Defund SFPD Now Campaign Conducts Two Direct Actions at San Francisco Supervisors’ Home Offices Encouraging San Francisco Supervisors to Defund the SFPD
More than 150 demonstrators marched from Holly Park to the home of Supervisor Ronen calling on her to commit publicly to defunding the police. (08/18/2020)
In the age of COVID-19, when politicians are hunkered down inside their homes, how can community members ensure that their demands are heard?
After months of remote actions, the DefundSFPDNow campaign decided to deliver their demands directly to the home office of Hillary Ronen and of Board of Supervisors President Norman Yee.
On Tuesday 8/18, over 150 San Francisco residents marched from Holly Park, through Bernal Heights, and to the home office of Hillary Ronen, District 9 Supervisor and member of the Budget and Appropriations Committee. These residents called for Supervisor Ronen to be a champion of defunding SFPD and the Sheriff’s Department by proposing a budget that immediately and significantly reduces the number of sworn officers and deputies.
In front of Supervisor Ronen’s house, Alex Karim, co-chair of DSA SF Justice Committee, addressed the crowd, “After months of supervisor meetings, thousands of emails, and over 250 hours of public comments and voicemails, we could not get a single supervisor to make a proposal to fire officers.” She continued, “politicians were refusing to meet us where we were at, so we decided to go to them.”
Karim explained that policing poses a public safety threat, particularly to Black and brown communities, and the only way to reduce trauma caused by policing is to eliminate the number of interactions community members have with police officers.
“Reform does not work,” she said, citing use of force reports which demonstrate that SFPD pointed their guns at people nearly 2.4 times per day last year—less than 2% of those times in defense of self or others even after years of California DOJ mandated reforms. She added that 76% of uses of force by SFPD in Q4 2019 were against people of color.
Speakers had varied background and included Maria Cristina (Mothers on the March, Frisco 5), “S” (Rad Mission Neighbors, sex worker), and formerly unhoused activists, but they were united in their calls to fire police officers and Sheriff’s deputies.
“We know very well what we are asking for—to abolish the police,” shouted Cristina.
The rally ended with a presentation—a checklist (bit.ly/checkalltheboxes) of over 40 policing budget line items was taped to Ronen’s front door. The demands called for Ronen to “check all the boxes” with each check representing a commitment to eliminating that line item from the budget.
Three days later, at the Friday Budget and Appropriations Committee hearing, Supervisor Ronen became the first supervisor to propose laying off SFPD officers. However, this proposal was not supported by the rest of the Committee, including Supervisor Yee, citing constituents that asked for more police officers in their neighborhoods.
When asked to comment, a DefundSFPDNow campaign representative said, “When select constituents claim that they want more police, what they are really saying is that they want to feel safe. But, the safest communities in our city are not the ones with the most police officers, they’re the ones with the most resources.”
In response to Supervisor Yee’s unwillingness to lay off officers, the DefundSFPDNow campaign focused its second direct action of the week on Yee’s home office. On Saturday 8/22, they delivered a 21ft banner, anchored by 150 pounds of concrete, to the front of Yee’s home office. The message—“NORMAN YEE: FIRE SFPD”.
Outside Supervisor Yee’s home, speaker Nihar Bhatt of Rad Mission Neighbors addressed the Supervisor, “Our movement will define what victory means and the movement in the streets all over this country has been extremely clear—we want to defund the police not reform the police.”
Bhatt added, “Defund the police means nothing unless it means firing cops.”
About the DefundSFPDNow campaign
The DefundSFPDNow campaign is led by the Justice Committee of the San Francisco chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, in conjunction with the San Francisco chapter of the Afrosocialists & Socialists of Color Caucus. The campaign is one part of the mass movement calling for the defunding of SFPD and abolition of the prison-industrial complex. To view the campaign’s line item policing budget analysis, visit defundsfpdnow.com.
Protestors taped a list of demands to Supervisor Hillary Ronen’s front door. The demands list can be seen at: bit.ly/checkalltheboxes. (08/18/2020)
Long-time activist Maria Cristina urged the crowd to remember that we are the heroes we need and we must hold our elected officials accountable. (08/18/2020)
A 21 foot banner, anchored by 150 lbs of concrete delivered to the home of Board of Supervisors President Norman Yee, making clear the demands of the people of San Francisco:
“Norman Yee: Fire SFPD”. (08/21/2020)
A car caravan, consisting of demonstrators & community organizations, makes its way through Mt Davidson Manor and Westwood Park to Supervisor Yee’s home office. (08/21/2020)
Outside Supervisor Yee’s home office, demonstrators listened to speeches from leaders of systems-impacted groups, including Rad Mission Neighbors’ founding member Nihar Bhatt. (08/21/2020)