The Big Nothing: San Diego‘s Enduring Status Quo
Eds Note: Timothy Holmberg has a different take on recent developments in San Diego politics. See Don't Give Up on the Police Department Budget, San Diego for another (my) point of view.
What a difference a week makes in San Diego politics. While much of the nation still teems with activism, and even some substantive action, the eyes of San Diego’s sleepy political establishment have already begun to droop.
The public appearances of nervous politicians eager to show support for racial justice have trailed off to a mumble. Fading like a run on sentence with no real desire to make a point.
But, for a fleeting moment, even the most cynical political observer could hope that we were about to see genuine, and decisive political leadership.
Perhaps we could finally make progress on issues that have plagued San Diego since its establishment. But what seemed like it could be a sprint to action, now has devolved into a stumble before it hardly got out the starting gate.
In an 8-1 vote, San Diego’s City Council undercut immediate chances at leverage in the fight for racial justice. The lone dissenting voice on the city’s budget came from Chris Ward of all people.
Would-be (wannabe?) progressive warriors Monica Montgomery and Georgette Gomez each cavitated, issuing mumbling justifications for snatching defeat from the jaws victory.
The Social media cries of mostly white, middle class San Diegans to “use the system, don’t burn it” are still flying. But we now have to face the reality that the political system we smugly direct protesters to is is demonstrating in real time how broken it is, and has been for some time.
A harsh reality now stands before us, of a political system so numbed to the needs of those it is built to serve, that even when pinched, it could not be reasonably roused from its stupor.
We have a zombie government.
But why? Thousands of protesters of such racial and social diversity organically flooded the streets of San Diego outfitted with make shift signs, shutting down streets and freeways, and bringing the normal order of things to a halt. And yet a council with a Democratic super majority could not muster more than one vote to even consider holding some financial leverage over a runaway police department and mayor.
The best that can be said is that the San Diego Police Chief agreed to stop using choke holds on citizens (not that such a promise can actually have much teeth with qualified immunity still intact).
To add insult to injury, LGBT political chameleon Nicole Murray Ramirez, fresh off a photo shoot of him solemnly holding a poster of Malcolm X (By any means necessary) has already done an about face. He could not clutch his pearls of outrage hard enough that Pride might exclude his friends the police chief, Mayor and District Attorney at the heart of local complaints of biased policing and prosecutions.
Like so many veteran activist, Murray long ago traded in his activist street signs for “keys” to the city and other honorary accolades that intoxicate former rabble-rousers.
Pride has thrown down a gauntlet that threatens his well managed “advocacy”. But in reality, Pride did what many like Murray himself should be doing. They leveraged the exposure that the rally and parade provides against the needs of the political class and institutions in order to force a more detailed discussion. That may be uncomfortable for some, but substantive change usually is.
In the midst of a global pandemic, and the economic calamity it is producing, it is understandable that many want to return to “normal”, especially if that normal was good to them. But for people of color, the homeless, the mentally ill, and the economically struggling masses, normal even before all of this was pretty desperate.
We often forget that the LGBT community includes all of the above groups in larger quantities than we would ever acknowledge to marketers.
There is a message that should be at the heart of all this, and not only heard, but embraced and taken for action by all of us.
When any system becomes numb to the unmet needs and pain of those whom it is created to serve; when that system in fact becomes predatory to some of its constituents; when that numbness translates to significant parts of society, the only antidote is sustained and increasing pain on all of its components until it is finally jarred into action.
The destructive component of riots are a reflection of that phenomenon. While it seems illogical to the numbed, it is quite rational (though seldom effective). In military terms, it is called asymmetrical warfare. When faced with an adversary that has an overwhelming advantage, the only way to persevere is to abandon norms and degrade a stronger adversary through shared pain.
In political and economic terms, this takes the form of blocked streets, boycotts, riots, looting. When the political system is overwhelmed and dominated by influencers and special interests, it becomes paralyzed to meet other needs. That is, by any realistic assessment, an accurate description of the current state of our local governance system.
It is capable of changes at the margins, change that does not significantly conflict with or offend the needs of empowered clients. Just enough change to constitute a placebo, or to anesthetize, but not enough to move statistics we never should have allowed to develop. So far, the sum total of change our local governmental system has produced for those protesters amounts to a big nothing.
Those who rebuff the systems norms, as San Diego Pride is doing, and refuse go along to get along are to be thanked. They are providing real avenues for the system to reclaim credibility by being forced to the table.
If community leaders like Nicole Murray Ramirez successfully maintain the the norms that have dominated, then we are in for darker moments than offending a few politicians by disinviting them from a “virtual” Pride celebration (that commemorates a riot).
Pragmatists may be right that shunning those in office who could be swung to the side of change is a poor tactic. But so is simply letting the show go on as normal. Thankfully, Pride has done neither, and is showing remarkable conviction.
Timothy P. Holmberg / Taste of Salt Vintage Yacht Excursions