Two days ago, I went to a march in San Francisco. While I’m not from the city, which might be controversial, I have been outraged over the murder of Banko Brown since the Walgreens cop killed them on April 27th. I came across a flyer for the march two days prior, and hit up some friends, who hit up other friends. A few of us showed out, we don’t live far away. Most of the people at the march were from SF though. A few people came out in solidarity from other cities. This was really inspiring to see. And against any liberal counterinsurgency narrative of “outside agitators”, this was a deeply local thing.
People who spoke were from the city, grew up in the city, live in the city, deal with the state and capital’s bullshit there on a daily. People who made the signs, people who threw down the hardest, people who guided the flow of the afternoon – all from the city. It was beautiful to see, and to learn from the occasion. People need to support each other when calls are made across cities in the same local area. So we showed out.
The march gathered at Alamo Square Park. Once there was about 30-50 people (maybe more—it was hard to tell because at certain points people on the streets kind of surrounded the path), the march proceeded into the streets. If I remember correctly it lasted about an hour. People took the streets with large banners that read “Avenge Banko Brown” and “Abolish Breed and Jenkins”. There were homies on bikes peripherally. And people also carried signs with antigentrification and anti-police messages.
Throughout the march some people in bloc tagged “Banko” everywhere, “housing for everyone” on abandoned buildings, “FTP” on No Parking signs and on moving MUNI buses. They also tagged over the “slow street” signs, which was funny. Speakers on a mega phone were sharing short speeches condemning the violence of gentrifiers and wealthy techies going about their daily life, retelling the stories of SFPD terror and resistance over the past two decades. They condemned the white supremacy, anti-Blackness, and colonizer world of San Francisco politicians and the owning class. There was also a steady stream of chants that carried the energy between stops.
There were two pivotal parts of the march. The first was in front of London Breed’s home. There several people tagged and painted her building front, the street, and there was a short confrontation with a white man who tried to stop people. He was wedged out of the crowd by homies carrying a banner. Peace police are dangerous. “Law-abiding” “good citizens” can be dangerous. London Breed’s house got tagged up pretty good, then the march dipped eventually and circled back toward the park. The second pivotal point was the march ending. It ended back at the same park, with people with the banners standing together and a few speakers turning up — completely delegitimizing every rich gentrifier’s Friday leisure in the park with the truth of what it was: a display of pleasure and accumulation based on ongoing Black, Brown, and Native displacement and death.
Hopefully there is more of these actions. And soon.
A fire only needs a spark and smoke signals are a great way to communicate.
With love,
a Bay abolitionist
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