West Sacramento and the Broderick Boys

First, I should say that I have a Hispanic last name. I do speak a little bit of Spanish, but I am not Latina. I'm white and Native American, a born and raised California girl. And by my coloring I look white. My facial features aren't exactly white, but people look at your color before they look at anything else. So I'm identified by our society as "white".

In any case, my rant of the day is about the gang injunction in West Sacramento. The DA managed to get some doofus judge to ok a gang injunction against Latinos in our town, supposedly a gang, called the Broderick Boys. It was then overturned, so the cops and the DA are busy claiming that we're going to be overrun with crime if it isn't immediately reinstated.

Now, I live in Broderick. It's a nice little area. Very blue collar. Small 50s houses, all lined up in rows. Maybe three square miles total.

Once upon a time, this area was more gritty. Yes, that is true. I live over in what used to be known as the Mexican side of town. This is where the working class people lived, worked, died. But when the housing market started booming, a lot of people sold their houses and moved on. Then the local slumlords discovered they could make LOT more money by fixing up their houses and selling them. Some of the lower income renters lost their housing and had to move to other parts of Sacramento. Middle class people (like me) who were priced out of the market in other areas started moving in. The neighborhoods started getting fixed up, the little run-down houses got new paint, trees trimmed, remodeled. The older parts of West Sacramento, including the Broderick area, have become quite nice.

But, but, but, the Yolo County District Attorney thinks that there is a huge gang problem out here. So an injunction was secretly obtained. The cops had free rein to harrass anyone that they determined to be a Broderick Boy. We, the residents, didn't even know about this injunction for a couple of months. It wasn't until the West Sacramento Police Department went around notifying people that they'd been found to be members of the Broderick Boys and they couldn't do a lot of things that the rest of us take for granted, that the news started getting out.

Among the illegal restrictions of this injunction, anyone who'd been identified as a Broderick Boy had 10pm curfew, could not be seen drinking alcohol, could not be around each other or others known to be members of the Broderick Boys. They could be together at church or school, but they couldn't go there together. In other words, they were restricted from activities that the rest of us take for granted. By the terms of the injunction, people couldn't go to family events, hang out at the park, visit relatives. They couldn't even have Thanksgiving or Christmas get-togethers at their own families' homes!

So, who determines if you are or aren't a Broderick Boy? Take a wild guess. Yup, it's the cops. So anyone who lives in Broderick and has olive or brownish skin is at risk of being labeled a Broderick Boy. And on top of everything else, there is no way to appeal. If they decide you're a Broderick Boy, it's a lifetime sentence, without a judge or a jury.

Fortunately the injunction was overturned on appeal.

Now the DA is trying to get the injunction reinstated. Unfortunately for him, the residents of West Sacramento are now aware of the bigoted and prejudiced methodology that he used in the past, and we're fighting back. There is NO need for this injunction. The DA claims we need this to keep the citizens safe.

Hmmm, and what about the trampling of the Civil Rights of our neighbors? What kind of life will we all lead if this treatment of our neighbors is allowed? This will affect all of us here in Broderick in the end. Anyone who thinks differently is blind to the realities. The cops will have free rein to harrass anyone they want. All they have to do is label my neighbor, you or me as a gang member, and our freedoms will go down the tubes. It's a slippery slope and the DA is trying to push us right over the edge.

The good news is that we're fighting back. We still live in America and we still have rights -- freedom of speech, freedom to assemble, freedom to live and work side by side, white, Asian, Latino, Black. And we have the right to be free from the tyranny of a government and its agents that seek to divide us.

We will not be divided.

We will not be labeled by the color of our skin nor the origins of our ancestors. We will speak out against profiling and prejudice and bigotry and racism.

Now we're all in the same gang.

Now we're all Broderick Boys.

Links: http://www.reason.com/news/show/34073.html www.westsacramento-gang.blogspot.com/2005/06/from-martha-garcia-spokesperson.html www.aclunc.org/cases/cases_to_watch/california_v._broderick_boys.shtml www.aclunc.org/issues/criminal_justice/broderick_boys_injunction_continues_to_tear_apart_neighborhood

Musings On Racism - Part I

The argument of the day was about racism.

My Brother Pots believes that People of Color can't be racists. My Brother Neo believes anyone can be a racist and exhibit racist behavior.

My belief is that, unfortunately, we won't be able to agree on a definition of the term, nor find that precise dividing line between prejudice and racism. Why? Because we all have one unique view. Neo has one. Pots has another experience and perception. I have a third. Ku-ku has a fourth. SR has a fifth. Birdlady has a sixth. And so on.

We can all probably agree on the worst of racists, they pretty much define themselves. But then let's take a different angle. There was a time when many white people really believed that our Brothers and Sisters of Color were inferior beings. That the KKK was an acceptable organization. That all Blacks should go back to Africa, there was no place in our society. Etc, etc, etc. There is a whole history built upon those beliefs and behaviors.

On the flip side of the coin, most of the Black people I have known do not think that whites are inferior beings, nor do they support organizations dedicated to keeping whites "in their place" or a race war. They don't [generally] tell whites to go back to Europe. Some may not LIKE white people at all, but don't have the extreme viewpoint that tips into racism.

When we look at the underlying, historical basis, yes, I can completely understand Pots' and others' belief that POC can't be racist. Racism is a depth of hate that many of us really don't comprehend. BUT, since we've grown up in this white dominated society, we wear blinders that keep us from seeing the issues from the point of view of POC. We can't and probably won't ever agree on this point.

To be continued...

Musings On Racism - Part II

Now, don't get me wrong here. I'm not saying it's acceptable to be hateful to others, in general we can agree to be civil if we choose. Or not if we choose not. (I'm not above calling a pig a pig, my base nature does get away from me at times...)

I think the problem is that we're truly not capable of walking in the other guy's shoes. I recently reread "Black Like Me" and it had a profound effect on my thought processes. John Griffin had NO clue of what he was getting into. If you followed in his footsteps today, you might find that some things that you think have changed -- haven't.

Then my daughter was watching some stupid race switching show (which in general I thought was idiotic) and the white guy who became "Black" still had a gadzillion misconceptions and blindness about what was and was not racist (or bigoted or prejudiced) behavior. It was as if he really, really didn't see it. Yet he kept waiting for someone to call him "n". Of course it didn't happen, respectful adults don't use that term, esp in racially mixed settings.

I can only assume it was because his whole world viewpoint of growing up white made him incapable of seeing that viewpoint from a different perspective -- that of a man who'd grown up Black and had a vastly different world experience.

We really CAN'T walk in each other's shoes.

And if Neo says anyone can be racist and (for example) Pots says POC can't be racist, I really don't see a true conflict here. Because each one is speaking from his own world experience, from literally birth to the present. Each has a valid truth, from his own unique perspective.

It's as if each one is holding up a sheet of paper, pierced with many little round holes. But when he tries to look through the holes, some of them line up, and some don't. Some are the mutual experiences of being Americans, growing up middle class, perhaps in a suburb, etc. And the ones that don't line up, well some have to do with specifics of their respective races and how the world treats them, and some has to do with the dissimilar experiences, like siblings, intact or separated families, country, suburb, city, projects, Nob Hill, whatever.

Our experiences shape who we are.

(And so does our genetic history, but that's another topic -- I think.)