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Mayor Cathy Murillo kneeling during the virtual City Council meeting while saying the “Pledge of Allegiance”
By Lauren Bray, edhat staff
Nearly sixty community members held Santa Barbara Mayor Cathy Murillo accountable during public comment Tuesday for her refusal to kneel with protestors and listen to Black Lives Matter activists at a recent protest.
The virtual City Council meeting started with Murillo stating she would take a knee in honor of George Floyd during the Pledge of Allegiance before having a moment of silence.
“Mr. Floyd we are thinking of you and I pledge to do everything I can to reject and eliminate institutionalized racism in our society,” said Murillo while praising Black Lives Matter and the NAACP.
Floyd, an unarmed 46-year-old Black man, was murdered by four police officers last week in Minneapolis. He was handcuffed lying face down on a city street during an arrest while a white police officer kept his knee on Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. He was later pronounced dead.
The murder sparked outrage that has rapidly spread throughout the United States, and eventually overseas, with marches, protests, and rallies.
The local chapter of Black Lives Matter held a peaceful rally on Sunday against police brutality with approximately 3,000 attendees at the Santa Barbara County Courthouse. A march followed where protestors were faced with approximately twenty officers in full riot gear and an armored vehicle behind police tape in the 200 block of E. Figueroa Street, where the department is located.
Murillo stepped out from behind the police line and attempted to engage with protest leaders Simone Ruskamp and Krystle Farmer Sieghart. Murillo was asked to listen but attempted to talk over the two women.
During a peaceful demonstration where members of the Black community laid on the ground for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, the same amount of time Floyd was held on the ground, members of the non-black community were asked to kneel in solidarity. The crowd extended this offer to everyone behind the police tape, they all declined.
Following the protest, Black Lives Matter Santa Barbara issued a set of demands asking for the protection and preservation of Black landmarks, transparency and accountability from local law enforcement, recognition of Juneteenth commemorating the Emancipation Proclamation, and the City Council adopts a resolution condemning police brutality and declares racism a public health emergency.
For over two hours of public comment on Tuesday, community members passionately expressed their disappointment with Murillo’s lack of solidarity, empathy, and action. Some were high school students who cried while discussing the inequalities they face and how fearful they are of law enforcement.
Others called Murillo “tone-deaf” for issuing a press release following the protest. The statement, released on Murillo’s behalf, recognized the death of Floyd and applauded Santa Barbara Police Chief Lori Luhnow for “courageous leadership,” but failed to mention the peaceful protest, its leaders, and Black Lives Matter.
“We’re going through a pandemic and we [brought] 3,000 of your constituents to stand with black lives, call out corruption and police brutality,” said Sieghart. “Do your jobs, hold yourselves accountable for the harm caused in this community, do better.”
Ruskamp called for the Mayor’s resignation stating she was fine asking Black people to help get her elected but has been absent since her tenure.
“Mayor, I expect you to resign, your actions have already spoken for you. You still have not reached out to either leader of the protest after you yelled in our faces and issued a statement and thanked the chief,” said Ruskamp. “You all should be ashamed. The community is watching.”
During the course of two hours, Murillo said few words beyond “thank you” and “next caller” between comments.
Frustration and anger were also directed at Chief Luhnow for the presentation of officers in riot gear. Many expressed their fear of such a “militarized presence,” while others wondered why the police responded in such a way when in previous protests officers assisted with traffic control and marched alongside protestors.
Several commenters urged the City Council to decrease funding to the police department and reject the proposal for a new police station while instead rerouting those funds to community services.
“Black people have been saying for centuries that the police are not safe, that institutions are not safe… you all saw with your own eyes what happened on Sunday. You saw that even as Black people laid down their bodies in front of the police in Santa Barbara, they continued to stand, and snicker, and intimidate,” said Ruskamp in a Facebook video following the protest.
Chief Luhnow jumped into the virtual meeting to answer a question posed by Councilmember Alejandra Gutierrez who asked where she was and why officers were in riot gear.
“We’ve had officers in [Los Angeles] actively deployed in riots that have been violent. Our training dictates we wear extra gear when we do that. I’m not saying we saw that violence here, but I’m saying we can do better than we did,” said Luhnow. “We’re at our best when our community partners are with us and we’re not trained to be in vulnerable positions but that is the learning that needs to occur.”
