SAN MARCOS — In a swift response from the San Elijo community, two separate groups joined together on Sunday, Aug. 9, at the San Elijo Fountain in San Marcos to protest against racism, both nationwide and in their neighborhood.
Recent national attention on racial injustice hit home on Aug. 5 after several San Elijo residents removed a series of white supremacist signs which had been anonymously posted near the homes and schools of local families.
San Elijo resident Anzy Adams organized a rally called “No Space for Hate in San Elijo” as a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Organizers associated with the group provided protesters with a sound system, supplies and security.
Separately, a group of students organized a Black Lives Matter protest at the same time and place, enabling the groups to pool their resources and boost the movement, attracting a total of 50 or 60 people.
“The way that we can change things is by joining together,” Adams said. “We need to unify our causes and work in solidarity with each other, rather than trying to divide ourselves into smaller and smaller groups and different issues. It was just overwhelmingly a positive result and we made lots of great contacts in the neighborhood and had lots of interesting conversations with the neighbors.”
Chanting “No Trump, no KKK, no Fascist USA,” and “Down with fascism, down with Trump,” protesters placed a particular emphasis on the federal election and nationwide change.
Still, Yusef Miller, a leading Black activist in San Diego, spoke to the need for united, consistent activism at the local level — something he’s been fighting for his whole career.
“My life is based on this every single day I wake up,” Miller said. “Every single hour of the day, my life is affected by this climate. So to come out even if you’re not directly affected is impressive to me and I’m thankful for it. I just encourage them not to fizzle out.
“These are national issues, but if we’re not talking to our local officials about it, then we are just following the popularist movement. There’s no way that I’m gonna have a rally and people know about George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and not know about…Earl Mcneil, Vito Vitale, Raul Rivera and Vincent Valenzuela. It would be unjust, superficial and hypocritical of me to chant those names (George Floyd and Breyonna Taylor) going down the street, while our local people have lost their lives and local families are suffering.”
San Diego County Sheriff’s Department’s Lieutenant Michelle Craig says the white supremacist stickers and any photos of them have been investigated. There are currently no known eyewitnesses nor suspects.
“I am hopeful that this is an isolated incident and that it’s not an issue that we will have to continue to deal with,” Craig said. “But we are always on the lookout for anything that can be deemed a hate crime, anything that can be…issues for residents in the community.”
2 comments
I think this rally was more of an anti-Trump rally than anything else. Sponsored by the Socialist and Libertarian party? Let’s call it like it is.
Black Lives Matters, BLM, are an extreme Marxist violent group formed to overthrow all systems of a civil society. Marxists/commies.
Now associated groups with the same goal.
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