As the Mexican flag flew above the steps of San Francisco City Hall Sept. 16—the 205th anniversary of Mexico’s day of independence—musician and mayoral hopeful Francisco Herrera sang in Spanish a verse from the gospel song “This Little Light of Mine,” before a crowd of about two dozen.
“Brothers and sisters, we are that little light. There’s a man and a racism that wants to snuff it out,” Herrera said. “We are that little light that have come here to make a better country than it was when we found it.”
Herrera denounced Donald Trump, the republican presidential candidate who has gained political notoriety for attacking undocumented Mexican immigrants, labeling them rapists and drug dealers.
“It’s very symbolic that we’re doing this here under the Mexican flag because our communities have been suffering a lot,” Herrera said. “Not only do we feed this nation, not only are we part of the 99 percent that makes the wealth of this country, but now Donald Trump wants to run his campaign on our backs, literally, by attacking us.”
Herrera also used the platform to criticize local democrats, most notably San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and Senator Dianne Feinstein. After the death of Kathryn Steinle—the 32-year-old woman who on July 1 was struck by a bullet that ricocheted off of concrete—Lee blamed the sheriff’s department for not using “common sense” when it released undocumented Mexican and accused gunman Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez.
Lee also recently installed a plaque at Pier 14 in honor of Steinle.
Feinstein likewise used Steinle’s death to attack San Francisco’s “Sanctuary City” ordinances, urging San Francisco to join the Department of Homeland Security’s Priority Enforcement Program. Feinstein is also working to draft a bill that would require state and local law enforcement to comply with Immigration and Customs Enforcement when an undocumented immigrant who has previously been convicted of a felon is released.
“They’re dancing to the tune of a bigot—that is unconscionable to me—and choosing to cower down to the language of Donald rump and manipulating the tragic death of a young woman,” Herrera said. “I really want to ask the mayor for a debate. That we debate this issue [of] why he chooses to not defend the people of San Francisco.”
Among other issues he’d like to debate with Lee, Herrera mentioned the city’s housing crisis and officer-involved shootings.
“This kind of lack of attention to our communities is what I want to ask Mayor Lee to respond to,” Herrera said.
Members of the group Ayudando Latinos a Soñar (ALAS) and family of Yanira Serrano, the 18-year-old schizophrenic woman who was fatally shot near Half Moon Bay in June of 2014, were also in attendance.
Miriam Salazar, a member of ALAS who was born in Oaxaca and arrived in the United States when she was six months old, wept as she addressed the crowd from the government steps.
“I know that no matter what Donald Trump says, I am staying here. And I am fighting for my future,” Salazar said. “I’ve been surrounded by other youth members that feel like they don’t have a voice. So I decided to stand up for them and come speak here today, to let others how we feel.”