SANTA ROSA, Calif. – Mothers in White, a group of women dedicated to halting police violence against innocent youths, have announced plans to converge on the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors meeting todau to demand justice for slain teen Andy Lopez, whose killing October 22 by a sheriff’s deputy has set off unabated protests and united the Anglo and Latino communities like never before in this northern California city.
The renewed protests come days after a January 2 fire, lit in the early morning hours, destroyed a large memorial and shrine that had been built in honor of the 13-year-old at the vacant one-acre lot where Lopez was killed. Investigators have not determined the cause of the fire, saying they suspect it was started by a candle.
But the candles were located 20 feet from the altar and were contained in glass, and many locals have expressed doubt about the official police line, instead suggesting the fire was a case of possible arson.
“Arson is not limited to the use of accelerants," said Victoria Hogan of the Justice Coalition for Andy Lopez, a group seeking to mete out just punishment to Erick Gelhaus, the Sonoma County sheriff's deputy who killed Lopez in broad daylight with eight gun shots after reportedly mistaking his toy airgun for a rifle. "Candles have been used to commit arson for as long as candles have existed,” she said.
“The candle were there for two months,” noted KPFA-FM radio programmer Miguel Molina. “Candles do not start fires. Humans start them.”
While Gelhaus has yet to be charged by District Attorney Jill Ravitch, the October 22 killing has galvanized the community which continues to hold repeated marches and demonstrations against the excessive, and many contend illegal, use of police force that resulted in the teen's death.
Latinos comprise about 25% of Sonoma County and are the region's fastest-growing population. The numerous rallies, marches, prayer vigils and media attention following the Lopez killing represented a political coming-of-age for Santa Rosa’s Latino community, in particular.
“We are witnessing a dramatic shift in population in California and the country, which threatens the existing political and cultural paradigm,” said Jonathan Melrod of the Justice Coalition.
“There is a ‘Brown Revolution’ occurring in America and the Justice Campaign is a component of that larger civil rights movement," he added.
"Widespread anger exists over government’s failure to deliver on immigration reform and other electoral promises that dissolved over the past six years. This shift in the political paradigm is and will continue to be a dramatic factor in future elections.”
In the social movement that has emerged, it has been youth from the eighth grade – the same class as Andy's – as well as high school and junior college students who are leading the charge. At marches, they hold signs expressing solidarity with phrases like “I Am Andy,” revealing a new and politicized education for the area's Latino youth.
Sonoma County, a region of some 500,000 located an hour north of San Francisco, has long been dependent on its Latino population – both documented and undocumented – to work in the area's biggest industry: wine. Many are low-paid workers, and Santa Rosa has long been divided by race and class; the city's Latino neighborhoods, such as Moorland, where Lopez lived, and Roseland lack basic services like parks and libraries.
Keeping the Focus on Lopez
Planners for the January 7 demonstration include members from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Women’s Political Caucus and radio stations such as the bilingual KBBF-FM and KPFA-FM, a Pacifica station.
A bilingual, multi-cultural flyer promoting the event reads, “Every member of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors is staring into a moral crisis! What kind of ‘policy’ permits the brutal killing of a 13-year-old child who committed NO CRIME?”
The intention, say the Mothers in White, is to “create a dramatic visual impact” that stirs people awake keeps authorities focused on the issue. The group is a new spinoff of the Women in Black, founded in the Palestinian territories in the 1960s, which featured women standing silent on street corners worldwide bearing witness to those killed by violence.
In this case, the color white was selected because it was Lopez's favorite color. Outside the meeting, seven posters will be displayed showing images of the 9mm bullets that killed him.
“I’ve known too many mothers whose children's lives were stolen by police,” said Dara McCuistion, a co-founder of Mothers in White, who chaired the Christmas Eve meeting that led to the January 7 demonstration. “When I heard about this I thought, ‘My GOD! Not a 13-year-old child.’ I have seen [his mother] Sujey's mourning eyes. I have heard about Andy’s father Rodrigo's cries over his casket. It's too much.”
For some, the Lopez killing points to much broader symptoms of racism and inequality in American society.
“The murder of Andy Lopez is an example of a bigger plan by the oppressive, right-wing forces which control our government and devalue the lives of our children, especially our children of color,” said former Black Panther and local activist Elbert “Big Man” Howard.
