Muslim officer alleges racial and religious bias in SFPD

SF police officers take the 'Not-On-My-Watch' pledge.

AN Afghan/American Muslim member of the San Francisco Police Department says he’s been a target of retaliation after complaining to his superiors about racist and religious remarks made by fellow officers.

San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi told reporters the officer’s case demonstrated that the department was still beset by deeply ingrained bias.

“In order to eliminate racism in the ranks, police culture must rid itself of its ‘no snitching’ ethos,” Adachi said at a press conference “Fear of speaking out due to retaliation has been an enormous barrier to real reform in San Francisco.”

In a statement read at the news conference by the officer, who chose to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation, said he came to the United States with his parents with he was 8 years old and wanted to join the police department from a young age.

"I've been labeled a rat," he told reporters. "And I fear for my safety." He said he finally decided to go public with his allegations because he has "lost faith" in the police department's internal affairs investigative process.

“When I joined the San Francisco police department, I was fulfilling a boyhood dream,” he wrote. “I had admired the SFPD since my family came to this country. I was 8 years old, and a kind SFPD officer helped my family find their way after arriving at SFO.”

The officer recently graduated from the police academy and was assigned to SFPD’s Central Station located in North Beach.

“That’s when I experienced blatant racism and bigotry toward me by some officers and Sergeants,” the statement continued. “They also expressed their contempt towards other minorities. I told them many times that their racist comments and actions towards me needed to stop. When their behavior escalated, that’s when I decided to make a formal complaint to HR.”

He made a complaint, Nov. 9 last year, in which he alleged he was not only harassed for being Middle Eastern and Muslim, but witnessed racism and homophobia by officers.

In his complaint to the Department of Human resources, the officer’s proposed remedy was that the officers involved receive cultural sensitivity training and that the SFPD academy teach Middle Eastern cultural studies.

The SFPD responded to the allegations in a statement, saying that they are being taken “very seriously.” Three investigations into the claims by the SFPD and Department of Human Resources are currently ongoing.

“SFPD will thoroughly investigate all alleged misconduct uncovered during these investigations which implicates any member of this department,” the statement reads.

It is not the first time allegations of racism has targeted the SFPD. In SFPD faced in 2015, a federal court case revealed that a group of officers had sent racist and homophobic text messages to each other. Many of the messages were anti-Asian.

In 2016, a Chinese/American police officer resignged after it was found that he sent anti-black, anti-Latinon and homophobic texts to fellow officers.

In response to the numerous incidents, “The department has instituted implicit bias and procedural justice training for all sworn and civilian members; implemented best practices recommendations from the U.S. Department of Justice; instituted electronic audits of communications; entered into agreements with academic partners to analyze vehicle stops and the use of force; and launched the Not-On-My-Watch campaign to promote improved relations between officers and the public,” SFPD said in a statement.

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Vandalism hits Little Manila Center in Stockton

THE LITTLE MANILA CENTER in Stockton was vandalized Monday (Oct. 10) sending an ugly reminder the bigotry the Filipino American community has had to endure.

Even though police have not labeled the incident hasn't been a hate crime, the fact it happened during Filipino American History Month only served to emphasize that the fight against ignorance and prejudice is still ongoing and may be growing in the Donald Trump era.

“At one point, Stockton was home to the largest Filipino population outside of the Philippines. However, attacks on immigrant communities isn’t anything new,” said Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs in a statement to KQED.

An incoherent racist message was scrawled onto the front windows of the center and banners were torn down. Damage estimate is around $800. The content of the graffiti is unclear, with some news sources reporting that it reads, “White property, you’re a brainwashed bigot.” Recordnet.com states that the graffiti reads, “You the prop whittie (sic) your (sic) a brain washed (sic) bigot (sic).”

The vandalism was done sometime before the center opened Monday. It was discovered by young students arriving for a dance rehearsal.

The Little Manila Board of Directors issued the following statement:

If you’ve ever been to our Little Manila Center in Downtown Stockton, you’d know that we have beautiful recreations of our historic banners surrounding the Little Manila Historic Site on our windows.

It is with a heavy heart to tell you that on Monday, someone defaced our windows and ripped our historic photographs that bore the words: Community, Culture, Empowerment, Arts, History, and Heritage. The first people to find our center in the condition it was in were our youth dance students who stood heartbroken in front of our center.

As we celebrate Filipino American History Month this October, we know that discrimination against Filipino Americans is nothing new. The street our Little Manila Center is on is Main St. in downtown Stockton which was the dividing line for people of color in this city in the 1920s and 1930s. People of color were not welcomed north of Main St. and signs saying “Positively no Filipinos allowed” were displayed openly. It was illegal for Filipino men to marry White women in California. Later on, state and local officials would decide to destroy the Little Manila and Chinatown neighborhood by the building of the Crosstown Freeway.

This event has reminded us about the importance of the work we do. Through the Little Manila After School Program and Us History program we teach ethnic studies to high schoolers. Our advocacy helped Stockton Unified School District to adopt Ethnic Studies at our high schools just this year. Our Little Manila Dance Collective and Kulintang Academy teaches the art and culture of the Philippines to new generations of young people seeking identity and a sense of belonging to our roots.

Little Manila was destroyed in the 1960s and 1970s by misguided policies. Our advocacy for the preservation of the Little Manila Historic Site is a result of the worst case scenarios of racist federal, state, and local public policies that prioritized freeway construction, urban redevelopment, and suburbanization over our communities.

Little Manila Foundation and our Little Manila Center will continue to be a space for understanding and love, bringing together diverse communities. This incident only strengthens our resolve and reaffirms the work that we are already doing.

If you would like to help us recover and continue the educational, arts, cultural, and community strengthening work we are doing, please support us by clicking here.

LITTLE MANILA CENTER

Filipino/American children learn about their culture in classes at the Little Manila Center.

Stockton's Little Manila used to be a bustling historic and cultural center for the Filipino American community throughout California. Most of it was torn down when Stockton built a freeway through the neighborhood.

Eventually, only three original buildings remain of what used to be a six-block district.

In the last ten years, an effort led by Dawn Mabalon, San Francisco State University professor, has brought new life to the area including the Little Manila Center.

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