SAN JOSE, CA — San Jose ended 2014 with problems that mirrored the rest of the country. In the midst of the Ferguson protests, San Jose Police Officer Philip White tweeted threatening messages to the public. One tweet read, “If anyone feels they can’t breathe or their lives matter, I’ll be at the movies tonight, off duty, carrying my gun.” Officer White’s comments have to be taken in the context of San Jose. At the time, Laurie Valdez was still demanding justice for her son, Josiah, whose father had been killed in February 2014 by San Jose State Police, and a young man named Lamar Noble was to go to trial for resisting arrest charges after being beaten by Santa Clara Sheriff’s Department officers, with it all caught on camera.
With a history of police violence and accountability issues in San Jose, the phrase, “Protect Your People” surfaced years ago through the organizing efforts of Silicon Valley De-Bug and its community. Over time, “Protect Your People” became more relevant in San Jose. Families, students, community, and advocates gathered to march, calling it the Protect Your People March.
At the march, people wore shirts reading, “Protect Your People” with New York, Ferguson, Oakland and San Jose written in the design connecting the struggles together. For San Jose, this is important. Being the heart of Silicon Valley, San Jose’s identity can be lost in the abundance of wealth or the tech world. But, San Jose deals with police issues, poverty, housing and workers’ rights. “Protect Your People” is an ode to these communities who can be forgotten or unjustly treated— “Protect your People,” because if you don’t, who will? If we don’t stand with those in need or unjustly treated, their stories will go unheard and justice will not be sought. Protecting your people is a responsibility.
In San Jose, like the rest of the country, we continue to demand justice. We stand in solidarity with every other city fighting for an end to police violence, protecting their people.
