[su_carousel source=”media: 38371,38372,38373,38374,38375,38376,38377,38378,38379″ limit=”65″ link=”lightbox” width=”800″ height=”540″ responsive=”no” items=”1″]<\/p>\n
Family Separation<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cAt 13 years old I went on the run….\u201d she recounts.<\/span><\/p>\n Gaby was born in Portland Oregon in 1988. She is a Spokane-Kalispel Native American. \u201cIt was rocky at first. When I was 2 years old, my mom got into drugs and my dad took us away. I don\u2019t know what was going on, but he was also an alcoholic. We lived with him until I was 6 years old, when one of his roommates molested me. Grandma stepped up and decided to take us in. I have a brother one year older. My brother and I are like salt and pepper, cereal and milk. We stayed with her until I was about 12 years old. We started getting in trouble and got taken away to foster care, but we kept on running to meet up with each other. Then my brother got locked up and I didn\u2019t want to get caught\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLater I met the man who would be the father of my two sons. He was 10 years older than me. He was 23 and I was 14. But he took me in, his family took me in, his mom, his dad. \u2026We were together about 8 months when he told me, \u2018I\u2019m going to Mexico for a little bit.\u2019 I argued with him, \u2018I can\u2019t just be put out on the street.\u2019 He didn\u2019t want to take me, but we went to together.\u201d<\/p>\n Illegal Immigrant<\/strong><\/p>\n Gaby crossed into Mexico without papers in 2003. \u201cI stayed for 4 years until I was 18 years old. I learned how to speak Spanish. People would tell me, \u2018You look Latina, how come you don\u2019t speak Spanish?\u2019 They would call me \u2018La del Norte, La Gabacha\u2019 (the one from the north, the American). I learned how to paint ceramics in a bodega in a little pueblo near Patzcuaro, Michoacan. I made pots. 80 pesos for 3 decenas. We bought a truck and would go sell them in Puebla and Guadalajara, on the street corridors where there are English-speaking tourists. Speaking English helped me sell.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMy first child was born at six months and he died. His heart just stopped. He was born all whole. His grandpa cried, he loved him already.\u201d Gaby had two more boys, but her relationship took a turn for the worse.<\/p>\n \u201cMy baby daddy and I, we went through a messed up relationship. He started hitting me, when I was 16 years old. He sent me to the hospital several times. His dad beat him up one time. \u2018She\u2019s just a little girl!\u2019 he yelled at him. His aunt jumped in another time.\u201d<\/p>\n Gaby started biding her time to her 18<\/span>th<\/span> birthday. \u201cI was an illegal immigrant to Mexico with no papers on me.\u201d She got documents sent from home. \u201cAfter the last time he sent me to the hospital, I told myself, \u2018I can\u2019t do this no more.\u2019 I contacted my grandmother and told her to send money. My grandmother put her house up, so she could send me money. It was the only thing she had, but I told her \u2018Just like you got me, I got you.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n It was the hardest thing I\u2019ve ever had to do. I took a taxi to Guadalajara to a hotel and from there took a plane. Looking down from the airplane window to the land below, all I could think was \u2018there are my sons.\u2019 There is no doubt in my mind he would have killed me, to this day….\u201d<\/p>\n Reunification<\/strong><\/p>\n Before Gaby reached out, her grandma had given up hope that she was alive. \u201cMy family was waiting for me at the airport in Portland. My grandma couldn\u2019t stop crying. I started living with my brother.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Gaby counted on the love her family had for her sons to keep them safe. \u201cMy eldest son was the first grandchild on both sides and he was very loved, cherished.\u201d She was also determined not to leave them in Mexico. Before escaping, she had gotten her children USA passports at the consulate in Guadalajara. She gambled right, as her partner later followed north with her sons to Oregon, where she was reunited.<\/p>\n Customer service<\/strong><\/p>\n A week after Gaby arrived in Portland, she asked her grandmother to take her to a Mexican restaurant. \u201cI wasn\u2019t used to the food here anymore.