The family of Andy Lopez, the 13-year-old killed by Sonoma County Sheriff's Deputy Erick Gelhaus on October 22, marched with supporters from downtown Santa Rosa to the Sonoma County Hall of Justice on November 5. They are demanding an independent investigation be conducted into the killing of Andy, and that District Attorney Jill Ravitch arrest Gelhaus immediately. The family and supporters also want the location of Andy's killing, an empty lot on Moorland Avenue, to be turned into a memorial park in his honor. [Videos: a representative of the Lopez family speaks after meeting with the Sonoma County District Attorney; Friend of Andy Lopez; Youth Speak; David Douglass of BAMN; Oscar Grant Family Attorney John Burris; Christina Arechiga of the CA Statewide Coalition Against Police Brutality; Kris Kelley, Sister of Mario Romero; Cyndi Mitchell, Sister of Mario Romero; I Am Andy Lopez Mic Check; Jordan of the Chickenfoot Ranch and Activist Center.]
Marchers followed a truck with an effigy of Gelhaus shackled in hand cuffs mounted on it. The Hall of Justice was heavily guarded by Sonoma County Sheriffs when the group arrived, but several organizers, including a representative of the Lopez family, went inside to meet with the District Attorney privately.
In addition to calling for a grand jury investigation into the shooting, community members say they are conducting their own investigation. They say sheriffs should have known that the possibility of children playing with toy guns existed in that neighborhood. They claim authorities were warned the day before Andy was shot about children playing with toy guns at the same lot where Andy was killed by Gelhaus.
More demonstrations seeking justice for Andy Lopez are planned. Community members will protest at a campaign fundraiser for District Attorney Ravitch's re-election on December 3 at 4:30pm at the Santa Rosa Veterans Memorial Building. A protest during Thanksgiving vacation is also being planned so that the area's youth won't have to skip school to attend.
Cindy Sheehan
Sonoma County Hall of Justice
Sujey Cruz and Rodrigo Lopez, parents of Andy Lopez.
Community members in Santa Cruz commemorated Juneteenth this year with a large march from Louden Nelson Center to Santa Cruz City Hall, where speakers were heard. Reverend Deborah L. Johnson of Inner Light Ministries started off the speeches with a history of the Juneteenth holiday. Other speakers included Valentin Lopez, Chairman of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band.
The original Mission Santa Cruz adobe and the replica mission were both spray painted during a demonstration organized on June 10 in Santa Cruz in support of the abolition of police. The phrase "Fuck Your Citizenship" was painted on the Neary-Rodriguez Adobe, and the phrase "Maldita Cruz" was spray painted on two structures. The word maldita means "damned" or "cursed" in Spanish. Additionally, the word "genocide" was painted on the state park plaque, and the mission bell located in Mission Plaza Park was removed. Mission bells were installed across the state to memorialize the California missions. The bell displayed in Mission Plaza Park was donated by the Santa Cruz Woman's Club in 1998. In 2019, local indigenous leaders lead a successful campaign to remove the mission bell at UC Santa Cruz. They stated in a news release that the California mission system was a place where their ancestors were "enslaved, whipped, raped, ...
After being stopped by officers with the Santa Cruz Police Department in Downtown Santa Cruz over the summer, photographer Craig Burton explained in a video interview that he was taking a picture of a child in public and that his subsequent detainment by the SCPD was a case of racial profiling. Burton was clear in stating that his stop by the local police was unwarranted and that they should have known that he was not a predator. Though the authorities did not apologize to him or treat him politely, he didn't blame them, they were just doing their job he said. Burton instead focused on liberals in California, in general, as the source of the problem, stating that, "people act like they are really liberal, but they are not really liberal." He later added, "As you can see, this is Santa Barbara now." When officers Winston and Warren arrived in their patrol vehicle and first caught up to him that day on Locust Street, Burton said he was told by them to sit...
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