“These wanton, outright murders are wrapped in veils of lies [and] secrecy. The courts, law enforcement officers and school officials have been given the power to destroy young lives by labeling them gang members and by criminalizing them,” Howard added.
“Racial profiling, coupled with this view of our youngsters as ‘menaces to society’ and the distinct message of no accountability, has led to accelerated killings of our children at the hands of law enforcement."
What Would Justice for Andy Mean?
The Justice Coalition’s demands are summarized in a letter, titled "Explaining Justice," written by Zac Britton and published December 27 in the regional daily Press Democrat. Britton, who is bi-racial, wrote that he has “experienced prejudice and racism first hand here in Sonoma County.”
"When people ask what justice for Andy Lopez means, tell them it means re-training all officers trained by Deputy Erick Gelhaus," he wrote. “It means a memorial park at Moorland and West Robles avenues dedicated to Andy Lopez and all victims of police brutality.
“It means the de-militarization of local law enforcement. It means beefier pre-employment screening standards for law enforcement. It means the establishment of a Citizen Review Board. It means lapel cameras on every law enforcement officer. It means the annexation of Andy Lopez's neighborhood into Santa Rosa. It means local elected officials who are actually involved in our community instead of those who couldn't care less."
The 15-person task force dedicated to establishing a Citizen Review Board to mete out lawful punishment to Gelhaus includes human rights activists, student leaders, law enforcement officers, an attorney, an academic and a former county supervisor.
But, “its members are for the most part reluctant to stand up to authority,” commented a cautious coalition activist and mother, Karen Saari. “The intent in forming the task force is to assuage public outcry and make the general public think something meaningful is being done. I would be very surprised if the outcome has any real teeth.”
A Civil Rights Lawsuit
The Lopez family's attorney, Arnoldo Casillas, filed a civil rights violation lawsuit in federal court on November 4. The complaint includes "Three Claims for Relief:”
1.Unreasonable Seizure vs. Erick Gelhaus
2.Municipal Liability for Unconstitutional Customs and Practices vs. Sonoma County (and unnamed other defendants)
3.Interference with Family Integrity + Substantive Due Process Violation vs. Erick Gelhaus and Sonoma County (and unnamed defendants)
“The amended complaint will shift the narrative to focus more on Gelhaus, his history, his writings, his participation in firearms training at a white supremacist compound,” according to the activist Melrod.
Opening a December 18 coalition meeting on the subject, Casillas explained: “The lawsuit will have various claims, including direct negligence in training and retaining Gelhaus by the Sheriff’s Office. They knew they had a powder keg, which exploded."
“The lot where Andy was killed was where kids played airsoft war games,” Casillas continued. “Gelhaus, according to a neighbor, had driven by months ago and saw them playing with toy guns.”
The Santa Rosa community was particularly incensed to learn that, less than two months after the killing, Gelhaus had returned to desk duty on the police force. Casillas has already revealed some of his research on Gelhaus – an Iraq combat veteran who taught at a gun school in Arizona founded by Jeff Cooper, whom Casillas describes as “a white supremacist.”
The Mothers in White, whose name evokes the Mothers of the Disappeared in Argentina and Chile, have captured people's imagination around the Bay Area and beyond. The Fresno Brown Berets and BAMN activists from Oakland plan to come to the January 7 demonstration. With possible further support from the Pacific Asian Americans and the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, a genuinely multi-cultural and multi-generational coalition as been steadily emerging.
People are invited to bring mirrors to the event, to hold up to the supervisors in order that they "examine themselves."
Latinos and Anglos are being united “as the 99% [by] the ongoing economic crisis,” said coalition member and journalist Dave Ransom. He described the “shadow of the nearly jobless future cast across all youth," concluding that “a unity of the 99% is growing in Sonoma County.”
As for the burnt down memorial to Lopez, people hustled together to rebuild the site on the very same day that it was torched. In the words of McCuiston, “A once beautiful site with a glorious memorial, including balloons and flowers, was torched and reduced to ashes."
But like the community's unwavering demand for justice for Lopez, she said, "the next monument will be bigger, taller, and more permanent."
Shepherd Bliss farms, teaches college and has contributed to two dozen books.
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