Page 10 - Sonoma County Gazette July 2020

Curbside Pickup Expands to All Sonoma County Library Branches
We are expanding curbside pickup services to all 12 Sonoma County Library branches. The service will be offered Monday through Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. INFO: sonomalibrary.org
Checkout limits have been increased to 10 items per pickup and you may place holds at sonomalibrary.org or by calling your branch.
The Forestville and Occidental rural stations will offer curbside service on their previous schedules. The Sonoma County History & Genealogy Library does not circulate materials, so no curbside will be offered, but staff is available by telephone and email.
Curbside pickup does not currently include curbside returns.
BELOW...from a Healdsburg reader observing her city respond to racism... “We don’t have that problem here.”
RACISM cont’d from page 1
How did it happen that white people decided to dominate people of color? That heterosexuals decided what is right or wrong in love and family?
History takes us on a journey through time where we learn how one group dominates another: male over female...white over color...one religion over another religion...one nationality over another.
Is it the nature of human beings that one doesn’t feel valuable unless there is someone or some being below us? Are we that insecure that we have to be BETTER than another being whether it be human, animal, or plant?
Life is complex and ever-changing. The following articles and observations have come my way to share with our readers. Like all aspects of life...choose what you want to keep and what you want to discard. We all make choices. This is how we got to where we are today.
At the end of the June 1st City Council meeting, Healdsburg leaders unwittingly gave voice to a narrative repeated by people in charge all over America, “We don’t have that problem here.”
A proposal to agendize a “deeper conversation” around race and community relations with the local police had fallen on deaf ears but after more discussion the council agreed to at least ask the police chief to make time for a brief public update about the department’s positions, conflict resolution training and current case data.
But the initial tone-deaf response—‘it would be a waste of our time to have a conversation about a problem we don’t have here’—had already struck a deeper chord. The message heard by many in a community that’s more than 30% Latinx, was that local government is blind to the daily indignities Black, Indigenous, and Latinx people endure, and that we don’t matter.
During times and events such as these I’m drawn to the intellect of Chief Justice Thurgood Marsall, perhaps you may also take something from his thoughts to your heart... “We cannot play ostrich. Democracy just cannot flourish amid fear. Liberty cannot bloom amid hate. Justice cannot take root amid rage. America must get to work. In the chill climate in which we live, we must go against the prevailing wind. We must dissent from the indifference. We must dissent from the apathy. We must dissent from the fear, the hatred and the mistrust. We must dissent from a nation that has buried its head
Insulted and angered, people mobilized with a petition to oust the mayor, put their racial experiences in writing and then hang them like flags around the gazebo on the downtown plaza for all to read at a June 11 rally.
in the sand, waiting in vain for the needs of its poor, its elderly, and its sick to disappear and just blow away. We must dissent from a government that has left its young without jobs, education or hope. We must dissent from the poverty of vision and the absence of moral leadership. We must dissent because America can do better, because America has no choice but to do better.”― Thurgood Marshall
To some, not being in charge is frightening but in the recent words of African American writer/activist, Kimberly Jones:
It’s as if our current resident at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington D.C. had either never had a chance to meet this great man, this truly great American, or the time to know his heart and place such ideals within his own...sad. Much Love and Respect, Justin Thyme
Below are a few of the painful racists experiences shared by community members at the Healdsburg Plaza on June 11th.
IMPROVE your Community.
REPORT an issue!
My family’s interactions with the Healdsburg police have never been positive ones. From a very young age I remember my father always being pulled over and hearing excuses from cops that were along the lines of “oh
it looked like your tags were expired” or “I thought your tail light was out.” My own personal experience with racism within Healdsburg happened when I was in the school system. I had the cops called on me at the age of 14 by a white teacher for crossing a school field instead of walking around the block to get to a friends house. I was frequently mistaken and for another Latinx person by the school resource officer. I have had the confederate flag waved in my face by white students who were racist. These are only interactions
I recall in this moment and don’t include all of the racism I watched my siblings’ families and friends endure. RACISM cont’d on page 11
REPORT Litter/Roadside Debris BEFORE you report Vegetation Overgrowth so clean-up crews come BEFORE mowers and brush- grinders SHRED TRASH into pieces TOO TINY to remove...please!
sonomacounty.ca.gov/Services/SoCo- Report-It/Submit-a-Service-Request/
As one Latino put it, “White culture is failing because they don’t listen. If they see a problem out there, they feel they are the ones to fix it, unaware their blindness created the problem in the first place. They don’t get that they are no longer in charge.”
“You’re all lucky that what Black people are looking for is equality and not revenge.”
“Go back where you came from. Those people have no business in downtown Healdsburg.” I come from a Latinx family who has been in Healdsburg since the 1960s. My grandparents picked prunes. We have had to fight to be seen and heard in the community. We matter.
10 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 7/20