SANTEE CITY COUNCIL TO HEAR GROUP’S UNITY PROPOSAL

Nonprofit installed welcoming banners over major roadway

SANTEE

Two colorful banners stretch across Mission Gorge Road near the post office in Santee, part of an effort by a community group to help the East County city move beyond a history clouded with incidents of racism.

The banners read “Santee Welcomes You!” and “Santee Embraces Unity!” and feature colorful drawings of people from different backgrounds. They are part of the vision of the nonprofit Santee Collaborative.

Founded in 1997, the group for the past decade has largely focused on mental and physical health needs of students and curtailing substance abuse in family settings.

But since last year, when the region was shaken by a movement for racial justice, it has taken a renewed interest in helping reduce racism and hate, while promoting diversity through education and cultural understanding. The Collaborative has partnered with the city of Santee, local organizations, businesses and residents to help create a resilient community.

“As part of that mission to build resilience, we feel that we must explore and celebrate the diversity, equity and inclusion of all families in the community and promote equity in our institutions, policies and practices,” said Santee Collaborative Director Meredith Riffel.

Since October, the Collaborative has been working with the city’s Community Oriented Policing Committee (COMPOC) to create a “roadmap to diversity, equity and inclusion.” The group will be presenting a related work plan for Santee at the City Council meeting tonight.

Members of the group met Monday with the city’s monthly COMPOC meeting and talked about the banners and previewed the plan it will share with city staff and the City Council.

The plan, which Collaborative members say they hope will begin within three months, includes reviewing the current practices of the city and the San Diego County Sheriff ’s Department, which provides law enforcement to Santee; sharing its message with residents, schools, businesses and organizations throughout the community; holding community forums, organizing feedback; and having a written set of community values that will help guide government decisions and city activities in Santee.

The plan comes at an opportune time when there are still large rifts in the region.

Santee found itself in the spotlight last May when people wore offensive face coverings at two different grocery stores, about a week apart. In one incident, a man wore a Ku Klux Klan hood; in another, a couple had on Nazi swastika f lag masks. Later that month, after George Floyd was killed on Memorial Day by a police officer in Minnesota, a growing social justice movement swept the nation.

Several days later, Santee’s neighbor La Mesa was the site of an overnight riot, including looted businesses and buildings set on fire in the downtown area. That mayhem followed a protest for social justice that those involved say were directly related to the harassment and arrest of a Black man by a White La Mesa police officer at a La Mesa Trolley stop.

In the days following the La Mesa melee, a Santeebased group calling itself Defend East County or DEC organized and took to a street corner at Mission Gorge and Cuyamaca Street, many members holding signs and demonstrating while people across the street espoused Black Lives Matters beliefs. DEC has had a large following on Facebook and other social media platforms since last spring.

Riffel said she hopes that more people in the community get involved and will join the group’s next meeting, scheduled to be held online on Feb. 24. The meeting will include conversations on “how each of us has a role to play in promoting values of diversity, equity and inclusion,” Riffel said.

Today’s City Council meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Information on how to access the meeting via computer or by phone can be found on the official agenda at https://www.cityofsanteeca.gov/home/showpublisheddocument?id=20793