Chief Luhnow continued to say she has the willingness to participate in acts of solidarity and will use this as an opportunity to listen and grow. She also stated she was returning to Santa Barbara and wasn’t present for the protest while Murillo identified herself as the representative to speak with protestors.
“I apologize if I could have done a better job and I certainly want to connect with [Ruskamp and Sieghart] as we go forward,” said Murillo.
All city councilmembers expressed support for the protest and agreed to discuss the demands brought forth by the Black Lives Matter leaders.
Councilmember Kristen Sneddon said the protest was justified and didn’t come from a singular tragedy, while vowing to listen and take action.
“Racism is a public health crisis, we are a part of the structural inequity… it’s time for us to all acknowledge and act now for concrete change,” she said.
Councilmember Meagan Harmon stated the demands were a gift the council didn’t deserve and they provide a roadmap for how the city can stand with the Black community.
“My job today… as an ally and councilmember is to amplify and elevate the voices of black leaders, black activists,” said Harmon.
She specifically called out the creation of a civilian complaint review board stating she’s advocated for this for many years and is committed to seeing this through. She additionally put forth an action item to make a change to council agenda reports to include socioeconomic impacts for each item.
City Administrator Paul Casey said his team will be prepared to bring an agenda item to the council next week to discuss the demands.
One point all public commenters seemed to echo was that words are one thing, action is another, and they’re watching and waiting.
Like I said a few days ago, things are gonna get REALLY interesting around election time. Murillo, you are an ineffectual mayor. You should retain what dignity and grace you have left and resign your post. Call it in the interest of the City, whatever you have to do to make your exit “look good”. But you are no good for our town. You failed us when we needed you most; in a crisis. And just like some marriage vows: If you can’t handle us at our worst, you don’t deserve us at our best. Time to exit stage left, “Mayor”.
She waited to address the Covid issue until the Governor was moving the state into Phase 2. Unbelievable.
What an organized smear campaign…..unlikely alliances, same tactics, same people behind it
I listened to all that public comment today, and cannot agree with you. There are many who voted for her thinking she would do something real to address racial inequity, and when it mattered the most, she didn’t. In full view, on Instagram. The groups upset with her over this are respected community orgs in this community. It’s not a smear when everyone saw the same thing, and was highly disappointed because what could have been real solidarity was wasted.
I can’t believe it took her inaction at a protest for her to be called out when she has been inactive the WHOLE time she’s been in office unless you are a developer or need a ribbon cut! Why does it take so long for people to see these things! Grrr…
She has no problem standing with people who defaced the NP building because they published a story about “illegal aliens” instead of “ Undocumented citizens”. She had no problems standing with those who harassed a local business owner on Milpas St who wanted an improvement district. Cathy only stands with Light brown people.
Santa Barbara city needs to update election rules for Mayor. Most cities require a Mayor to have 50% minimum voter approval to win. Ms. Murillo was elected I believe with less than 25% of the vote. There should be a run off between here and next highest vote % candidate. Our town is getting too big to have ineffectual city council.
I’m not a Murillo fan but I don’t think she’s to blame for racial inequality in Santa Barbara. There’s a few “behind the scenes” power players in this town that bear far more responsibility than she does. Just take a glance at the owner of our local rag.
I hope these protests really bring some change. Many black owned businesses are in economically challenged areas which often exist due to racism. I hope to see more people paying attention to economically depressed or challenged areas where there are black owned businesses struggling, or to areas with high black populations with smaller businesses, and start to bring there business there, So often I see people avoiding those areas b/c they think they are “high crime” [another example of stereotypes] and the discrimination just perpetuates itself. This has to change. WE need to empower these disenfranchised communities and start to patronize them. SB is a bit of a bubble and I hope to see people doing more of this.
Thank you, Lauren, for taking the time to write an actual piece of journalism on EdHat. Well done! Not so well done actions and words from our mayor and police chief. Our city council and mayor are amateurs trying to play roles for which they are ill equipped. On the job training *might* work in our little town but I’ve seen some big failures here. Not just today. Apologies and corrections are due, not next week or next month but tomorrow, now, and if not, resignations would work for me. I do not give Police Chief Luhnow a pass because she was not here. It’s still her job and she failed, too. Thanks to the rally organizers and 3,000 of us who did the right thing, as we should expect in our little town. Now we must assure the goals are realized and work toward that, every day.
