Category Archives: Editorials

School of America, Nogales Demonstration

Pacifica Voice

December 1, 2018, Author: Delia McGrath

Every year during our Day of the Dead ritual/celebration in my home, my good friend Carolyn says the name of Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez in our circle of remembrance. We hold him present in our hearts for that moment. The beautiful mural of Jose Antonio who was only 15 when in 2012 he was shot and killed by US Border patrol. They shot him from the US side of the wall; yet, Jose was on the Mexican side of the wall throwing rocks. Last Saturday, I saw that mural and heard the story while attending the annual “SOA Watch” weekend event — this year held at the Nogales Border — the 29th year of this demonstration. Jose’s grandmother was there to share the story of the death of her grandson.

Formerly called the “School of the Americas” our mission was/is to “shut it down.” It is one of the most shameful projects of the US Army. It is a training institute located at Fort Benning, Georgia, where 26 of the “SOA Watch” weekends have taken place. [In 2013, I traveled to Fort Benning, Georgia to bear witness just as I went to Nogales this past weekend.] The institute has been renamed [WHINSEC] to conceal its odious reputation; its purpose remains unconscionable: to recruit police and military personnel from Latin American countries and train them in assassination techniques, the formation of death squads and how to carry out different forms of torture that can be used by military regimes and dictatorships against the citizens of their respective countries. Some of the SOA graduates have gone on to carry out such heinous acts as the murder of Archbishop Oscar Romero [now a canonized saint in the Catholic Church] of El Salvador as well as the rape/murder of 4 churchwomen [including 2 of our Maryknoll Sisters, one of whom I knew personally from the Novitiate] and the 6 Jesuit priests and their housekeeper and daughter. Even more heinous have been the massacres of thousands of poor people in villages in Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua over the last several decades. Massive number of bodies have been found in open graves in these places.

SOA Watch switched to Nogales three years ago because our own Border Patrol agents are now being trained in Fort Benning to carry out terrible atrocities against migrants, desperate to find refuge. Many poor people are trying to enter the US, fleeing from the horrific violence of repressive governments, gang criminals in their countries. They are — just like you and I —  hoping to have a good life. And they come here to the US.

The weekend was full of stories, speakers, music, connections with the thousands of people young and old who arrived in Nogales to participate and to learn. I urge you to check out an amazing documentary when it is released, hopefully in early 2019. “Undeterred” is the title; the filmmaker is Eva Lewis. The movie documents what is happening with the thousands of migrants who try to cross our borders after traversing the Sonoran Desert in Mexico and extending well into Arizona. Members of the small border town of ARIVACA, AZ have been trying to help them when they can. They put out water for the people walking on foot through miles and miles and miles and for days and days without food and water to get here. The movie shows both the strength of people who want a better life, their courage and commitment to sustain the hardships their journeys entail AND the humanitarian people in that little town of ARIVACA! It breaks your heart and warms your heart to watch this movie. We also met several of the people from that town who came for the screening of the film.

Finally, the most powerful event of the whole weekend was the “litany” on Sunday morning at the wall. You see me in one of the photos bending down holding a white cross with the name Luis Eduardo Sierra on it. The names of many of the people who have been killed as well as the bodies of those who have been found in the Sonoran Desert are called out one by one. And each time, we held up the white crosses and said “Presente” — meaning that we are here to remember and to pay honor to the person whose name was called. The list included those who were killed by “graduates of SOA” in their home countries as well as those who died making their arduous journeys to find refuge here. When I heard Ita Ford’s name called out, I was overwhelmed with emotion. Ita was the Maryknoll Sister I knew. I wept for everyone. These were not peaceful deaths, nor necessary.

I can give you so much more information but for now, I will sign off. Please let me hear from you and let me know what else you would want to know.

The Flight and Plight of Transgender People Seeking Asylum in the US

Pacifica Voice

December 1, 2018, Author: Blue Murov

In the summer of 2017 16 people formed the 1st Trans-Gay Migrant Caravan fleeing from Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Mexico to the US border to ask for political asylum. Four gay men and 12 transgender women arrived in Nogales, AZ on August 10, 2017. Kimberly, a transgender woman from Honduras made this statement at the border rally, “We have fled from our countries of origin because most people do not accept us as trans girls. The mistreatment against us begins in our families, when they run us from our homes. They take us out of our homes because we are trans girls. Many of us have been abused by gang members, even by the security forces. Even the police themselves have mistreated us, raped us, beaten us.

“In our journey for dignity we have suffered tremendously. We do not want to relive this violence by being referred to detention centers for men where we are at high risk of being sexually assaulted.”

