Racism - We don't have that problem here — Healdsburg Responds
This story was originally published July 2, 2020.
At the end of the June 1st City Council meeting, Healdsburg leaders unwittingly gave voice to a narrative repeated by people in charge all over America, “We don’t have that problem here.”
A proposal to agendize a “deeper conversation” around race and community relations with the local police had fallen on deaf ears but after more discussion the council agreed to at least ask the police chief to make time for a brief public update about the department’s positions, conflict resolution training and current case data.
But the initial tone-deaf response—‘it would be a waste of our time to have a conversation about a problem we don’t have here’—had already struck a deeper chord. The message heard by many in a community that’s more than 30% Latinx, was that local government is blind to the daily indignities Black, Indigenous, and Latinx people endure, and that we don’t matter.
Insulted and angered, people mobilized with a petition to oust the mayor, put their racial experiences in writing and then hang them like flags around the gazebo on the downtown plaza for all to read at a June 11 rally.
As one Latino put it, “White culture is failing because they don’t listen. If they see a problem out there, they feel they are the ones to fix it, unaware their blindness created the problem in the first place. They don’t get that they are no longer in charge.”
To some, not being in charge is frightening but in the recent words of African American writer/activist, Kimberly Jones: “You’re all lucky that what Black people are looking for is equality and not revenge.”
Below are a few of the painful racists experiences shared by community members at the Healdsburg Plaza on June 11th.
“Go back where you came from. Those people have no business in downtown Healdsburg.” I come from a Latinx family who has been in Healdsburg since the 1960s. My grandparents picked prunes. We have had to fight to be seen and heard in the community. We matter.
My family’s interactions with the Healdsburg police have never been positive ones. From a very young age I remember my father always being pulled over and hearing excuses from cops that were along the lines of “oh it looked like your tags were expired” or “I thought your tail light was out.” My own personal experience with racism within Healdsburg happened when I was in the school system. I had the cops called on me at the age of 14 by a white teacher for crossing a school field instead of walking around the block to get to a friends house. I was frequently mistaken and for another Latinx person by the school resource officer. I have had the confederate flag waved in my face by white students who were racist. These are only interactions I recall in this moment and don’t include all of the racism I watched my siblings’ families and friends endure.
It is only recently that I’ve seen water and resources provided for Vineyard workers.
My dad works in landscaping. He takes pride in his hard work. More than once clients have refused to fairly pay him only because they believed my father couldn’t do anything about it.
Long-haired and bearded, I was racially profiled while sitting on a park bench talking on the phone.
I was pulled over into our own driveway under the pretext of a cracked taillight.
Overheard a white woman say, “I didn’t think they allowed that type here” I’m a Los Angeles native, third generation Californian, ancestors settled in Rhode Island.
My name is America; in 2015 I was told by a Starbucks customer to change my name because I didn’t represent America. I’m Mexican. I was playing Spanish music in my car and parked in the Safeway parking lot and this white woman said “she needs to listen to English; she’s in America… “
Dad, an unlicensed Landscaper, completed a job worth $4000 and the Healdsburg owners denied paying him because he was just “a Mexican who wouldn’t fight for his money because he’s illegal”.
“Your son is so cute, I hope he grows up to be a nice little Mexican boy and not a rapist like the rest of them.“ My son is four!
I’m a Latina educator in Healdsburg unified school district. A parent once insisted that I was making derogatory remarks in my class about his political beliefs in order to embarrass his son. It was not true yet he went to the school board to complain. I was devastated and very hurt by the accusation.
“Don’t wear hoop earrings. You look too Mexican.” Said to me by a coworker.
White Power Wednesdays: at Healdsburg high school students would walk down the halls, Nazi saluting one another—2013.