\u201d Gaby wasted no time and after ordering, and immediately asked the manager for a job. He hired her. <\/span><\/p>\n Gaby thrived at her job. \u201cI like to make customers happy, which is how I made manager. Taco Tuesday was my day off, but I still came in one day. A customer had a complaint and I resolved it. He told my manager, \u2018She did an exceptional job!\u2019 I would pull 13 to 14 hour shifts. My manager started watching me on the cameras. \u2018I\u2019ve been looking at you. You are always moving. You are always busy.\u2019 I would give free drinks to the little kids. People still ask after me at the restaurant!\u201d Gaby smiles with a twinkle in her eyes, proud of her superior customer service skills.<\/p>\n Trucking<\/strong><\/p>\n Her father is a semi-trailer truck driver. \u201cWe would go on drives, 3, 4 days at a time. My dad brought me to San Francisco and I wanted to stay, but he told me, \u2018I just got you back, I can\u2019t let you leave.\u2019\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMy dad is the reason I know how to work on cars. \u2018Hand me this, hand me that,\u2019 he\u2019d say in the garage. I\u2019d tell him, \u2018Why don\u2019t you teach your son instead?\u2019 \u2018You\u2019ll thank me later,\u2019 he\u2019d say.\u201d<\/p>\n For Gaby it would be a dream to get her mechanic\u2019s tech license to make her dad proud.<\/p>\n Weed Man<\/strong><\/p>\n Eventually Gaby made her way back to the Bay Area. \u201cI wanted to move to San Francisco, to the city, I am a city girl.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Gaby started up with a boyfriend in Richmond, and the abuse immediately began both from him and his mother. They had her running to buy drugs, which is how she came to meet the Weed Man. She and Weed Man fell desperately in love. When her ex-boyfriend came after her, the Weed Man shot him, and Weed Man went to prison.<\/span><\/p>\n Good Pimp<\/strong><\/p>\n Out on the street alone in Richmond, Gaby began living in abandoned buildings and houses. \u201cI heard about a lot of girls doing that and I started doing what I do now. At first, I was working for myself then I got introduced to a pimp. He was a good pimp. He had his main girl, but she taught me how to manage myself.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Who is a good pimp? \u201cSome pimps don\u2019t let you spend your own money. We would get our own food and other things we needed. He would only ask us to tell him before we bought anything big. Once I even bought a taser, but he was ok with that. I felt protected. The first time I walked out with the taser in my bag, here comes a man ringing up on us, so I zapped him,\u201d laughs Gaby. Gaby describes a cooperative working relationship with Good Pimp and Main Girl. \u201cEvery day we would go shopping, and we were really well kept; hair; nails; clothes.\u201d<\/p>\n But not all pimps are good pimps, some are crazy mutherfuckers. Gaby learned to avoid eye contact with other pimps, and walk fast past them. \u201cThey could kidnap you; I\u2019ve seen girls get put in the trunk of a car. We get scared to report things like that\u2026.You see other girls out there, bruises on their legs, grip marks on their arms, you just know her daddy don\u2019t take care of her. You think, \u2018Why not just leave him?\u2019 It\u2019s not that easy for everyone. Everyone has their story.\u201d<\/p>\n When Gaby had earned enough money, she left her pimp. \u201cWhen I left him, he was in tears.\u201d He gave her her earnings. \u201c\u2018Well, it\u2019s yours,\u2019 he said, \u2018you earned it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Gaby then fulfilled her goal of living in San Francisco. She now works in the Mission sex work corridor from Capp to Folsom streets, from 16<\/span>th<\/span> to 20<\/span>th <\/span>streets.<\/span><\/p>\n Renegade<\/strong><\/p>\n A street sex worker without a pimp is called a renegade. \u201cIt\u2019s more dangerous, because at the end of the day you don\u2019t have any protection.\u201d Gaby was recently threatened with a knife to the neck. \u201cIt\u2019s the most dangerous thing that has ever happened to me. He took my money back. Basically, he got free service,\u201d she says dejected. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOnly because of the experience I have, I know how to stay safe.