“So often I see people avoiding those areas b/c they think they are “high crime” [another example of stereotypes] and the discrimination just perpetuates itself.”…………Have to agree with you with the stereotypes, because the exact opposite is true: Cities and neighborhoods with traditionally high black populations are quite safe and do not experience high crime (as stereotypes would suggest).
Exactly my point, maybe not as well stated. This goes way deeper than a black box on social media and kneeling. All that is great but, this has to be addressed too. Why are there proportionately way more whites in SB? Among other questions. I went to school in what was considered a “high crime” [and mostly black] city and I had no problems.
I moved here from the East Coast and was very surprised at the lack of diversity in SB. I hope this gets addressed too.
There are people who avoid certain areas – even in SB – which they consider high crime and usually those tend to have higher minority populations. The stereo types are still there.
@ 2:19 lack of diversity, really? you wanna give some specifics? like where are you from? what about SBs diversity is lacking? how do we address it?
I lost interest when I got to the sentence about a “list of demands”.
M_CUBE you’re kidding right? As of 2020:
According to the most recent ACS, the racial composition of Santa Barbara was:
White: 79.59%
Other race: 10.83%
Asian: 3.86%
Two or more races: 3.59%
Black or African American: 1.30%
Native American: 0.68%
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander: 0.16%
Take a ride on the upper east side, the riviera, mission canyon, Montecito and other wealthier areas of SB and let me know how many minorities you see living there. Ask yourself, why is it mostly whites? What bothers you about this truth? The largest minority here is hispanic and they mostly live in what people consider the less desirable poorer areas of town [I actually prefer those areas]. Please!
M-CUBED the answer to how to address it is to find out what is causing it to begin with.
I agree with you. From the start of this movement in pre Civil War days, others try to take the cause of blacks agitating for rights, and drape themselves in it. Gutierrez did that, and it’s called ‘appropriating.’ It’s so not appropriate. You want to tackle broader racism, fine. But Latino men do not face the threat of murder by police or being merely stopped for driving / walking / bird-watching/ going to the store like blacks in this country do.
Transfer of anger is common now. Ellen Degeneres is getting blasted for a tweet.
Another misleading comment. This is not people avoiding areas because they “consider them high crime areas”. It is because they are factually higher crime areas. Has zero to do with stereotypes. It has to do facts.
Thanks Reload, where’s the link to this? And when is the next town hall for the community to provide input on revising these policies?
They clearly were not geared up and ready to fight people who are peacefully protesting. Want to know how we know, because the police and the protesters were all peaceful. Do you think Minneapolis residents are safer after the police department was burned down? You’re right that our tax dollars go to protecting us, mostly because CA Government has never heard of the 2nd Amendment. The police are reactive while the rioters and looters are proactive and have made plans. The police have to be as ready as they can be. They cannot run back inside the building to take 10 minutes to get their riot gear on when bricks and bottles are being thrown at them.
Although the optics look real bad, the police were trying to prepare for the worst. Unless nobody paid attention the nation has seen 5 straight days of protest, that include rioting and nefarious looting, vandalizing and arson. Business tenants expressed real fear as social media were a buzz about groups moving to more affluent areas such as Santa Barbara. Nobody thought cities like La Mesa, Ca would be a target either. In the Bay Area up north, social media traced planned outings in more affluent places like Walnut Creek, which resulted in some actual looting (whereby other targeted towns such as Danville took real warning..as boarded up the entire town.) Please keep the protests peaceful, but dont be surprised when the Police come prepared based on what has been happening. Thanks to our black leaders for speaking up!
What do you suggest for addressing this? Affirmative Action measures for population in Santa Barbara?
Good points and I totally agree! Let’s keep it peaceful and respect their need to stay safe with all that is going on right now. Police lives matter too!
Right? Where has she been during covid? And during the mudslides and Thomas Fire! She’s always been garbage, don’t know how she got the vote when there were better candidates.
