HUNDREDS WIND THROUGH CAPITOLA VILLAGE IN MARCH
Large protest a rare sight for small seaside tourist community
CAPITOLA >> South County mother-of-three Brie Buxton urged a racially diverse crowd of more than 300 spread out in front of her at the Esplanade Park not to apologize for its whiteness, but to turn its racial privilege into action.
“This is not a fad movement for you to dabble in sign-making, T-shirts, slogans and halfhearted donations, easing your conscience so that you can return to the safety of your bed at night and sleep with both your eyes closed,” Buxton said Wednesday after telling a story of her biracial upbringing. “Virtue signaling has no place here. I am here to call you in. I am with you.”
Buxton was among speakers sharing deeply personal stories at the culmination of a peaceful late-afternoon march from Monterey Avenue Park through Capitola Village, the latest of several Black Lives Matter demonstrations organized by local resident Esabella Bonner.
At least four of five council members were present for this week’s gathering.
Alerted by organizers beforehand of the pending demonstration, Capitola
police officers closed off traffic access along the march route. Community members watched along sidewalks as participants, largely wearing facial coverings in recognition of coronavirus health concerns and waving handmade cardboard signs, passed through the community to the tune of a marching drum.
Politically charged demonstrations throughout Capitola’s history can be counted on one hand, and Thursday’s event stood out for residents. Taking in the rare procession from a village sidewalk and holding her own Black Lives Matter poster was Capitola resident Josie Fuller.
“I’m glad that there was a nice turnout in our small little town,” Fuller said. “I think it’s about right. Enough, not too much. I’m glad that our community is trying to make a statement about the importance of Black lives.”
Less than a block away, a woman who declined to be interviewed by the Sentinel was yelling at passersby with concerns about the large gathering’s potential to spread the coronavirus. Elsewhere, a man and woman standing in front of a village business, who also refused to identify themselves, indicated they were critical of the demonstration, the woman calling it “funny” and the man saying, “You don’t want to hear what I’ve got to say.”
The primary spark behind Black Lives Matter demonstrations in recent weeks has been the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers May 25. At the Esplanade park, Bonner also directed participants’ attention to the death of Tamario Smith at the Santa Cruz County Jail on May 10. On June 18, the Santa Cruz County Coroner’s Office ruled Smith’s death an accident, based on a county forensic pathologist’s findings that Smith’s cause of death was acute water intoxication due to the over-consumption of water in a short period of time. The overconsumption of water was influenced by Smith’s underlying mental health issues, according to the county.
The audience, in calland-response style, chanted “bulls—” after hearing details of Smith’s autopsy.
Third-generation Santa Cruz resident Bakari Broadnax told those gathered that as a young Black man, visiting Capitola was similar to concerns others have when visiting the much larger city of Oakland.
“Some people have told me that’s dramatic. No. Some people live in a different world,” Broadnax said. “They tell me, ‘You can get shot in Oakland.’ I can get shot here just as well by the police or the residents.”
“You learn to keep your head up out here, in Capitola,” Broadnax later added. “When people stare at you, and they will, you don’t stare back. You don’t stop. If you have to stop, you choose carefully where. You don’t get out of the car. If you do, tuck your chain, turn your hat forward, don’t bring your backpack. Try to blend in. But, remember, when you try to look normal, you are still seen at all times and assumptions will be made.”
Cabrillo College English instructor Nikia Chaney reminded the audience that was not the first time community members were marching for equality and civil rights, and that Black Lives Matters was founded six years ago by three women “as a love-letter to Black people.”
“Every single one of us is affected by racism in this country, privileged or not,” Chaney said.
After the event, Chaney said that fundraising efforts were underway to establish a George Floyd scholarship for high school students. She invited students to join the college’s special multicultural English cohorts program in the fall, with class themes such as social justice issues, African American cultural studies, the U.S. Latinx experience, music, art and more.