\u201d Gaby pulls two shifts, an evening and morning shift, with a break in between. She avoids the peak service hours: \u201cI\u2019m not making anything at that time, and there are too many pimps out there. I don\u2019t want to get hemmed up. Some might be part of a sex ring.\u201d<\/p>\n Survival sex work<\/strong><\/p>\n The sex industry encompasses a wide range of jobs including peep shows, pole and lap dancing, masseuses, pornography and full service escorting. Sex workers stories are likewise varied. In the City of San Francisco, the sex positive movement has succeeded in showing the public that empowered female and male sex workers carry out the vast array of sex work. But this tends to overlook that smaller percentage of sex work where race, ethnicity and poverty is determinative of the level of empowerment of a sex worker over their work. Out on the street corners, girls cut their teeth in the business for the first time, or the poorest survive.<\/span><\/p>\n Pike Long, deputy director of the St. James Infirmary, explains \u201cthat many who work closely with sex workers use the term \u2018survival sex work\u2019 to describe more precarious work like Gaby\u2019s.\u201d Attending to the needs of survival sex workers\u2014commonly women and transwomen\u2014is one of the main focuses of St. James Infirmary\u2019s outreach and programming. In developing services, St. James holds to the main mottos of the sex worker movement: \u201cRights not rescue\u201d and \u201cNothing about us without us!\u201d At the core of any successful harm reduction program in the City with people in conditions of vulnerability is the exercise of their right to self-determination.<\/p>\n Mommy-daddy<\/strong><\/p>\n Gaby\u2019s plan when she came to the Bay Area was to stabilize herself with a job, find a place to live, and bring her two sons. Meeting her goal has taken longer than expected. She now also has a 5-year-old daughter to feed, dress and keep. \u201cThe good thing about what I do is that I work 3 hour shifts for $300 to $400 a day. I\u2019m not greedy. I have a work schedule. I could make more money, but with those hours I work I can spend all day with her.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n After her second shift, Gaby sleeps for a few hours in the car. \u201cOr until my daughter lets me!\u201d Once awake, they typically go to a shelter or park restroom to clean up, and head out to breakfast. Together they Facetime her two sons in Oregon nearly every day. If there is money to spend, they might shop at Ross or Walgreens for clothes or a toy. On a bright day, they might head out to the zoo or to the beach or have a water balloon fight at the park. \u201cBut the beach is the #1 spot. She goes all the way in. She is not scared because the first time I took her, I jumped right in. We get sandwiches. Sometimes we stay a few hours, sometimes we stay all day!\u201d<\/p>\n There are also errands to run, laundry to do, dinner to eat, buses to ride, government services to apply for, and grooming, \u201cWhen I get my nails done, she gets a mani-pedi.\u201d<\/p>\n Her daughter\u2019s father stays nearby in the Mission too, but they no longer live together. \u201cWe\u2019re better friends now, and I would never take away his daughter. He takes care of her, brings me money every week, but like me he doesn\u2019t have a normal job.\u201d Gaby relies on food stamps to get by.<\/p>\n \u201cI just say \u2018do your best, even better than your best.\u2019 He called me on Father\u2019s Day to wish me \u2018happy father\u2019s day, mommy-daddy\u2019,\u201d laughs Gaby.<\/p>\n \u201cMy dad, he also knows what I do. They all just want me to be safe. That\u2019s their only concern.\u201d<\/p>\n Day laborer lodgings<\/strong><\/p>\n The greatest risk to Gaby and her family right now is homelessness, not her work. \u201cThe first step to my stability would be to get a home. I\u2019m tired of being on the wait lists, but it pushes me to go towards what I want. I want to be without government assistance. Who wants to be on welfare for the rest of your life? I can make that in a day. I\u2019m looking for just a little room to rent; up to $1,000 a month or less is what I could afford. I would like to stay with just another woman.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n When Gaby first arrived to the Mission, it was still possible for day laborers, including street sex workers to find and afford a room to house themselves and even their family. But rooms are hard to come by in the gentrified Mission, and even more for someone who makes a clandestine living. \u201cAll these places that rent to people, they want proof of income. Working under the table, I just can\u2019t give it.