Some members of the Trans-Gay Migrant Caravan had sought political asylum in Mexico believing that the Mexican government would offer them shelter and improved living conditions as LGBT people. “We were wrong. Most of us were denied the right to refugee status. Even though a few of us were granted asylum, we found ourselves reliving the experiences of violence and discrimination that we had suffered in Central America. The Mexican authorities have physically and sexually abused us on several occasions. Employees of the National Institute of Migration of Mexico, for example, tortured many of us to have sex with them. “

ICE detention centers are not ever safe places for transgender, lesbian and gay people. According to information obtained under the Freedom of Information Act from the Department of Homeland Security and from complaints of LGBT human rights advocates, it is documented that LGBTQI people in detention centers are 1.5 times more likely to be sexually violated. In retaliation, several facilities deal with sexual assaults on transgender and queer people by placing them in solitary confinement instead of protecting them from the assaults. Several gay men have been put in isolation by prison officials solely for being effeminate.

Organizations supporting the Caravan had worked really hard with local communities to arrange homes where the young immigrants could stay when they crossed the border. Instead they were immediately taken into custody by ICE, put into detention and held for several months. Information is sketchy but as of October, 2017 nine had been released, five were still being held and three had been deported to Honduras and El Salvador.

By May of this year the situation for transgender migrants and most other people had worsened. The lines of those seeking asylum at the border continue to grow longer and longer. People are waiting weeks before they are even seen. There are little to no facilities to house them while they wait. The shelter CARITAS, in Tijuana that at one time during the caravan received 35+ LGBTQI members of the community, was set on fire according to Diversidad Sin Fronteras.

On May 29th Diversidad Sin Fronteras reported the death of Roxana Hernandez while in US detention. Roxy died due to medical negligence by us immigration authorities in the country where she had hoped to start a new life. She died for being a transgender woman, a migrant who was treated neither with respect nor with dignity.

In October Joselin Beyonce, a black trans indigenous woman, a miskita warrior from Nicaragua and a member of the Trans-Gay Migrant Caravan 2017 was granted asylum. Joselin currently resides in New Mexico where she is working on developing a housing project for women released from Cibola detention. She has also directly supported the fight against trans detention by organizing Zumba classes to fundraise money for commissary.

Diversidad sin Fronteras reported on November 3 that 50+ LGBT migrants walked from Matías Romero to Acayucan, Veracruz on a journey characterized by rejection and discrimination not only by locals but by caravaneers too. They hitchhiked for over 90 miles, mostly being rejected by drivers that insulted and laughed at them. Caravan members threw water, water bottles, and peels at them. While many whistled and mocked them, others waved at them shouting good luck.

“The soñadoras of Centro America”, are in need of the following things:

  1. Clothes (Ropa)
  2. Shoes (Zapatos)
  3. Deodorant (Desodorante)
  4. Razors (Rastrillos)
  5. Soap and shampoo
  6. Socks & underware (calcetines)

If you wish to donate please use venmo to @dsf2018 “Esas, esas que caminan son las transvesties y transexuales de America Latina.

(This article was first published in UltraViolet, June 2018. You can find UV on line at: www.lagai.org)

Fair Rents, Fair Political Practice, and Transparency

Pacifica Voice Posted on by

Suzanne Moore, Treasurer of Pacifica Housing 4 All, received the final word from the Fair Political Practices Commission in a letter dated 6/26/18 from the commission. The letter referred to an FPPC ruling against Fair Rents 4 Pacifica.  “I hesitated to make a statement until we received their decision.  Filings to the FPPC are complaint-driven in nature, and this complaint originated from a Pacifican in opposition to rent control. We were fined for not changing the name of our committee to reflect support for Measure C – we simply did not know this was necessary.  The FPPC said there was no evidence of intent to mislead the public, and I can certainly affirm that.  I believe that we were new to the campaign rules and we did our best to comply – we freely admit the clerical errors and have paid a $3500 fine.”

A complaint filed by Fair Rents 4 Pacifica with the San Mateo County District Attorney in June 2017 was of a different caliber.  It resulted in District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe issuing felony charges against Brad and Jentry Jasperson for falsifying signatures in a Pacifica petition drive.  Criminal proceedings against the Jaspersons are active with the San Mateo County Superior Court.

The signature drive was initiated and paid for by those in opposition to Pacifica Ordinance 814, a temporary moratorium adopted 5/8/17 by Pacifica’s City Council.  The ordinance would have halted high rent increases and no fault evictions until the November 2017 vote on Measure C.  Former Pacifica Mayor, Peter Loeb says, “ We are attempting to ascertain who ran the campaign against the ordinance.  Since the evidence of fraud by the Jaspersons, we have a discrepancy among those claiming responsibility for the drive.  We have been unable to find FPPC campaign financial statements and have asked the FPPC to investigate.”

