Representation matters
Author: Gladwyn d'Souza | Category: Business & Economy | Environment & Nature | Health & Medicine | Opinions & Editorials | Society & Lifestyles | Date: 04-27-2023
When she ran for the district 2 seat in San Mateo County, Noelia Corzo said representation matters. She has delivered in spades. It's only April, but Noelia has defeated Ray Mueller three times. She supported the Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) rule before the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) and forced Ray to take an abstain position. The vote was 20,0,1. She forced the county to take on the Belmont Trailer Park flooding issues by asking the Housing Element to remove disaster zones from their sites. Ray supported existing relief operations. And with immigrants equal under the law she defeated Ray 4-1 before the Board of Supervisors.
NOx played out in the press across the state. Immigrants welcome has been in our local right wing rag, the Daily Journal. Locating low income housing in disaster zones through the housing element has slid under the radar. Note the environmental issues here. Air pollution both indoors and outdoors so we can continue to drill and use fossil fuels. Putting low income housing in harms way for sea level rise, fire, extreme heat, because prime land is needed for man spreading white folk. Carbon sinks like forest wetland and grassland destroyed for cattle wrecked lands stolen from the Ramaytush Ohlone. Ocean dead zones and decimated salmon runs off the coast.
Environmental destruction is only possible because of corruption complacency and conspiracy. The three C's are at the core of economic progress covered up and censured by our oligarch owned media. Large organizations like the Sierra Club indulge in confirmation bias to ignore the status quo. The consequence as we see in the Keeling Curve is ocean degradation, species extinction, and climate change. Representation of impacted communities shakes up the status quo. Representatives points out the environmental lie behind civility, cooperation and collegiality contained within the old boys club.
Sierra Club endorsed both Noelia and Ray. Noelia represents the urban side of the county including it’s largest city San Mateo. She lives in a neighborhood where people of color are the primary victims of car crashes when walking or biking. Ray represents agriculture on the west side of the county. Agriculture, especially ranching agriculture, is the most environmentally destructive activity. Big ag is responsible for 25% of total global emission, 50% if you count food according to Drawdown- from land use changes. It's also responsible for the media darling of the violent cowboy. In San Mateo we get from agriculture, ocean dead zones, carbon loss, habitat destruction, nitrogen pollution, pesticide contamination, the misappropriation of water, and the loss of keystone species like mountain lions. Recently zoonotic virus once continued by nature have been introduced by illegal land use activity as evolutionary threats to remake the human species.
Destructive agriculture is only feasible because migrants are forced to work in deplorable conditions with the threat of deportations to make the operation pan out- where labor conditions improve the environmental destruction ends. Blackhawk in The Rediscovery of America writes that this form of land management is foundational to the modern economy. "Built to serve and expand a settler society, the United States limited full citizenship to white men; helped them start new farms on lands taken from Indians; and protected their property rights, including their possession of enslaved people."
60 community groups from the ACLU to the NAACP came out against Ray. One far right fascist group FairUS.Org, listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center, came out in support of Ray. Ray is another Trump- in the face of facts he doubles down on claims of fraud, deviant migrants, an effeminate security state, etc., which unfortunately right wing media like the Daily Journal lap up. So there is going to be more of these issues coming up, where the environment is the conflict that the status quo is going to sweep under rug, and which Noelia Corzo is going to metaphorically unveil.
When Sierra Club asked Ray about his racist position he said he was taking a nuanced position and was being misunderstood. The club bought the victimhood explaination. It also bought the lie that the Sherriff supported his nuanced position. Environmental destruction is only possible because consumers of the status quo can look the other way. Environmental destruction is the basis of the economy. It makes white people rich. It's only possible because of land theft and labor degradation. Large environmental organizations have enabled the situation with their complacency in the face of human rights violations. Change happens by representing impacted communities on boards and in government.
Representation matters. Without Corzo and Mayor Lee in San Mateo we wouldn’t see the corruption, complacency, and censure at the core of the county. It’s great to see the new elected women of San Mateo County knock back a few (racists)- Ray Mueller, Cliff Robbins, Lisa Nash, Jack Mathews, Charles Stone… Remember- It’s not complicated it’s corrupt.