\u201d<\/p>\n Side hustle<\/strong><\/p>\n I ask Gaby what sex work has given her. \u201cIt bought me independence. I bought myself a car. I\u2019ve travelled. Since 2009, I\u2019ve been to work in Vegas, Sacramento, San Jose, Salinas and Oakland\u2026.Obviously, I am not going to do this forever, but it\u2019s not hurting anyone\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n One day she hopes to find a normal job that she likes: \u201cI like to make customers happy\u2026. I was a cashier at a casino. I really want to be working at a casino job again. I\u2019m really good at that. I\u2019m a quick count as a bank teller.\u201d Gaby slaps her hand across the palm of her other hand, counting invisible money.<\/p>\n \u201cBut even if I was a casino cashier, I would do sex work to get me by week to week. In a normal job you get a paycheck every two weeks, if you are lucky. Food stamps don\u2019t last all week. You need something else. There has to be a side hustle 3, 4 times a week.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCall my work under-the-table, but I\u2019m clocking your whole daily paycheck just in a few hours\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n Tolerance<\/strong><\/p>\n In May, a group that calls itself the Central Mission Neighborhood Organization (CMNO) went door to door in the vicinity of the traditional sex work corridor handing out a flyer to promote a meeting for \u201ctackling the prostitution issue in the Central Mission.\u201d The leading voices of the CMNO are wealthy gentrifiers who have bought homes in the zone, including an executive who works for a sustainable clothing company, an executive at Pinterest, and of course, a realtor. The organization has been active on Nextdoor and Facebook approximately since 2010. The CMNO has worked in an insular fashion in lobbying the past and current District 9 Supervisor, SFPD and DPW to solve problems on \u201ctheir streets.\u201d That, without calling in organizations with expertise in providing services to homeless people and sex workers in the Mission.<\/span><\/p>\n I attend the second meeting of the CMNO on June 18 at the Mission Rec Center on Harrison Street. The meeting agenda states that \u201cSafe streets=Zero tolerance for street prostitution in our zone.\u201d To their surprise, the meeting is also attended by a significant number of queer radical organizers who live in the Mission. \u201cAs a mother, as a lifelong Mission neighbor,\u201d said one radical mother, holding a toddler, \u201cI am very concerned that there is a call for more policing of sex work.\u201d As the meeting progressed, the language is changed to discuss the issues. The new members explain that the word “prostitute” is offensive to many sex workers and obfuscates the fact that sex work is work, and they ask not to refer to the homeless as encampments to be swept.<\/p>\n The meeting is an exercise in building tolerance by acknowledging the basic humanity of our neighbors. We all survive together in this capitalist racist world, whether unhoused or housed, whether we earn our wages as corporate whores, wives obliged to sleep with husbands or survival sex workers. Solidarity is key.<\/p>\n Good customers<\/strong><\/p>\n Known customers make Gaby\u2019s work safer. She already has a few regulars. \u201cMany are married. Many of my customers are immigrants. Their wives are far away. They don\u2019t want to have a girl here. They just want that physical attention for a moment. They also don\u2019t want to keep looking for girls. It\u2019s scary for them to pick up a girl. Some have pimps looking to rob them. Latino immigrants are particularly vulnerable.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cA regular customer comes around 2, 3 times a week. But regular or no regular, just give them good service and hopefully they\u2019ll call you back.\u201d<\/p>\n Struggle days<\/strong><\/p>\n I ask Gaby what it would mean if cops cracked down on prostitution on Mission streets. \u201cIt would be really hard. Say I then had to get normal work, I would have to work at least a week before I got paid, more like two weeks because most jobs give only two checks a month. I don\u2019t know how I would be expected as a single parent to make it during that time. Then I\u2019d need to keep that job. It would also need to be a nightshift, so I could be with her\u2026.