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SAN JOSE — Protesters against police brutality brought their demands directly to San Jose’s top official Friday evening.
Hundreds gathered outside Mayor Sam Liccardo’s home for a sit-in urging him to redirect funding for the San Jose Police Department into initiatives to assist communities of color.
They placed 17 crosses on the sidewalk outside Liccardo’s home, each bearing the name and image of someone killed in recent years by law enforcement in the South Bay.
Rosie Chavez showed up to share the story of her nephew, Jacob Dominguez, who was shot and killed by San Jose police in September 2017. He was a suspect in a drive-by shooting and an armed robbery, but he was unarmed when police fatally shot him. Chavez said the youngest of his three children asks Santa Claus to bring back her father.
“He was making changes,” she said. “He was a loving person. He loved God.”
The group called upon Liccardo to listen to the families’ stories and go on the record about their demands. It was not clear whether he was home during the sit-in before protesters began marching to San Jose City Hall, more than a mile away, just after 7:30 p.m. A separate group was already protesting there.
The sit-in organizers’ stipulations include creating funds specifically for black-led organizations, immediate and long-term financial help for those injured by police, and funding first responders who will answer 911 calls with a focus on de-escalation and restorative justice.
Laurie Valdez recounted how two San Jose State University police officers shot and killed her partner, Antonio Guzman Lopez, in February 2014. Lopez had a 12-inch blade resembling a drywall saw; authorities contended body-worn camera footage of the encounter showed him charging at an officer, but family advocates argued he was trying to walk away.
The couple’s young son is still reeling from his father’s death, Valdez tearfully told the crowd.
“He always wishes he could die so he could see his dad,” she said. “He has so much anger. Our leaders have failed to acknowledge the children left fatherless. They’re not giving our families support.”
Some speakers also called upon school districts to remove police from their campuses, like Oakland Unified leaders supported doing this week. Others demanded the closure of the William F. James Boys Ranch, a juvenile detention facility in Morgan Hill.
Liccardo’s staff posted a prerecorded video during the protest explaining why he does not believe defunding police is reasonable in San Jose. He defended the city’s spending on law enforcement, saying San Jose already has one of the smallest police forces among large U.S. cities, on a per capita basis.
Tonight, I explain why defunding the police doesn’t work in San José (read on Medium: https://t.co/6NlUDQSCGG). My budget message calls for investments in equity—standing up an Office of Racial Equity + committing to a use of force review w/ the IPA. ▶️ https://t.co/3EXfeL7ES3. pic.twitter.com/hHcraSQm7N
— Sam Liccardo (@sliccardo) June 13, 2020
This is just the latest protest in the Bay Area as the issue of police violence, particularly against black people, has bubbled over in the wake of the Memorial Day police killing of George Floyd, a black man.
Police reaction to these protests initially included more violence and tear gas, though broadly that has decreased in more recent protests.
One organizer, Jose Valle of Silicon Valley De-Bug, said he believes the South Bay’s police killings are tragically similar to Floyd’s.
“We have 10 to 20 George Floyds (in San Jose) that were lost in the past decade or so. We need justice for these families. We need to look at the criminal justice system in a totally different way,” Valle said.
“I think there’s a different way of doing it,” he continued. “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that crime is driven by poverty and inequality.”
The group has arrived and positioned the crosses — each of which represents a person who was killed by police — in front of the mayor’s home. pic.twitter.com/JHoExhxhu1
— Jason Green (@Jason_T_Green) June 13, 2020