Civics 9/24

Tuesday, September 24, 2024

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A View From the Ground

News and information about politics, government, civic participation and engagement from URL Media's network of Black and Brown publishers.

Good evening. In today's newsletter, we’re covering the symbiotic relationship between abolition and parenting, how residents perceive San Francisco’s role as a sanctuary city, Somali elders patrolling their youth in Minneapolis and more. Plus, URL Media has been at the forefront of issues affecting Black and Brown voters this election season, and we noticed just before the weekend, early voting kicked off in states like Virginia, South Dakota, and Minnesota, which has one of the earliest voting periods in the country. If you’re looking for a way to navigate the voting process, Sahan Journal has put together a handy guide on navigating early voting, including accessing ballots, canceling them, tracking their status, and what happens after you submit your vote.

Crystal Lake, Texas near Joaquin TexasA rural Black family in Texas arrested for trying to reclaim their land: For Pamela Barnes, sitting in a cold, dirty holding cell below a mold-covered vent for hours on end was the final nail in the coffin. After her family’s ongoing, year-long battle with Constable Roy Cheatwood in Joaquin, Texas — who Barnes alleges took her family’s land by exploiting and deceiving a relative — the 63-year-old, her two sisters, and their cousin turned themselves in weeks ago after warrants were issued for their arrests.

“I didn’t eat for two days. I have not been able to sleep properly. I have not been able to concentrate,” Barnes told Capital B earlier this month.

The family tells the news organization that Roy Cheatwood has taken a number of legal actions to dispossess them of their land, including reporting them to law enforcement officials, surveilling them, giving a tenant permission to build a structure on their property, collecting rent payments from their tenants, and verbally threatening them. The family, which has reported the official to the sheriff’s department multiple times, has filed a lawsuit against Cheatwood.

“Roy Cheatwood would respectively show that he properly purchased all of the land and the fractional interest owned by Junior Lee Williams,” said Cheatwood’s then-attorney John Price, who denied the allegations in court filings.

The family is contesting the constable’s claim that he owns a relative’s interest in the land, which he purchased about three months before the relative’s death last October. The Barnes family says their relative, Junior Lee Williams, was a Vietnam War veteran who had been battling cancer and substance abuse and was not in a mental state to consent to an agreement with Cheatwood.

Now, the Barnes family’s legal battles reflect those of many Black families suffering from the consequences of heirs’ property — land passed down without a will. Joaquin, Texas, where the Barnes family has been embroiled in the legal battle for the past year, is 59% white and mostly conservative. Capital B reports this disproportionately affects Black families in the rural South because their ancestors were subject to violence or dispossession, excluded from estate planning resources, or didn’t trust white lawyers during the time.More in Capital B →

This group of Somali elders walk Minneapolis streets to keep an eye on their youth: One night, a group of Somali youth were approached by their elders dressed in distinctive gear — bright blue shirts and hoodies depicting a lion with the letters “S.Y.L” inscribed on it. This group of elders is part of Somali Youth Link, a city-funded program for Somali elders who patrol the streets of Minneapolis at night to keep an eye on their community’s youth. An elder, who recently spoke with The Minneapolis Star Tribune, in partnership with Sahan Journal, about the culturally specific solution, explains that the organization’s goal is to help young people stay out of trouble and make good choices.

"... We strive for zero events," says one elder. So far, the group has received positive feedback around town.

“[Business owners] have said, ‘Yes, we’ve seen them walking the streets, and it has been a big help; we like that visibility,’” said Nick Juarez, the community engagement liaison for the University of Minnesota’s Department of Public Safety. “Now they know, if they’re going to come down to Dinkytown, they’re going to run into the elders from Somali Youth Link.”

The group was formed after a series of incidents in recent summers involving Somali youth, ranging from loitering and reckless driving to shooting fireworks at people or sneaking into college parties. Community advocate and Somali Youth Link Director, Farhio Khalif, points to the pandemic as a time when issues began cropping up. Schools were closed, social services in the area were shut down, and youth lacked a normal daily routine.

Elders say Somali youth can be particularly susceptible to being misguided, as some may be new to the U.S. and unfamiliar with how things work in the country. Some may fear the police or be profiled by residents.

“The neighbors panic when they see a group of Black teenagers coming here,” said one elder.Read more at Sahan Journal →

Is San Francisco still a sanctuary city?: City officials say the current surge in homeless families migrating to San Francisco is largely driven by immigration and job loss, as El Tecolote reports. According to the latest count from the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, 35% of the total unhoused population is chronically homeless, and it’s manifesting in ways that both the city and its residents find hard to ignore — picture families sleeping in vehicles or on the streets.

“I thought that it was going to be different. I thought we were going to have more job opportunities, that we were going to have safe, stable housing, but it has been difficult,” said Jenifer Carcamo, an asylum seeker from Honduras, in a video interview conducted by the nonprofit Faith Based in Action.

The mother of three says she chose to migrate with her family to San Francisco because of its status as a sanctuary city. San Francisco became a sanctuary city in 1989 through the passage of the “City and County of Refuge” ordinance. At the time, the ordinance was in response to an influx of refugees fleeing civil wars, particularly from Central America.

El Tecolote interviews residents running for office this November about whether they believe San Francisco is still a sanctuary city.

“Sanctuary on paper. On paper, only,” said District 9 candidate H. Brown.Hear more thoughts →

When abolition and parenting intertwine: How might abolitionists, working to transform the criminal justice system as we know it, be inspired and learn from children's curious nature? First, we must realize that abolition and parenting may have something to offer one another to support a shared goal of dreaming up new futures. In “We Grow the World Together,” an anthology of essays and interviews edited by journalist Maya Schenwar and artist, writer, and organizer Kim Wilson, this relationship between parenting and abolition takes center stage, explored through the perspectives of writers, activists, and incarcerated parents with their children.

Prism’s Tamar Sarai discusses the book with both authors, delving into its origins and how abolition and caregiving manifest in their lives. Journalist Schenwar reveals the catalyst for their collaboration:

“I’ve been writing and organizing around abolition for many years and then suddenly had this infant in my life and was not able to go to the marches, was not able to be at all the meetings, all of those things. But at the same time, I felt a connection to abolitionist values in a way that I actually had not before so strongly.”

Civics 9/24

A View From the Ground

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