GANG INJUNCTIONS (12/12/07)
|
The gang injunctions we see imposed today all over San Francisco are a carry over from those imposed in Los Angeles. While thousands get killed in and around Los Angeles - San Francisco is pretty stable.
During the last 12 years or so in San Francisco our City and County has chosen NOT to invest in those areas where people of color make a living. It has especially chosen NOT to invest in youth - youth that need help most. The City and County of San Francisco is Racist and there is a deliberate attempt being made to lead many youth in the direction of incarceration. Our San Francisco Board of Supervisors does not have the ability to comprehend this deliberate tactic. One has just to visit the Juvenile Detention Centers and see for one self. One has just to visit the Public schools and talk to those few teachers that care and those that offer limited counseling to the youth. The Wellness Centers and the very few doctors that have gone out of their way to help the youth in need when they reach for quality psychological help. Mayor Gavin Newsom talks the talk but he cannot walk the walk. He can spend time with his extra curricula activities but has NOT spent one single day with the youth. He is so phony that the youth laugh at him - especially the youth that need help most. San Francisco youth are smart and time and time again - they have shown their ability to shine. Just give them a chance and they will prove their worth. How ever you cannot put down our youth and then expect them to deliver. They have their dignity and if no one will respect them - do not expect them to deliver - on any fool's terms. In recent years the City Attorney - Dennis Herrera who is a coward has chosen to target the youth in neighborhoods that are poor and do not have a mechanism to deal with the corrupt City government. He favors gentrification, depopulation, and aiding and abetting BIG developers. Community Based Organizations that receive money from the City and County of San Francisco are afraid to speak up - if they do - their funding is cut off. Shame on Mayor Gavin Newsom and his thugs for using tax payers' money - to keep some good Community Based Organizations from doing the right thing. When the community expresses itself without fear - that is when the City and County of San Francisco can really fathom the hurt and the help that is needed. Our youth are suffering especially in the Southeast Sector of San Francisco where over twenty five percent of them live. I meet and talk to the youth daily and most of time I listen. What I listen is painful, they want help - just the basic facilities and amenities to compete, learn, develop, share, and be good citizens. Again and again the forces that be including the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) that is now totally dysfunctional uses the youth as a ploy. Some SFPD - the rednecks who ship themselves into San Francisco to earn a pay check and have no commitment for the betterment of San Francisco and less the youth that need help most. We have a San Francisco Youth Commission but no one gives these youth an opportunity to learn about issues. The SF Youth Commission did not take a stand against the Gang Injunction. They did not because they were and are not educated on issues. And say the Youth Commission did - they would be shunned and their limited funding cut. The SF Youth Commission was formed to give the youth of San Francisco a chance but what I see from the what comes from the SF Youth Commission - is a very slow process meant to stifle empowerment and less commitment to the needs of our youth in San Francisco. Too much talk and very little action. Gang Injunctions are meant to create fear and our populations in the poor neighborhood will not succumb to fear. Only ignorant fools such as the SF Gang Task Force and the stupid policies of coercion led by some dumb leaders in City Government and Law Enforcement - use fear as a ploy. So far these ploys have failed and will fail. Thousands are now united and united - they will meet the challenge. Where there is darkness light will be shed. At the recent Gang Injunction hearing - we were NOT surprised to hear that there was no exit policy, that the criterion used to enforce Gang Injunction had no determining factors, that vague language and fake Resolutions are used to mistreat poor folks and mostly of color. We live in a Democracy and the least we can do is exercise our rights. In San Francisco where the United Nations was formed we are abusing the Rights of the Poor and those that cannot defend themselves. This is a shame. The present Gang Injunction without Public Input tells the world that San Francisco has lost its decency and its Moral Compass. |