The petition drive narrowly collected enough signatures to overturn the city council ordinance.  The drive was halted by early submission of signatures:  1100 were rejected by the San Mateo County Election Board including what were later identified as the Jasperson’s fraudulent signatures.  “We were easily collecting more requests to have signatures removed from the petition,” says Gloria Stofan, former Fair Rents 4 Pacifica Steering Committee member.  “We had 50 letters asking for names to be removed from the petition because people were misled by the petition signature gatherers.”  If those 50 letters had been accepted by the San Mateo County Election Board, a mere 13 signatures decided the fate of the ordinance.

Many tenants in Pacifica received hundreds of dollars in rent increases as a result of the ordinance defeat.  Again, Peter Loeb: “The community deserves to know who paid for this campaign, who contributed to it, and how much money was spent.  The tenants hurt by this drive should have this information.”

The FPPC will investigate the complaint against the California Apartment Association, San Mateo County Association of Realtors, and the Coalition For Housing Equality.  All were implicated in a California Apartment Association’s newsletter 5/18/17 as resources in opposition to the Interim Ordinance 814.  Loeb reports, “We know from District Attorney Wagstaffe that several thousands of dollars alone were paid to the petition signature gatherers.   We know that a public relations firm, Griffiths Olson, was hired to run the campaign.  A lot of outside money came into Pacifica to defeat this ordinance.  It was hurtful, and we are seeking to find out who was responsible.”

In a recent letter I drafted, I summarized the common tactics of realty lobbyists experienced by many California communities seeking tenant protection.  Communities including Redwood City, San Mateo, Burlingame, Mountain View, Richmond, Alameda, Oakland, and Santa Rosa can submit evidence of these observations in common:

– hundreds of thousands of dollars spent to oppose tenant right legislation in multiple individual communities,

– denigration of tenants comparing them to criminals and drug users,

– physical threats,

– misleading statements by opponents,

– misleading mailers including an unauthorized use of a Legislative Analyst Office logo.

What can we learn from our experience and that of neighboring communities?

– Recognize the realty lobbyists as biased representatives to protect the profits of their membership.  They are not experts.

– Ask local city councils and legislators to decline funds from these lobbyists.

– Seek accountability from our legislators.

The Fair Political Practices Commission and the San Mateo County Superior Court will take months to come to conclusions on their charges and investigations.  In the meantime, we can notify our legislators of our concerns, monitor corporate campaign financing, and vote in November.

Monica Olsen is a Pacifica homeowner and resident for 55 years.  Monica is a member of Pacifica Housing 4 All and Faith In Action, Bay Area.  She is a retired teacher from Terra Nova and Mercy High Schools.

Negative Campaign a New Low for Pacifica

Pacifica Voice Posted on by

For 12 years as the announcer of the Fog Fest parade, I’ve been asked to announce many groups representing all political persuasions.  But I was shocked to look through this year’s script and see a group of marchers were expecting me to attack our Mayor, John Keener. Since the parade is meant as an opportunity for Pacifica to show our best side to the world, I left out the derisive comments and chose to simply introduce the group by name, Pacificans for Responsible Government. As they marched by, yelling nasty things about our mayor and waving “No Keener” signs I felt sick to my stomach.

I ran into the treasurer of the group, Steve Sinai, and asked him who is funding this negative campaign, and he replied, “SAMCAR .” This was news, since SAMCAR, (San Mateo County Association of Realtors) spending money to denigrate our mayor at FogFest is not normal.  I posted as much on Nextdoor, and was quickly corrected, SAMCAR actually had not funded the group. When I pointed out that their treasurer had told me otherwise, Steve Sinai himself admitted on Nextdoor that he had in fact made it up. His exact quote was “I said it because I knew that’s the answer you wanted Ian. It’s like a child asking if there’s a Santa Clause and you say ‘Yes’.”

Why would he lie? My best guess is so I would spread misinformation, and could then be discredited for spreading misinformation. That’s not my idea of “Responsible Government,” but par for the course for a guy whose blog FixPacifica published a slew of hateful comments about Mayor Jim Vreeland the week of his tragic death, while censoring polite requests for civility. (Reminiscent of Trump’s treatment of McCain after his death.) He now is slinging mud regarding another candidate’s driving record. These tactics are more in line with Breitbart than Pacifica, where the candidates are our friends and neighbors.

I belatedly did my due diligence and looked into the finances of their group, learning that, while they may not be funded by SAMCAR, 5/6 of their money comes from a $5,000 donation by Tom Thompson, a realtor who lives and works in San Mateo. So, not SAMCAR, but nevertheless, an out of town realtor has bankrolled the first purely negative campaign in Pacifica’s modern history. (Perhaps that fact is what Steve was attempting to obfuscate.)