Are you kidding me? People complaining about how the police were geared up?? Did they treat the protesters poorly? Our precious city is reeling from the quarantine with businesses closing and going bankrupt… we simply cannot chance having a valid protest turn violent and damage our city like has happened, and is continuing to happen, all over the country. Its turned into mob rule in so many places. How were any of us in SB to know if the protesters here on Sunday weren’t going to turn into rioters? It only takes a few bad apples to start the process and ruin the true intentions of those who are peacefully protesting. I abhor the whole militarization of our police forces… or the fact that they feel they need to be militarized… cameras everywhere, smart phones being tracked… its all a very scary feeling… I side with Ed Snowden on that. But for the most part, SB is a peaceful place with people of all backgrounds and ethnicities celebrating the beauty of living here. We personally struggle financially everyday to live here, but we feel its worth it. When massive crowds from out of town come here to our little town to protest, I am glad our police force is keeping us and our businesses from being destroyed.
Smear campaign? No, both her actions and lack of action, are self evident
Murillo was never qualified to lead a town the size and scale of Santa Barbara. She has never been up to the job. She has shown no management skills, no business acumen, no people skills and no leadership skills. She is a wet noodle totally inept at her core duties and has proven to be the worst mayor our town has ever seen. A sad result during a time when we need smart, capable and strong leadership. Make no mistake Santa Barbara is going broke very fast and the city, led by Murillo and her lackeys, has folded to the public employee unions. Instead of cutting headcount and expenses, she gave them RAISES!!! We are down 90% in TOT, 50% in sales tax and many signals that the worst is yet to come. And yet she gives raises to her fellow city workers when we have 25% unemployment and a town full of fear and confusion. She should resign and move out of state but she wont. She thinks she is doing a “heck of a job” and wants a promotion. Instead, we the people should remove her from office and chase her out of town.
the only inaction she’s taken that I agree with
Just what we need in the current mix of chaos – deaths from wannabe macho gunslingers.
and i thought Helen Schneider was bad……
Not a big Murillo fan but what she did was absolutely reasonable. She engaged the group and then didn’t blindly follow their lead or demands. That’s what a mayor is supposed to do. Calling for her resignation (on this issue) is dumb, naive, entitled and Crazy. She tried to talk, they didn’t want to listen. So that discussion can be had another day in a constructive setting. And the police bashing is silly. There are hundreds of thousands of police officers. None of them are perfect and some are bad. Same as any group. But by and large they are a great group that help us and keep us safe and demanding they be defunded is dumb. And like everything in our current society, this wasn’t the “community taking her to task” it was an entitled vocal few that were mostly young and clueless.
SBO, you never voted for her, right? Unless you voted for someone who was never qualified to lead this town. So her main concern is not your criticism but whether she has lost support from her base and the Democratic Party. She’s a little bit too thin-skinned for a politician but in general the decisions the City has made during this (400 people laid off, allowing businesses to use the sidewalk) have been pro-active and business friendly.
Thickness of skin seems more important than color these days! One has to have an incredible resilience to take on unfair slams and personal attacks, with inappropriate, insulting language hurled at our Mayor, along with vicious accusations that cannot be backed up. When did we Santa Barbara folks decide to become totally “barbaric” in our politics as it seems we are now. We have a liberal based political state and city– is this to be hatefully driven? This incident reveals the need to assist all races to survive? Since the beginning of our City (1782) we have done that.. Okay, start over–blacks, first–what do they want, need? If criminal in intent, how are we supposed to treat them? When do we not do this here? We are not going to destroy actual history by being emotional “blackmailed” (pun intended). There is significant positive black history here if we choose to single it out and share it. Time to honor all complaints rationally not racially please. Does violence, and anarchic thinking or mudslinging work? We have women with good intentions in many key positions now. Let’s respect them as well for what they contribute and have to endure. Politics does not have to be dirty nor ugly!!!!
When election comes around for SB City Mayor and there aren’t any good moderate Dems to run against Murillo, I’ll vote for a good moderate Republican that hopefully can bring good positive change for SB. I will support and volunteer on their campaign. A Republican who is not a Trump supporter. (Or a good Libertarian.)
Our mayor didn’t kneel and some of you believe she should have? And you want to be in charge? I’d rather she’s is our mayor for the next 40 years than to have you tell us how to think, act, and vote. When everything that you disagree with is described as Hate and Racist…then none of it is. When “can’t we agree to disagree” is no longer an option, it’s over. Now we have the “be afraid, be very/very afraid” to disagree with us crowd.
Are we now going to make decisions depending on who has the largest mob and who can cause the most destruction to businesses and people? What happened to the rule of law?
