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Jackie Santos remembers where he was when he heard about Alex Nieto’s death on March 21, 2014. The 62-year-old construction worker had just finished a long shift and was exiting the bus on his way home, only to discover that San Francisco police officers had shot and killed a young security guard who lived nearby.
“I was outraged. In a way, he’s a brother,” said Santos, a 30-year resident of the Mission. “I consider it highly offensive—the murders with impunity against the citizens by the police. It reflects a corrupt system.”
Santos was among several hundred protesters who filled the streets of the Mission District last Tuesday with their cries for justice. The “Shut It Down” movement, which encouraged students and workers to strike and march to City Hall, occurred simultaneously in cities across the country as part of a national dialogue about police brutality and discrimination.
For many local residents, Nieto’s case and the recent shooting of Amilcar Perez-Lopez by the SFPD mark a trend of official violence against the Latino community. Those that aren’t killed are often unfairly arrested, according to the event’s main organizer, the Stop Mass Incarceration Network. One protester’s sign highlighted the neighborhood’s fear with a rhetorical question: “Who do we call when the killer has a badge?”
The crowd initially gathered at the southwest corner of 24th Street and Mission streets in front of a large banner displaying 45 faces people who have been killed by the authorities. Benjamin Bac Sierra, a friend of Nieto’s family, addressed the protesters with a microphone before they made their way to the local police station.
“Look at this poster behind me… Look at our children, and our parents, and our brothers and loved ones that are up there. And yes, if you’re here today, they are your loved ones,” Bac Sierra said. “And ask yourself: ‘Why? Why does this keep happening over and over again?’ Why? Because of the people who run this system.”
Within the hour the group arrived at the Mission Police Station, and it didn’t take long before a minor fight broke out between a participant and an officer at the door. But the peaceful atmosphere of the protest was soon restored as the group continued to City Hall.
The sounds of the Highway 101 overpass along the way were no match for the chanting mass of people. The command to “indict, convict, send those killer cops to jail” echoed off the concrete pillars next to a police brigade, stopping cars at the base of the off ramp. Once at City Hall, protesters flooded into the lobby and made their presence known with a deafening roar. Even the guards’ attempts to lock the doors couldn’t stifle the crowd.
The march sent a clear message to the authorities, but according to Santos the activism shouldn’t stop there.
“We need to continue contacting people, and do the outreach by any means necessary: social networks, person to person, any other rallies,” he said.
Social media may be responsible for the high number of young people who participated in the event. Students from schools all over the city walked out of class in protest of the recent police shootings after reading about the rally online.
A 15-year-old girl from Mission High School said it’s not only the death and discrimination that bother her, but also the mismanaged priorities of the local police.
“I live on 24th and Mission where you have these gang members that are shooting people, and the cops will walk past them and arrest a homeless person on the street,” she said.
Marcos Castro, 22, agreed that officers need to reevaluate their practices, but said the police won’t stop harassing civilians as long as excessive violence among the population continues.
“We hear about everything on the news. Everyone wants to point the finger and blame the police, and we all know there’s not a lot of good police out here … maybe a small handful of police that get the job done.” Castro said. “But in order for them to take us seriously, we need to stop killing each other.”