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Regarding the CMNO flyer, she responds, \u201cI work every day. If I take a day off, it means no money. There have been struggle days. I don\u2019t think people understand what it is struggle; to have to steal cereal and milk so your daughter can eat; to risk having her taken away from me. My two sons were once taken away by CPS; it was traumatizing to them and me. The best interest of the child is to stay with their mother. My daughter is afraid of police.\u201d<\/p>\n I mention that some neighbors don\u2019t want their children seeing sex workers on their streets. \u201cI can understand that. My daughter doesn\u2019t know what I do. I protect her, but there is a limit to what you can keep from your child in San Francisco. Take gay pride, you\u2019re going to see naked people with their dingle dongle hanging out. But we come out at night. Your kid should be in bed at that time. If your kid is out that late, something is wrong with you.\u201d<\/p>\n Bedtime story<\/strong><\/p>\n Every night Gaby tucks her five year old daughter into bed. She starts by blocking off the windows to her car with dark paper. She then reads several books to her daughter. \u201cHer favorite are the Disney stories and fairy tales.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n Gaby then waits until the father of her daughter arrives to stay with her, \u201cIf I can\u2019t leave her with him, I don\u2019t leave her with nobody else.\u201d<\/p>\n She puts on her work clothes, and goes out, \u201cThe hardest thing is looking back at her as I head out. I\u2019m going to get us out of this situation.\u201d<\/p>\n Dancing with Wolves<\/strong><\/p>\n Our interview wraps up and we cross 24<\/span>th<\/span> street to go our different ways. At the crosswalk, I ask Gaby if she has a Native American name. \u201cNo, because you have to do a ceremony and I haven\u2019t. But if I did, I would be called \u2018Dancing with Wolves,\u2019\u201d she says wistfully, \u201cbecause I am like a wolf. No, I am like a lion. I am lionhearted!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Mission Legacy Business<\/strong><\/p>\n I walk the length of Capp Street, from 16th Street to 24th, once during the day and once at night, wondering how far back this hustle has existed on Mission Streets. \u201cI know they\u2019ve been there since at least 1972,\u201d tells me an old school Mission homeboy, \u201cI know because I was raised a block away from Capp and 20<\/span>th<\/span> and I would go find my dad over there to ask him for money. He would be there, hanging out with the women.\u201d Articles about the multi-cultural youth population of \u201c\u2026Negroes, Spanish-Americans, poor whites, Indians, Filipinos, and Samoans of the neighborhood\u2026\u201d in the Mission from the 60s also mention pandering and prostitution as common jobs for poor youth in the deteriorated neighborhood. (Chicago Tribune, 1968; Sun Reporter, 1969)<\/span><\/p>\n The prospect of Gaby and other renegades like her having to risk everything to work in the vastly more dangerous Oakland streets, because of the inconvenience perceived by some gentrifiers leaves us with only one solution. Actually, it is a resolution for Supervisor Hillary Ronen to consider and introduce:<\/p>\n Considering the historic presence of sex work during the rise of the Mission Latino Cultural District, and in line with other efforts to preserve its culture and character, the City and County of San Francisco hereby declares sex work a legacy business of the central Mission District.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [su_carousel source=”media: 38371,38372,38373,38374,38375,38376,38377,38378,38379″ limit=”65″ link=”lightbox” width=”800″ height=”540″ responsive=”no” items=”1″] Family Separation \u201cAt 13 years old I went on the run….\u201d she recounts. Gaby was born in Portland Oregon in 1988. She is a Spokane-Kalispel Native American. \u201cIt was rocky at first. When I was 2 years old, my mom got into drugs and my dad […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":38381,"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":[16836,14818],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-38370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-en","tag-renegade","tag-unsettled-in-the-mission","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n