“ and declares racism a public health emergency.”
What would that entail? And after reading that, I’m. Huge fan of Murillo for not just blindly following and committing to declaring another public health emergency in sb.
I’m trying to follow your logic: No one reads the NP. Most everyone hates the NP. No one likes the owner of the NP. Everyone disagrees with the owner of the NP. The NP is going the way of the dinosaurs. Advertisers fleeing…..blah, blah, blah….and yet, the owner of the NP is a behind the scenes power player who is responsible for what? Really? She has that kind of power? She has that kind of control? How is it possible? Please help me understand how the owner of the NP holds all this power? All the money in the world can’t cause racial inequality, but go on, explain……
Black Lives Matter wants to defund law enforcement and reinvest that money into the black communities. Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors says only “radical shifts” can stop law enforcement violence. While she understands the desire to hold individual officers accountable for their actions, Cullors says the demand to defund law enforcement and reinvest the money in black communities is what can achieve justice for black Americans.
Now she HAS to kneel when you say to do so, or else she must resign because she is Racist?! Don’t disagree with the demands of a crowd or they will punish you! Poor George Floyd is missing from our senses.
RIP David Dorn.
MJACKMAN–you say politics does not have to be dirty and ugly then you make racist jokes which are pretty offensive [‘being emotional [sic] “blackmailed” (pun intended)]. You may need to take a moment to look in a mirror and see what racism is in practice.
Can we also talk about Councilman Oscar Gutierrez’s ridiculous statement? Instead of making his comment about supporting the Black community in SB, he took the time to talk about himself and the racism he’s endured and how people need to have his back. I understand where he’s coming from (growing up Latino in SB endures racism), however it is not nearly the same amount of racism the Black community faces every day. He is an elected public leader who needs to listen and be very intentional with his words. His hot-headed temper is childish and he’d be far more effective without lashing out to community members during a public comment.
Who was David Dorn?
I know there were rumors flying around that Antifa might show up and there would be trouble though the Organizers of the protest and representatives of Black Lives Matter had no intentions of starting trouble the Police Department were being cautious and part of that caution is protecting the Mayor..I believe there is alot of Fear on both sides of this fence and Education is the Key to ending the fear everyone just needs to slow down and take a moment here. All of us are equal we all belong here we need to figure out how to get along here. The Mayor should not resign because she made a mistake in judgement put down your torches and pitchforks the powers that be acted responsibly….
It is extremely common for non-black people to make this about themselves without realizing what they are doing or the harm it has on the movement. Statements like “I am so ashamed” “I am so disappointed” etc. make it about YOU and totally detract from the point. It’s totally unconscious behavior, and that’s a major part of the problem as whole.
Please stop with the “Police lives matter” crap. Yes of course they matter, we all know that and they make it abundantly clear. They are also the ones with the guns, tanks, and gear killing innocent unarmed citizens. Their lives matter MORE than people of color, that’s the whole point of this thing. By saying “all lives matter” or “police lives matter” or “blue lives matter” is canceling out the movement that’s essentially saying, hey Black Lives Matter too so stop killing us.
@Roger, you’re wrong. These rumors were STARTED by the police. And if they were so concerned someone was going to hijack the peaceful rally, why weren’t they there? I walked the entire perimeter of the rally and moved through the crowd and the only person I saw was Anthony Wagner (SBPD PIO) standing in the middle of the really with his cellphone acting like a CIA agent. There were 3 cops on bicycles across the street sitting in the shade doing nothing. If cops were that fearful of something awful and angry, be there to PROTECT THE PEOPLE. Instead they chose to protect their own headquarters and make a military demonstration of their force and power. The protest leaders and attendees were peaceful the entire time, there was no fear on that side.
Police are paid by all of our tax dollars to PROTECT US, not to gear up and get ready to fight people who are peacefully protesting. That’s the whole issue here. If they were worried about violence, walk with us, show solidarity, protect us from some rare person who might get violent. This was the completely wrong approach and contributes to the us vs them mentality.
There’s more than a little problem with that scenario
Kneel! Bow down on the altar of the mob or else be crushed and destroyed.
