On Shaky Ground:
San Juan's Sidewalk Crisis and the Struggle for Disability Justice
SAN JUAN, PR.— Aspiring film director and student Stephanie Vázquez Pagán sits for portraits in their Hato Rey apartment.
“I like to encourage a lot of people to advocate for the community and [...] consider us within society—not only medically but socially—so we can break down these barriers structurally and physically…
We are people, too. We have the right to interact with society. [But] we can't do that with the sidewalk barriers they put.”
— Stephanie Vázquez Pagán
“When I bump into one of those sidewalks that has a lot of rocks in it or a lot of broken pavement, I either dare myself and go straight for it or I fall off the sidewalk and go though the street, which is dangerous — it carries its own risk.”
-Stephanie Vázquez Págan
Where pa’lante meets sumud: Puerto Ricans organize in solidarity with Palestine
The Zoom camera clicks on and Natalia Ibrahim Abufarah Davila, 35, appears. The Palestinian-Puerto Rican organizer has a soft aura and wears glasses, her face framed by a side part and thick braid. Born to a Palestinian father and a Puerto Rican mother, Abufarah Davila grew up between the two cultures and has since become a familiar face within Puerto Rico’s solidarity movement for Palestinian liberation.
While Abufarah Davila’s family worked around the clock to run their bakery, when they could afford to, summers offered the chance to visit her father’s home in Palestine. “The summer was the perfect time; We didn’t have school, we didn’t have any other compromises,” she explains.
In 1996, at the age of eight, Abufarah Davila made her first trip to Palestine and “fell in love” with her family’s home, so vastly different from Puerto Rico but somehow still reminiscent of the island…
Victory for Prop J.
Beneath an arc of oak trees on Golden Gate Park’s JFK Promenade, a large crowd of San Franciscans gathered last week to celebrate the victory of Proposition J. In a high-stake midterm election, Proposition J — the “Safe Parks for All” measure — beat out Proposition I, solidifying JFK Drive as car-free JFK Promenade. At the celebration, state Senator Scott Wiener took to the mic and said, “This took 50 years. It’s been a fight, with ups and downs, different ballot measures but it’s finally over because the people of San Francisco have spoken.”
Unknown to many, the seeds of the Proposition J movement were planted in the ‘70s roller skating boom.
Bumping disco from boom boxes, tens of thousands San Franciscans took to skating on polyurethane wheels — the first wheel to allow for outdoor roller skating.
In the summer of 1978, the San Francisco Chronicle reported, “Something’s happening in Golden Gate Park and even the birds and the bees and the flowers and trees — not to mention that species called pedestrians — are trying to stay out of the way of what one man calls the ‘roller phenomenon.”
Founder of the Church of 8 Wheels roller rink — aka the “Godfather of Skate” — the Rev. David Miles Jr. calls those days the “wild, wild, west of roller skating.”
Neighbors called in noise complaints, the news sensationalized skate injuries, and the city threatened to ban skating completely from
Golden Gate Park. In response, the Recreation and Parks Department formed the Skate Patrol in 1979. Led by Miles Jr., the team aided injured skaters and pedestrians. “We were the rebel rousers of the park, we were the ones [the city] wanted to get rid of, but that changed when we became the Skate Patrol,” he said.
According to Miles Jr., the patrol administered CPR to park goers on multiple occasions and helped the cops arrest a shooter on one occasion, all while on skates. Not stopping there, the patrol mobilized to advocate for car-free spaces in GGP and laid the groundwork for the success of Proposition J — successfully lobbying for Skatin’ Place, the skaters’ haven on JFK Drive and 6th Ave.
SENATOR SCOTT WIENER & GORDON MAR ADDRESS THE PROP J.VICTORY CROWD AT THE NEW JFK BEER GARDEN
DANCE PARTNERS SKATE AT CAR-FREE JFK
“I want to see more Black and Brown people in this space, the people who were harmed the most, the people weed was used to target.”
— The Poncho Brotherz
Performance by Momotombo at La Vida Divina, a block party hosted by the Poncho Brotherz // Oct. 29, 2022
The Tapia brothers (Poncho Brotherz) pose in front of their Cesar Chavez storefront
A supreme injustice: Supreme Court topples Roe versus Wade
On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States revoked Roe v. Wade, which protected the constitutional right to abortion since 1973. While unsurprising, the ruling by a hyper-conservative court was devastating. While abortions are still legal in several states, including California, several conservative states either already banned abortions or are expected to.
The ruling ignited thousands to protest across the country. In San Francisco, demonstrations were planned throughout the city. At City Hall, El Tecolote reporter Sage Mace and photographer Jeremy Word spoke to several people, who vehemently opposed the decision.
“It is time for us to fight like never before,” said Kimberly Ellis, of the San Francisco Department on the Status of Women. “What this means for women and girls in this country is that this is a moment for us to fight or die, and we intend to fight and to win. One of the things I think is important is that here in San Francisco, and for all of us in the state of California, is to do what we so often have done and that is to lead, to be a beacon of light and a beacon of hope and to provide a safe haven of refuge for anyone, all people who need it.”
“Right now we’re in a position where millions of people need to be filling the streets,” said John of The Bay Area Revolution Club. “This supreme court decision is a part of a larger Christian fascist movement aimed at LGBTQ rights, contraception limitations, and more. We urgently need to be struggling with the people to create a completely new society based on meeting the needs of the people.”
Protestors gather at San Francisco City Hall on July 20th, 2022
“We’re here in solidarity to protest the horrific decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe, and to double-down on the need for California to show up big and to pass the state constitutional amendment to enshrine access to abortion and birth control here, for Californians and for others who are going to come to our state for care,” said Gilda Gonzales CEO of Planned Parenthood Northern California…
I Will Not Silently Go Back to the 1950s
Reproductive Rights Are Human Rights
Abort The Filibuster
Crowd Gathers at City Hall, SF
Youth Rage Against Supreme Court Decision
Roe V Wade City Hall Rally, SF
Planned Parenthood Supporters Rally at Civic Hall, SF