San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

You are here: Home / Archives for At Large

A Vote for Summer Stephan and Sheriff Bill Gore Is an Endorsement of Police Brutality

by

By R. Zamora / La Voz Es Fuerza

On July 5, 2017, Christopher Villanueva, a San Diego Sheriff’s Deputy fired 16 hollow-point bullets at my unarmed cousin, Jonathon Coronel. According to the medical examiner’s report, he had 22 gunshot wounds on his very slim body. Hollow point bullets expand upon entering the tissue and cause more pain. Jonathon was tortured to death. He was willing to comply with the law.

There were 155 officer-involved shootings from 2005-2015 in San Diego and they have all been deemed justified by the District Attorney’s office.

The witness at the scene of his murder stated that Jonathon was already on the ground surrendered and shirtless to prove he was unarmed. However, even that blatant form of compliance did not stop Deputy Villanueva from executing him in such a monstrous way. I cried every single day since his death and, alongside his family and other victims’ families of police brutality, demanded justice for his murder.

As if finding out that a loved one was brutally slaughtered to death wasn’t painful enough, the villainization of his character and condoning of that violence by Interim District Attorney Summer Stephans added salt to our wounds. In March 2018, eight months after his murder, Summer Stephans held a press conference regarding Jonathon’s case and ruled the Deputy’s violence justified.   [Read more…]

Bonnie Dumanis: Will She Fool San Diego Again?

by

By Timothy P. Holmberg

In 1998, as a cub reporter for the Gay & Lesbian Times, I was asked by then-publisher Michael Portantino to interview aspiring Superior Court judge candidate, and openly lesbian Republican, Bonnie Dumanis.

I arrived at Hamburger Mary’s (now Mo’s) dutifully on time at 11am sharp, with PR photo of Dumanis in hand, to find her already seated and waiting. Her signature hair was exactly as in her photo, and exactly the same as it is to this day. Dumanis struck me then as someone not indoctrinated to mechanical obedience to party orthodoxy. Her history with San Diego’s drug courts program spoke volumes of her desire to find not only justice but rational solutions. Reform over recidivism.

That Bonnie (apart from the hairdo) is gone.   [Read more…]

Why I Can’t Support Summer Stephan for County DA (and why we need Genevieve Jones-Wright)

by

By Timothy Holmberg

I first met Summer Stephen one early morning as I schlepped into my 7am Rotary meeting. I had decided months ago to join Rotary for the good works at the core of their mission. They also specifically swore off political affiliations or allowing themselves to be used as a platform for the politically aspiring. We had officeholders speak to our group in the past, and all had heeded our organization’s prohibition on politicking at our meetings.

I expected the same of Stephen. I was wrong.   [Read more…]

Interim District Attorney Summer Stephan Did Nothing When I Was Assaulted By White Supremacists

by

My name is William Johnson. I’m an activist here in San Diego and have been a regular at protests since 2011. I go out to march, rally, protest, and demonstrate, because I care deeply about fighting for the civil and human rights of all people, and against institutional poverty, environmental degradation, and militarism. Nowhere in our greater San Diego/Tijuana Metropolitan area are these issues more intersectional than at our border.

This has drawn me to protest there many times, most recently to protest Attorney General Jeff Sessions when he announced his policy to separate all migrant children from their parents, to which I called him “evil”. (And he announced this policy at Friendship Park of all places… The nerve of that man! But I digress…) To many people’s amazement, I walked away from this protest like I do 99% of the protests I attend; unscathed.

This was not the case on December 9th of last year, where I, and some of my friends and allies, were attacked by a group of well-known San Diego-based white supremacists.   [Read more…]

The Wall

by

By Anita Endrezze

The Wall

Build a wall of saguaros,
butterflies, and bones
of those who perished
in the desert. A wall of worn shoes,
dry water bottles, poinsettias.
Construct it of gilded or crazy house
mirrors so some can see their true faces.
Build a wall of revolving doors
or revolutionary abuelas.
Make it as high as the sun, strong as tequila.
Boulders of sugar skulls. Adobe or ghosts.
A Lego wall or bubble wrap. A wall of hands
holding hands, hair braided from one woman
to another, one country to another.
A wall made of Berlin. A wall made for tunneling.
A beautiful wall of taco trucks.   [Read more…]

‘America’s Finest City’ is Worst in Nation in Housing the Homeless

by

By Murtaza Baxamusa / SanDiegoUrbDeZine

San Diego does not have a homeless problem, it has a housing bed inventory problem in comparison to other large cities. The region’s homeless as a percentage of the total population is 12th in the nation, and the five-year trend is relatively flat when including both sheltered and unsheltered homeless. Yet, despite the public outcry, there are still about five thousand unsheltered homeless sleeping on our streets, sidewalks, canyons, riverbeds, parks and open spaces.