His point, that there is a lot of racism to go around for a number of different groups, is valid. Trying to compare levels of racism doesn’t get you anywhere. Right now the focus is on the african-american experience, but I hear stories from my Latino and Asian friends that are heart-breaking. Hopefully in trying to address the issues arising out of Floyd’s murder things will get better for all groups.
Not a fan of the police personally, but keep in mind protecting US has different sides if these peaceful protests took a turn. If i was a property owner or business owner in the area i might have a different perspective, having witnessed some of the happenings in other parts of the country.
City council is not about partisan politics. Dem, Rep, Lib, Ind—doesn’t matter. City council is supposed to be about us, about neighborhood representation. That is why we moved to district/neighborhood elections, to assure more reasonable and fair representation for all of our citizens. It’s about giving a voice to our people. Our elected officials are mostly very new to the job. (We can discuss failures by city staff later.) We need to work with them and if they do not represent the will of the community, they get voted out. Asking immediately for their resignation is not the right path. They should have the opportunity to make things right, to learn and correct their errors. If those errors/policies place the community at risk, then waiting for the election cycle is waiting too long and they should be asked to step down. Guitierrez, Murillo and Luhnow should be given a day to reflect on the consequences of their actions (or inactions.) and to make amends. This is not the only issue for which the major or a city councilmember has taken a stance in conflict with what should have been. Remember that at the next election. If you think you can do better, organize your neighbors and try to get elected and serve your community. If you want to have the power to make change, don’t just blog about it.
George Floyd was murdered by knee to the neck; racism is alive and well in America and in too many police departments. Our police department should not be painted with the same racist label as some other departments in our country. They do a great job protecting the public with limited resources and fairly treat our people.
In 2016, 232 blacks were killed in the US by police and far too many were killed under questionable circumstances. Police killings of blacks need to be addressed on a national level. Police committing
illegal killing of blacks, offenders or not, need to be brought to justice and punished.
Blacks have an even bigger issue that also needs to be addressed by them because they are the only people who can reduce the numbers. In rounded figures from FBI statistics for the year 2016, 2,900 blacks were murdered in the USA and they were murdered by 2,600 blacks or 90%.
This shows that in 2016 alone, blacks killed over ten times of their own than police did.
“The murder sparked outrage that has rapidly spread throughout the United States, and eventually overseas, with marches, protests, and rallies.” …………and riots…….and more murders……and looting (important side note: no book stores were looted)…..and beatings…and destruction……and mayhem….smashings…..bashings…..violence…..hate…. and someone wants the mayor to kneel. Riiiiiight-eee—oh then…..
You know that’s not what it means. You’re a liar.
100% Correct! Leadership starts at the top and our city’s leadership is weak. A mayor elected with only 25% of the votes should not happen here. It makes a travesty out of having the majority playing some kind of major role in the election of a public official. Trump was elected by a minority of the voters because the Electoral College is flawed in the 20th Century and should be changed. The issue is that with Murillo, a full 75% of our people did not want her as our mayor. They were right in their assessment of her and it looks like some of the 25% who did vote for her have second thoughts as well.
Absolutely, David Dorn’s death is a crime and a tragedy.
But you don’t show up for Floyd, do you. Why is that?
Resign or Recall. She needs to go now.
COVID-19 and the Floyd riots have the potential to change the political landscape in this country, from local to state and federal levels. There are still five months to go, so how long people hold on to their frustration is in question. Americans are forgiving and have short attention spans, which coupled with the 24 hour news cycle and the inevitable news stories that will dominate the summer, they may not feel the same way about COVID-19 and Floyd in November. None of us saw COVID-19 coming, and once in the middle of the shutdown, we didn’t not imagine Floyd. I recall the 2016 election thinking that each candidate was down for the count on a weekly basis, only to be shocked at their resurrection. Don’t count anything out at this point.
As Santa Barbara stands in solidarity and sadness , we are all closer than some would think and stand united against racism.
I want to commend Mayor Murillo for the courage to directly approach the crowd on State St.
What I saw was compassion, leadership and a direct attempt to communicate with the organizers from a hands on Mayor.
Obviously in the midst of all the Covid tension and adrenaline of the crowd, her well intended motive was clearly misunderstood.
I commend Mayor Murillo’s leadership and sensitivity and am proud to live in such a caring community.
@12:29 – that makes no sense. she could have made a gesture of solidarity regardless. bow the head. say something. do anything. she outright refused to show a gesture of solidarity. then managed to bend a knee at a later time. arthristis… pfft.