Immigrants, equal under the law
• By Noelia Corzo
On April 25, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 in favor of an ordinance restricting the county’s cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. With this ordinance, the Board of Supervisors sends a clear message to our community: We are for a justice system where immigration status, country of origin, language or skin color is not a factor.
As an immigrant community member, I feel the unique responsibility to voice the truth on this matter and dispel the rampant misinformation that has spread due to one supervisor’s proposed amendment. See, the original ordinance stated that no county resources could be used to cooperate with ICE except as required by a judicial warrant or by state and federal law. Simply put, ICE would need a judicial warrant to receive assistance from local authorities, a policy that our Sheriff’s Office has had since November of 2021. This ordinance makes permanent what already is in practice.
It shocked many of us, including immigration law experts, community organizations and the immigrant community, when Supervisor Ray Mueller, who had cast the lone “no” vote during the first reading of the ordinance, proposed for the final reading an amendment with three exceptions: murder, rape and lascivious acts with minors.
The amendment was based on the false assumption that undocumented immigrants convicted of these serious, violent crimes were being released with impunity. It created a dangerous chain reaction in which the press and survivors of these violent crimes were led to believe something that was simply not true.
More than 60 immigrant rights groups, community organizations, Democratic clubs and community members signed onto a letter that laid out, point by point, how the amendment was misguided and caused pain, division and damage within an already vulnerable community. But even with all the evidence before him, Supervisor Mueller was not moved. On the contrary, he exacerbated the harm by retweeting an inflammatory and misleading news report.
The facts: Anyone convicted of a crime, regardless of immigration status, is subject to our justice system. For the crimes in the amendment, when convicted, an undocumented immigrant, just like anyone else, goes to a California state prison. Once they complete their sentence, the state is responsible for handing them over to ICE. The amendment was purely rhetorical. But it spawned a lot of misinformation. This rhetoric does two things: It recklessly unites and incites anti-immigrant sentiment, and it fosters dangerous circumstances for the immigrant community.
The original ordinance is a matter of human rights. We will not have a two-tiered justice system where immigrants are treated differently under the law. Many of the individuals who ICE targets are vulnerable and marginalized. When we use county resources to aid in their detention and deportation, sometimes mistakenly and irreparably, we essentially abandon them to a federal agency with documented human rights abuses and racist practices. This is not only morally wrong, but it also undermines our values of justice and equality.
Furthermore, using county resources to aid ICE is actually counterproductive to public safety. When individuals in immigrant communities fear that any interaction with law enforcement could lead to their deportation, they are less likely to report crimes or cooperate with police investigations. This unintended outcome can make it more difficult for law enforcement to do their jobs effectively and ultimately puts all of us at risk.
Had Supervisor Mueller listened to or spoken directly with immigration experts and community organizations with years and years of deep, committed work within our immigrant communities, he might have understood how much harm, pain and division simply introducing this ordinance has caused. These organizations, many led by immigrants themselves, will be the ones dealing with the aftermath of damage for years to come. Not a single immigrant organization supported the proposed amendment. During public comment, those opposing the amendment outnumbered its supporters by more than five to one.
Let me be clear – San Mateo County is not releasing felons convicted of the heinous crimes in the proposed amendment.
San Mateo County did make permanent a policy we already practice: We do not use county resources to do the job of federal immigration agencies.
I say to our immigrant communities: You are welcome here, and we deeply value your presence and many contributions to the well-being of San Mateo County.
Noelia Corzo represents District 2 on the Board of Supervisors. Recently elected, she is the only Latina to have served in this position. She is a single mom, former nonprofit social worker, and daughter of Guatemalan immigrants.
SHARE THIS NOW
Comment:
Add Review:
Find Us
New Categories
Recent News
Nuclear, a solution to nothing!
Category: Business & Economy
Can We Get to 1.5 Degrees C of Warming with Electric Vehicles?
Category: Business & Economy
The Open Secret of the Dirty Economy
Category: Business & Economy