Update from Kate
STAND UP AGAINST HATE
Please Share Widely:
On Sunday, residents of Marin City were subjected to race-based hate speech and acts of blatant discrimination.
A member of the community described the experience to me this way:
“Today, approximately two hundred Trump Supporters came into Marin City for a voter intimidation rally. These folks brought large dogs, offensive Thin Blue Line flags which are anti-African American, and they accosted Black young people from Marin City by spitting at them and jeering them.”
As a County Supervisor and member of the Board’s Racial Equity Subcommittee, I am here to tell you that we will not tolerate this behavior in Marin County.
Everyone has a right to public peace and safety in their community -- to be able to enjoy a Sunday morning with their kids or at church or simply appreciating the beautiful weather, free from hate speech, threats and intimidation.
I ask everyone who does not live in Marin City to imagine how you would feel if a caravan of cars drove through your neighborhood yelling insults, disrespecting and demeaning you, and scaring your kids. You wouldn’t like it and neither would I. And none of us, whether we live in Marin City, San Anselmo or San Rafael, and regardless of the color of our skin or any other quality of our being, should be subjected to such treatment.
These are fraught and anxious times, but that does not provide a license to be hateful, or racist, or threatening to others.
We have lost a lot as a society, particularly in the last 4 years. We have lost our civility, our respectfulness, our compassion, and our empathy. And we have discovered deep wells of racism and bias. We need to act now to repair what is broken in ourselves, in our community, and in our country.
Late last week the pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Sausalito told me that on Saturday he would put a large stack of small pumpkins outside the church and offer everyone who passed by the opportunity to write a blessing on a pumpkin. This got me thinking about what blessing I would offer and here’s what I came up with:
Be kind. Be generous. Be open-hearted. Treat everyone with respect. Find joy.
After the events in Marin City on Sunday, I would add to that:
Stand up and say No to those who bring hate, racism, intolerance and intimidation to our friends, our neighbors, and our communities.
I shared the above thoughts at today's Board of Supervisors meeting.
Additionally, I hope you will read the Statement against voter intimidation that we, the Marin County Board of Supervisors Racial Equity Subcommittee, released today. It was created in collaboration with several Marin cities, towns, and numerous community organizations, including:
Marin County Board of Supervisors Equity Subcommittee (Kate Sears, District 3 and Dennis Rodoni, District 4) - City of Novato - City of San Rafael - City of Sausalito - Town of Fairfax - Town of Ross - Town of San Anselmo - Marin Council of Chambers - Corte Madera Chamber of Commerce - Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Marin County - Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce - Novato Chamber of Commerce - San Rafael Chamber of Commerce - West Marin Chamber of Commerce - Marin County District Attorney - Marin County Health and Human Services - Marin County Office of Education - National Association for the Advancement of Colored People - 350 Marin - Adopt A Family of Marin - Age Friendly Sausalito - Aging Action Initiative - Bay Area Community Resources - Bayside Martin Luther King, Jr. Academy - California Native Plant Society - Canal Alliance - Community Action Marin - Extra Food - Fatherhood Council - First Missionary Baptist Church - Homeward Bound of Marin - KWMR-FM - Marin Arts - Marin Asian Advocacy Project - Marin City Community Development Corporation - Marin Conservation League - Marin County Access 4 Bikes - Marin Horse Council - Marin Link - Mercy Housing - Multicultural Center of Marin - Museum of the American Indian - North Marin Community Services - Performing Stars - San Geronimo Valley Community Center - Sausalito Marin City School District - School of Environmental Leadership - SF Marin Food Bank - Sierra Club of Marin County - The Spahr Center - UMOJA Unity Project - Watershed Alliance of Marin - Youth Transforming Justice
Finally, please take a moment to read the Resolution we adopted today to address the disproportionate impacts the COVID-19 pandemic is having on our most marginalized communities, local businesses and property owners. It affirms our commitment to:
- Stand in solidarity with our community to acknowledge and address the structural racism that exists in our nation in all aspects of society such as health care, education, employment laws, housing, immigration, financial systems, criminal justice, prosecution and sentencing practices, and so much more. We recognize that supportive words are not enough to catalyze the healing, social change and racial equity needed to overcome decades of systemic racism. Work has been done to this end and it will continue; however, we need to do much more – and we need to do it now.
- Take bold action for social justice and work together across our community to do our part in what is needed to both heal and to co-create solutions to address systemic racial injustice that pervade our society and community; elected officials have the perfect opportunity through their leadership positions to address the racial disparity in the County;1 and
- Support our historically marginalized residents in Marin County, who have been most impacted by systemic racism, disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and are also facing an urgent economic crisis of historic proportions; and
- Protect housing for our essential workers and consider implementing additional programs that would support renters and other policies that will preserve the ability for many community members to stay living in their homes; and
- Continue working with our community partners in a highly collaborative and expeditious manner to build longer-term solutions for recovery and resilience within our most disproportionately impacted communities and to develop and implement policies that address this crisis over the coming few months; and
- Develop a methodology that allocates the majority of the new/supplemental Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding, recently received from the State in the amount of $1.7M, toward providing additional rental assistance and business support to our most historically marginalized communities and local businesses, which have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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