I then learned that the same realtor has given $1,500 each to Sue Beckmeyer, Mike O’Neill, and Vickie Flores, the 3 candidates bankrolled by outside realtors (including, $2,500 each from, wait for it…SAMCAR). I had a chance to meet with them, and asked each if they condemn the negativity and whether they would return the money from Mr. Thompson. None of them said they would return the money, but to their credit O’Neill and Flores both strongly condemned the negative campaign. As Mike put it, “That’s out of bounds and fuels more negative Washington style politics in Pacifica.” And Vickie agreed, saying, “I don’t think you need to be a bully.”

Only Sue Beckmeyer refused to condemn the group’s tactics, defending Mr. Thompson’s right to meddle in our elections because “he owns a rental property here.” She did suggest he should “focus on issues, not individuals.”

For another perspective, I asked Mary Bier, a candidate who is not supported by outside realtors, for her thoughts and she put it succinctly, “It breaks my heart that we have come to a place where it’s okay to march down the street disrespecting a civil servant.”

Speaking of that civil servant, some wondered why John Keener wasn’t at the FogFest like the other candidates. Was he afraid of a showdown? Didn’t he care enough to show his face? I asked him and he replied, “I attended the board retreat of Peninsula Green Energy, the supplier of clean energy to San Mateo County, greater than 80% greenhouse gas free, and 5% cheaper than PG&E. We discussed (among other things) plans to subsidize electric vehicles for low-income folks, build charging stations, and promote shifting from gas-powered to all electric buildings.” So while the other candidates were basking in the limelight, and out of town special interests were loudly insulting him, Mr. Keener was at work quietly advocating for our interests. Imagine that.

Say No to GOP-Trump Politics in Pacifica. Say Yes to Pacifica for ALL Pacificans

Pacifica Voice Posted on by

Most American & Pacifica voters oppose the influence of special interest money in politics as undemocratic. Buying influence negates the power of our individual votes for any political office, including City Council. Equally troubling, big money=dirty politics=dishonest smear campaigns. Any candidate who accepts $$ tied to this money is culpable for the dishonest smear campaign

Thanks to required State campaign contribution disclosures (Fair Political Practices Commission/FPPC) found on our City’s website, you can follow the money as of Oct 15: City Council conservative candidates Sue Beckmeyer, Mike O’Neill and Vickie Flores ALL received the majority of their campaign funding from out of town real estate interests. Counting direct/independent expenditure funding, Sue Beckmeyer received 58% of her total funding from out of town real estate interests. Realtor Mike O’Neil has received 64%, and Vickie Flores has received 73%.

Top funders were the National Association of Realtors, based in Chicago which spent $11,000 dollars for advertising for each of the three candidates (over $33,000 total), and the California Association of Realtors which gave $8,500 across these three Realtor-linked candidates. Realtor Thomas Thompson and his wife, who live in San Mateo, contributed $8,500 to three Realtor-linked candidates in total. There were NO labor donations to these candidates despite claims otherwise. The other 4 Council candidates received zero outside real estate $$.

The outside Realtor Groups and interconnected local Political Action Committees are behind the disturbing and disgusting smear campaign against Mayor John Keener-a new low for Pacifica. A key connection is San Mateo Realtor Thomas Thompson (see above) who contributed over 80% of the funding to the PAC Pacificans for Responsible Govt AND separately gave $$ to each of the 3 Realtor-linked Candidates. Pacificans for Responsible Govt funded the 1st smear mailer, California Assoc. of Realtor funded the 2nd smear mailer and National Association of Realtors funded the 3rd smear mailer. The Realtor-funded Candidates deny a link to the smear campaign, but these numbers don’t lie. They also refused to return their campaign contributions linked to the smear campaign.

If these outside Realtor Groups can pay to smear our Mayor, then they can buy our City Council. I know honest hard-working Mayor Keener and his track record personally, and have worked with him on reducing climate change impacts & solving the pollution problem at Linda Mar Beach. He is independent, fiscally conservative and genuinely cares about our community. These fake news mailers are full of GOP/Trump-style lies & viscous attacks. Pacificans need to pay extra attention, separate facts from lies and insist on integrity. Civil debate is healthy, but dishonest smear campaigns and special interest $$ campaigns must be called out as undemocratic and harmful to our community.

If money corrupts power/politicians, then don’t vote for City Council candidates who have compromised their integrity by accepting tainted outside money. Stop this trend. Go to the City election webpage if you want more information. Protect Pacifica for ALL Pacificans