[su_heading size=”20″ align=”left”]Bayview honors memory of Mario Woods, police honor themselves[\/su_heading]<\/p>\n
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The skirling noise of a police whistle filled the air on the morning of July 22, splitting the stillness as attendees bowed their heads for a moment of silence.<\/p>\n
Approximately 70 San Francisco residents and police officers\u2014both on and off duty\u2014gathered at the Golden Gate Yacht Club in the Marina to remember officers killed in the line of duty.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday\u2019s event is to honor and remember those police officers and those firefighters who have put their lives on the line and who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their fellow man,\u201d said Martin Halloran, president of the San Francisco Police Officer\u2019s Association (POA).<\/p>\n
Names of deceased officers from San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose\u2019s police departments were read aloud, before Craig Floyd, president and CEO of the National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund, addressed the mostly white audience.<\/p>\n
\u201cWake up America, our police officers are the good guys,\u201d Floyd said angrily. \u201cAs a private citizen of these United States who has never worn the badge, never faced the risk that our officers face daily, I am sickened by the hatred and the violence that has been directed at America\u2019s law enforcement professionals.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was only a few weeks ago on July 7, when U.S. Army veteran Micah Xavier Johnson killed five police officers during a peaceful Black Lives Matter rally in Dallas, Texas. Ten days later, Gavin Long, a veteran of the Marine Corp., killed three officers in Baton Rouge.<\/p>\n
Floyd seemed to blame the recent police deaths on the people across the nation, who protest fatal shootings of black and brown men by law enforcement. Floyd dismissed those protests, incorrectly associating them with Johnson and Long.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis hatred, this violence by weak-minded individuals is based largely on a false narrative,\u201d Floyd said.<\/p>\n
No one attending the event acknowledged that the day also belonged to Mario Woods.<\/p>\n
Mario Woods Remembrance Day<\/b><\/p>\n
In January, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors dedicated July 22 to Mario Woods, the birthday of the 26-year-old black man, who was shot more than 20 times by SFPD on Dec. 2, 2015.<\/p>\n
The POA made its views about Woods\u2019 day of remembrance clear, purchasing a $15,000 full-page color add in the San Francisco Chronicle, with a photo of police officers saluting and a caption reading: \u201cIt\u2019s they<\/i> who are deserving of special civic remembrance.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the other side of town from the Yacht Club, at the Cornerstone Missionary Baptist Church in Bayview-Hunters Point, candles lit the afternoon darkness, illuminating the silver heart-shaped nylon balloons and vivid colored flowers along the sidewalks between Fitzgerald and Gilman Avenue.<\/p>\n
More than 100 people gathered around 5 p.m. to observe the first official Mario Woods Remembrance Day across the street where Woods was killed.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy purpose today is to stand up for justice,\u201d said Darrell Rogers, a member of the Justice 4 Mario Woods Coalition. \u201cToday is his birthday and City [and] County of San Francisco decided that they were going to use this day to honor him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Woods\u2019 death further galvanized a community frustrated by the SFPD\u2019s tactics\u00a0 <\/span>in dealing with people in crisis situations.<\/p>\n The event, hosted by the Justice 4 Mario Woods Coalition, attracted family, friends and other coalitions.<\/p>\n Woods\u2019 mother, Gwen Woods, said she would have given anything to talk to her son, who would have turned 27 that day.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the end, we have this pain to deal with,\u201d she said through tears. \u201cI would just love to talk to him one more time. I would love for him to say \u2018Mom what are we going to do today?\u2019 or, \u2018Where are we going to eat?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt wasn\u2019t just a day for Mario Woods,\u201d said Supervisor David Campos, who attended. \u201cThis remembrance day has truly changed the way so many communities, especially communities of color view the police, and it also serves as a reminder [of] the need for police reform.\u201d<\/p>\n Campos and Supervisors Eric Mar and John Avalos made the effort to reach out to the Woods coalition and the community, but in doing so drew the ire of former POA President Gary Delagnes, who called the supervisors \u201cidiots\u201d and labeled Woods as a \u201cstreet thug\u201d in a Facebook rant.<\/p>\n But Rogers didn\u2019t take issue with the POA scheduling its day of remembrance on Woods\u2019 birthday.<\/p>\n Rogers said that all lives matter because he has respect for hard-working honest cops, and believes those officers also have the right to have a Remembrance Day.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m 70 years old. If I\u2019m out here in the streets and there is no police, I can become a target. I\u2019m not against good policing. I thank God for them because I get to walk the streets safely. So it\u2019s never been an \u2018us against them\u2019 situation as far as we\u2019re concerned.\u201d<\/p>\n The evening ended with attendees gathering for an intimate ceremony at the spot where Woods was killed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [su_heading size=”20″ align=”left”]Bayview honors memory of Mario Woods, police honor themselves[\/su_heading] [su_slider source=”media: 31109,31110,31111,31112,31113,31114,31136,31116,31117,31118,31119,31120,31121,31122,31123,31124,31125,31135,31127,31128,31129,31130,31131,31132,31133,31134″ limit=”40″ link=”image” target=”blank” width=”700″ height=”460″ autoplay=”0″ speed=”500″][su_slider source=”media: 29856,29857″ limit=”30″ link=”image” target=”blank” width=”700″ height=”460″ autoplay=”0″ speed=”500″][su_menu][\/su_slider] The skirling noise of a police whistle filled the air on the morning of July 22, splitting the stillness as attendees bowed their heads for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":31117,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3929],"tags":[10833,10957,10965,3599,7759,10969,10961,10967,4733,8001,7511,10963,10955,10959,10953,3602,10951,3593],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-31107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-en","tag-black-lives-matter-en","tag-craig-floyd","tag-darrell-rogers","tag-david-campos-en","tag-eric-mar-en","tag-gary-delagnes","tag-gavin-long","tag-gwen-woods","tag-john-avalos-en","tag-justice-4-mario-woods-coalition","tag-mario-woods-en","tag-mario-woods-remembrance-day","tag-martin-halloran","tag-micah-xavier-johnson","tag-national-law-enforcement-memorial-fund","tag-san-francisco-board-of-supervisors-en","tag-sf-poa","tag-sfpd-en","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n