San Francisco Mayoral Candidate Francisco Herrera
Since I have a big, loud, obnoxious voice in The Bay Area, I figured I’d lend it to my fellow mayoral candidates who also want to see Ed Lee dethroned. Not everyone has the millions of dollars that Lee has or the reach that I do, so it’s only fair to help give them a boost. This time we have Francisco Herrera
Photo by Aurora of Virgin Mirage
A Message From Mayoral Candidate Francisco Herrera:
“There’s a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious—makes you so sick at heart—that you can’t take part. You can’t even passively take part. And you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you’ve got to make it stop.” —Mario Savio, October 1, 1964
Our beloved city is in crisis. The people we care about are being pushed out, and the local businesses and cultural institutions we cherish are suffocating under rising rents. The time to take a stand is long overdue. The People’s Campaign is a new approach to politics built on our collective solidarity and the understanding that the time is now for each and everyone one of us to say ENOUGH! Ya Basta!
I’m running for Mayor of San Francisco as the first candidate in the People’s Campaign. Our top priority is to stop the displacement of the people who call our city home, and reclaim that creative energy which has made San Francisco the home we all love.
I was only two years old, when Mario Savio took off his shoes, and climbed onto the roof of a campus police cruiser at UC Berkeley to deliver an impromptu speech that continues to resonate for me today.
“Unless you’re free, the machine will be prevented from working at all,” said Savio in 1964.
We have become unwitting subjects to the economic engine that drives the technology we all use each day, and the unchecked success of that industry now threatens to break our city’s heart. No one who doesn’t own their own home feels safe, and no one is secure.
In the Mission, thousands of families have already been displaced. And someone is worrying about keeping their home every night before going to sleep. No one is safe.
Photo by: Aurora of Virgin Mirage
CellspaceSF, a cultural institution and an epicenter for art and performance in the neighborhood, is fighting for its future. The people who live in and maintain the space are working together to keep their home and community intact. Their battle epitomizes the very same story that has ricocheted from the local media to the national media and beyond. The heART and soul of San Franciso is being eroded away as the people who made this city what it is are being pushed out.
As Jade Miller, one of the residents at CellspaceSF described during a press conference last month, history has revealed that when people are uprooted from their indigenous home they never flourish and always endure continued suffering as a result. This has proven itself true from this county’s indigenous people, now known as the people of the First Nation, during the founding of the United States, to the people of Mexico during the period that California became a state, in the black community in San Francisco’s Fillmore district (and more recently Bayview/Hunters Point). Now it’s happening to so many of our friends and neighbors who we love.
Photo by: Aurora of Virgin Mirage
The path forward is through solidarity because we can only win this battle standing shoulder-to-shoulder. I am running for mayor in this election season, but I realize the road to justice and equality is long and filled with challenges along the way. The People’s Campaign is a multi-year effort to work together to turn that dream into destiny and I hope you will join me in creating this reality.
I am endorsed by the San Francisco Tenants Union because they have recognized my commitment to this fight, and this November I plan to vote for the Mission Moratorium to stop the rampant luxury development that is destroying the fabric of our community. I encourage you to do the same.
In addition to voting for myself for mayor, I plan to vote for Amy Farrah Weiss and Stuart Schuffman for my second and third choice. I would like you to explore their campaigns and consider supporting them alongside myself.
Thank you for your support.
The People’s Campaign
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