She has lost her mind. The next unintended consequences, a huge increase in civilians carrying weapons for protection . 1800s hear we come.
How many people woke up to find flyers on their windshields with a clenched fist and a code to scan? No website given. At least they didn’t put them in cars in driveways. It happened in the middle of the night which means some activist group is canvassing neighborhoods. This was near Roosevelt School.
Antifa doesnt exist outside the paranoid delusional minds of the far right. There is no org. There is no group. There are no professional protestors. They are a figment of the authoritarian’s imagination created to scare the weak minded and meek. Its truly amazing how gullible the far right is, isnt it? ——————————————————————————————– If you’re in America and you’re not antifascist, you are not American. Our grandfathers were anti fascists, they went to Europe and the So Pacific to fight them… I am anti fascist and I will fight fascism to my death. Every real, patriotic American is antifascist. If you’re not anti-fascist, then you are Pro-Fascist. Are you pro fascism? Are you pro dictator? Are you pro-oppression?
Santa Barbara Police need to BAN chokeholds and strangleholds, require de-escalation, require exhausting other means before shooting, implement a duty to intervene, ban shooting at moving vehicles, and have use of Force Continuum. By implementing and following these measures, it’s been proven police violence can decrease by 72%.
Also applies to Santa Barbara County Sheriff, in fact, they need these tactics more than SBPD.
I started a petition for her resignation: http://chng.it/by77nJRcFF
Dear Mayor Murillo,
I voted for you in 2016 and I was excited to see the first Latina city mayor in the country. Your ability to win was built on years of hard work by the civil rights movement of the last 60 years.
On Sunday, you didn’t take a knee with protestors to share your support for the Black Lives Matter movement. How can you stand while the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the protestors from the 60’s take a knee? Ms. Mayor we are still fighting the same battle, why aren’t you fighting? You need to resign immediately as Mayor of Santa Barbara.
Sincerely,
Kelly Oshiro
Antifa is verry real. I just watched some of them get beaten up in Huntington Beach on the news.
That’s too bad lol
I am not political….
Just want to quote the old bumper sticker….
Lead
Follow
Or get out of the way
Why again? You want her to resign for not immediately bowing to, following, accepting and endorsing a marching crowd who didn’t want to listen to anything she said????? I love your confidence… it’s Trump level!
Breaking, LA Mayor Garcetti had pledged to pull 150 million out of the 3 BILLION dollar LAPD budget , to fund reinvested In communities of color. Can someone verify that 3 billion dollar budget?
He’s been doing an exceptionally fine job all the way through this: daily press briefings, with the press asking tough questions, and in Spanish and English. This program tonight was a big announcement, along with his police commission announcing reforms. Compare that to our lame mayor…who was invisible for 2 months in this disaster, all the way through the Debris Flow, and can’t handle interactions or press.
I don’t fault Murillo for not bending a knee. Maybe she has arthritis. If so, all that bending and groveling around in the dirt is harder than it looks. And then there’s this—it kind of looks off-message when you think about it. A proud man or woman of color does not bend a knee to anyone. “Taking a knee” has some pretty heavy symbolism from pretty much the dawn of time, if one remembers time prior to Kapernack– and it’s not good symbolism. Bending a knee reminds some of us of the subjugation of our ancestors. One can do a lot of useful actions to help, without doing the bending thing. Actually, maybe it’s time the movement got a new and more appropriate symbol to show support. Besides it’s not very sanitary really, all that groveling around in the dirt.
Finally, an unanonymous internet poster giving some solid reasons why the Mayor has lost their vote. Hopefully the unions and Democrat will give her a good job after the next election to reward her faithful service.
Exactly how would you address lack of diversity in SB–realistically? I walked in a beautiful neighborhood the other day. Boy sure wish I could live there. But what am I gonna do? Have those people dragged out of their homes and put me in it? Believe me, even with tons of money most of us aren’t getting our butts in one of those homes. The good ones are rarely for sale. People with the good real estate here bought a long time ago and they aren’t generally budging. This is a small area sandwiched between mountains and ocean. And nature isn’t making any more land.
I believe you left out the Latinx population, which is close to 50% .
And I don’t think whites make up 79% of the population of Santa Barbara.