since the 8 Honduran teens escaped the homes, they are now saving taxpayers money by being “productive members of society.”

The problem is not with small-time drug-dealers on the streets; it is with the bigger administration of criminalizing drug use and not attacking the source of the problem. By the same token, the problem does not lie with undocumented juvenile drug offenders, but a neo-liberal globalization that has created dire-enough conditions to perpetuate poverty, crime, hopelessness in many undeveloped and developing regions of the world.

I cannot sit and defend the behavior of the Honduran youth or city officials by providing rationales or excuses. Yet, this does not mean I support federal immigration or drug laws.

What I can do is grin at the goofy policies of San Francisco city officials, some of which have led to great social movements and progress for this state and country.

I know why I usually avoid Gay Pride

// June 30th, 2008 // 4 Comments » // All things LGBT

So after 6 years of absence, I finally decided to volunteer and attend the SF Pride Parade this past weekend. The massive crowds of people, congested public transportation, slew of litter and waste, corporate presence and the loud blaring music just had me fighting a headache by the time I got back home at night. Pride is fun if you want to give a jolt to a regressive relative–just take them to see the trans dancing, dykes on bikes, or the naked men running around.

Jokes aside, somehow, I think the essence of gay pride has been lost to the mammoth corporate advertising and sponsorship–SF Gay pride seems more keen on promoting consumerism than actual LGBT PRIDE. It is no longer about a ‘protest’ of discrimination and violence against homosexuals. I don’t want to support a commercialized ‘gay’ identity but ‘gayness’ is seemingly cool when linked with consumer culture i.e. Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Project Runaway etc.

That said, gay pride is a wonderful spectacle; a spectacle that fills the city coffers more than any other event in the year.

Will I go next year? Yeah, probably.

Sanctuary City – A Civil Disobedience on the Right Side of History

// March 2nd, 2008 // No Comments » // Human Rights, Immigration

In his latest act of civil disobedience, Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco is launching a media campaign to let undocumented immigrants in the City know that San Francisco does not support federal raids and promised to roll out a plan to give identification to all ‘illegal immigrants.’ Obviously, this goes against the recent tide of anti-illegal immigrant hysteria and federal immigration laws, which has authorities agitated.

This is not the first time that Mayor Newsom has expressed an interest in civil disobedience. His last act of civil disobedience involved giving marriage licenses to thousands of gay and lesbian couples, which only got disrupted by court orders. At that time, he was blamed for inspiring Republicans to place anti-gay marriage propositions on the 2004 presidential election ballots that led to a higher turnout of Evangelical Christians, and cost John Kerry the election. If the issue of ‘illegal immigration’ takes center stage in the coming elections and costs the Democrats the White House once again, Newsom and the pro-migrant movement would probably be blamed for having the ovaries to do the right thing.

Sanctuary derives from “a sacred place; a holy spot, a place of refuge and protection.” Since churches started giving sanctuary to asylum seekers from Central America in 1981, many colleges and cities also adopted similar policies. Today, granting sanctuary is no longer a religious exercise, but has taken on political significance-it is an act of civil disobedience, recognition that something is wrong with the status quo and that we need to act outside the boundaries of the Law to bring attention to and rectify those wrongs.

The modern-day sanctuary city can be likened to the Underground Railroads. This is when ‘illegal is illegal’ makes no sense – after all, abetting and aiding runaway slaves was illegal, being black and sitting in the front seats in buses was illegal, fighting against the British for independence was illegal-but do not tell us that these were acts of wrongdoing because that would belie and denigrate the existence of this very Nation-State. Do not tell us that upholding the laws of the United States is ALWAYS morally justifiable and the right thing to do, because we know that is not true.

While I can remain neutral on the subject of sanctuary cities, I support the act of civil disobedience. We have never made necessary changes to the unfair and unjust laws of the United States and we have never made progress in the true sense, without acts of civil disobedience. What makes this time any different?

When Gavin Newsom was making his big “gay gamble,” Barrington Wolff, an assistant professor of law at the University of California, Davis stated that “This is about not wanting to participate in an injustice. He is betting he will be on the right side of history on this issue.”

Ironic as it is, the ‘Right’ is not always right. I can honestly say that we are also on the right side of history on this issue.