Talking Back

JJSE Protests the Violent Deaths of Two Students

Our school year began with two students, Jorge Hurtado 07' and Josh Cameron 09' becoming victims of two separate shootings in San Francisco. Their deaths came back-to-back as part of a wave of violence which claimed 9 people in late August and early September. After arranging two on-site memorials we decided to also organize a peace rally on the steps of SF City Hall. We wanted to give our students a sense of power and hope in an ultimately powerless situation. Out of that meeting District 9 Supervisor, Tom Amiano, earmarked $500,000 in violence prevention funds currently allocated to youth programs. District 11 Supervisor, Gerardo Sandoval, gave $50,000 to the Excelsior Teen Center which was used to buy the building where they currently reside.

June Jordan Students also met with District 11 Supervisor- Elect, John Avalos to re-state their violence prevention demands and are looking to meet with District 9 Supervisor-Elect, David Campos to do the same in January. Supervisor Avalos, a long time ally of JJSE spoke frankly with the students about the difficulties arising out of the City-wide economic crisis and is not yet in a position to make promises, however he did offer to maintain a close relationship with the school community and prioritize violence prevention efforts.

While concerns remain about the slashes in funding for SF youth programs and the doom and gloom debt problems facing our city, we see many signs of hope arising. The steps Amiano and Sandoval both took, the City-wide youth summits and the grounded grass-roots approach of Supervisor Avalos are two immediate solutions in an otherwise disheartening bureaucratic bog.

Keep your eyes and ears on the local press to see if the political maneuvers coming from our fair City increase or decrease the likelihood of such travesties happening again, and make noise.

"Our own shadows disappear as the feet of thousands
by the tens of thousands pound
the fallow land into new dust that
rising like a marvelous pollen will be fertile..."
-June Jordan, Poem for South African Women