2022-01-24 - IV - Democratic Socialists of America, Santa Cruz ChapterTo:
Marie Blankley, Mayor
marie.blankley@ci.gilroy.ca.us
Fred Tovar, Mayor Pro Tempore
fred.tovar@cityofgilroy.org
Rebeca Armendariz, Council Member
rebeca.armendariz@cityofgilroy.org
Dion Bracco, Council Member
dion.bracco@cityofgilroy.org
Zach Hilton, Council Member
zachary.hilton@cityofgilroy.org
Peter Leroe-Munoz, Council Member
peter.leroe-munoz@cityofgilroy.org
Carol Marques, Council Member
carol.marques@cityofgilroy.org
Thai Pham, City Clerk
cityclerk@cityofgilroy.org
melanie.reynisson@ci.gilroy.ca.us,
nancy.fierro@ci.gilroy.ca.us,
judy.bozzo@ci.gilroy.ca.us,
lisa.carter@cityofgilroy.org,
Camille.McCormack@ci.gilroy.ca.us,
federico.saldana@ci.gilroy.ca.us
Re: Installation of El Camino Mission Bell Marker in Gilroy.
Dear members of the Gilroy City Council and the Gilroy Arts and Culture Commission,
We are writing as the Executive Committee of the Democratic Socialists of America, Santa Cruz
County Chapter to strongly urge you to reconsider your decision to allow a mission bell to be
installed in Gilroy.
At a time when cities across the country are reckoning with legacies of genocide and white
supremacy, and at a time when monuments to some of the ugliest chapters in our nation’s
history are finally coming down, we are shocked and saddened that Gilroy would decide to buck
this trend and actually install a symbol of the disposession of native peoples from the land. Here
in Santa Cruz, the last mission bell came down in August, as the result of years of organizing
and advocacy by groups like the Amah Mutsun tribal band, on whose land our city (and yours) is
located. We are a long way from righting the wrongs of the past, but the removal of these bells
is a small symbolic step in the correct direction.
01/24/2022 City Council Regular Meeting
Public Comment
The historical monuments that we put up don’t just neutrally represent the past–they are a
choice about which history we choose to honor, which people count and which get erased. We
are in a moment in which it may finally be possible to foster fuller understanding of our country’s
history and a recognition that the figures that have traditionally been portrayed as the heroes in
our history books are not perceived that way by many of our fellow community members whose
ancestors were victims of that bloody history.
As we work towards an anti-racist future, we see no room to continue to venerate in our public
squares and along our streets and highways, the mission system which was for the vast majority
of californians a machinery of enslavement, torture and genocide. We urge you to reconsider
your decision, to listen to the Amah Mutsun, and to do all that is in your power to stop the
installation of the bell.
Sincerely,
The Democratic Socialists of America, Santa Cruz Chapter
01/24/2022 City Council Regular Meeting
Public Comment