One can prognosticate on the individual causes of homelessness, but its pervasive existence suggests that as a society we have failed the most vulnerable amongst us. The homeless crisis across American cities originated with the Reagan cuts to federal housing budgets, and rental housing continued to be underfunded in subsequent administrations. An inadequate patchwork of tax credits and housing vouchers replaced the safety-net provided by now-defunct public housing. It was left to cities and counties to deal with the issue. Compounding the problem was the emergence of family homelessness, as families with children were caught between poverty and lack of affordable housing. To illustrate, evictions rose eightfold during the early 1980s, pushing many families onto the street.

In San Diego, about a hundred families with children spend the night unsheltered. Research shows that the children in these families will likely have developmental difficulties, and will need mental health services even after they are no longer homeless.   [Read more…]

Why Is National City Mayor Morrison Against Rent Control? | A Cartoon Story by Antho

by

By Antho

National City is trying to block efforts spearheaded by National City Families for Fair Housing to put rent control on the November ballot. “Mayor Ron Morrison defended the lawsuit, saying it is intended to address “legality issues” and was not a political move.”   [Read more…]

From Police Reform To Playgrounds, San Diego Coalition Seeks A City Budget For The People

by

By Susan Duerksen / Center on Policy Initiatives

San Diego’s Community Budget Alliance (CBA) has won approval of environmental, labor, police reform, and pedestrian safety projects this year, and will continue to push for more equitable spending throughout the final month of brewing the 2018-19 City budget.

The City Council has several chances in June to modify the proposed budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1. The CBA coalition advocates for budget equity to benefit low-wage working people and underserved communities…

The CBA’s successes in recent years demonstrate the power of direct community advocacy to make changes that improve daily life in San Diego.   [Read more…]

ACLU Documents Show Widespread Abuse of Child Immigrants in U.S. Custody

by

New Report Is Based on Thousands of Government Documents Obtained Through the Freedom of Information Act That Detail Horrific Stories

By ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties

Documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union featured in a new report released today show the pervasive abuse and neglect of unaccompanied immigrant children detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The report was produced in conjunction with the International Human Rights Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School.

“These documents provide a glimpse into a federal immigration enforcement system marked by brutality and lawlessness,” said Mitra Ebadolahi, ACLU Border Litigation Project staff attorney. “All human beings deserve to be treated with dignity and respect regardless of their immigration status — and children, in particular, deserve special protection. The misconduct demonstrated in these records is breathtaking, as is the government’s complete failure to hold officials who abuse their power accountable. The abuse that takes place by government officials is reprehensible and un-American.”   [Read more…]

California Should Not Risk Its Clean Energy Future on Extreme Strategies

by

By Tyson Siegele, SanDiego350

California will soon decide whether to combine its electric grid management with western states dependent on coal mining and coal based electricity. This massive change has been proposed in the form of Assembly Bill 813 and before that in Assembly Bill 726. If passed, either of those bills would provide an avenue for coal-fired electricity to gain access to the California market. This would make the transition to renewable energy even harder.

Unifying California’s grid operations with other western states would be a huge risk. Thankfully better options are available.

Updated 5/21/18   [Read more…]

Prohibition 2018: The Paradox in Recovery

by

A Journey into the Business of Substance Use Recovery, Mandatory Sobriety and their Role in Housing for San Diegans

A relatively recent affliction since my thirties, Alcoholism has followed me cross-country and has disrupted my life in moments when my anxiety peaked and the urge to self-medicate became imperative.

My name is Orlando Barahona and like my father, I inherited a propensity for self-medication. I suffer from two psychiatric diagnoses as well, which I have come to understand as latent elements in what I now brand a spiritual and intellectual myopia.

From a report submitted by the San Diego Housing Commission and the Health and Human Services, there are forty-one organizations offering residential recovery programs in San Diego County, most listed on the Network of Care website by zip code and specific clientele served.   [Read more…]

Drilling Off California’s Coast – A Supremely Bad Idea

by

By Karen Hughes / SanDiego350

The Trump Administration has proposed opening up nearly all our nation’s offshore waters, including off our California shores, to drilling. This Jan. 4, 2018, proposal is a slap in the face to anyone who wants to safeguard this planet we call our home. And we must act now to oppose it.

Damage from Oil Spills — The risks of offshore drilling are undeniable, and most Californians oppose new drilling. Not least among these risks are oil spills which occur during various stages of oil production. Small daily leaks from drilling operations harm the marine ecosystem. A map of Marine life along the Pacific Coast illustrates some of the species potentially harmed by oil spills. And then there’s the very real potential for catastrophic spills.

Most of us will remember the devastating explosion in 2010 at a BP well in the Gulf of Mexico which killed 11 workers on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig. That explosion resulted in an almost three-month-long oil spill, affecting wildlife, marine ecosystems and livelihoods and fouling the shore from Texas to Florida.

  [Read more…]

©2010-2017 SanDiegoFreePress.org

Code is Poetry