Dear Friends,

Friday April 7th, 2017 is the One Year Anniversary of the death of Luis Góngora Pat at the hands of the SFPD.

Luis was a 45 year old indigenous Mayan Mexican, an immigrant worker and a family man who for a decade and a half supported his wife and three children in the small town of Teabo by sending remittances from his dishwasher and line cook earnings.

In 2013, he and his brother were illegally evicted from their home in the Mission District during the peak housing crisis of San Francisco, after which they became homeless. Extended family helped his brother José get back on his feet, and the plan was to help Luis next, but his life was brutally ended before then; a victim of police terror in the Sanctuary City of San Francisco.

Luis was killed by Sergeant Nate Seger and Officer Michael Mellone of the San Francisco Police Department in 28 seconds from the moment of their arrival on Shotwell Street. The officers shot four to five rubber bullets and seven firearm bullets at Luis. They justified themselves by saying that Luis lunged at them. But eight eye witnesses contradict the officers, stating that Luis was sitting on the ground, his back to a wall, minding his own business, when the two officers started yelling and shooting at him. Luis, confused, stood to flee but was gunned down and executed with a shot to the head. The downward trajectory of the shot shows that Luis was on the ground when he was killed. More information about shooting here…

On Friday April 7th, we invite the residents of San Francisco to march with us to end police terror in the Sanctuary City, and celebrate the beautiful and courageous life of Luis Góngora Pat, an indigenous Mexican Mayan son, father, brother, and cousin.

March Schedule & Stops, (approximate times)

• 9:30 a.m.—Shotwell and 19th—Memorial Altar at location of shooting. Ceremonial Ku’ sakaj prayer for family and event organizers from surprise special guest, Bernardo Caamal from Peté, Yuctaán, an expert in Mayan customs and a rural community radio host, will broadcast live to Yucatán community radio and on facebook, which means Luis’s family will hear live coverage of the protest march tomorrow, perhaps even in Mayan.
• 10:00 a.m.—Shotwell and 19th—Memorial Altar at location of shooting. Spiritual ceremonies for Luis Góngora Pat,
  • Moises Agudo, Catholic Priest
  • Francisco Icala, Guatemalan Mayan Sacerdote/Priest
  • Corrina Gould, Ohlone elder, Native American leader
  • José Góngora Pat, brother of Luís (RIP)
  • Translation support by Dawn Noelle Smith Beutler, member of Justice for Amilcar Perez Lopez, a Guatemalan Mayan, killed by SFPD February 26^th 2015
  • Prayer-dance by Aztec Danzantes, then march to:
• 11:00 a.m.—Valencia and 17th—Mission Police Station. Rally against police violence:
  • Luis Poot Pat, cousin of Luis Góngora Pat (RIP)
  • Cristina Gutierrez, organizer of Mothers on the March for Justice, a weekly Friday noon protest at 850 Bryant calling Gascón to prosecute killer cops; a former ‘Frisco Five’ hunger striker
  • Equipto, rapper, activist; former ‘Frisco Five’ hunger striker, then march to:
• 12:00 p.m.—Market and Valencia—Luis’s Stolen Home. Rally for housing rights, immigrant rights, and rights of the unhoused/ homeless,
  • Laura Guzman, Homeless Outreach Coordinator at Mission Neighborhood Resource Center, and member of Justice & Honor for Luís Góngora Pat Coalition (the Coalition),
  • Gloria Esteva, Causa Justa Immigrant Rights Organizer
  • Bilal Ali, Organizer with the San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness
  • GentriFUKation Tours R US – Teatro de los POBRES/Theatre of the POOR (Cultural workers/Poets from POOR Magazine) (introduction by Tiny Gray-Garcia member of aforementioned organizations and member of the Coalition), then march to:
• 1:00 p.m. PRESS CONFERENCE & RALLY: City Hall, front steps—Polk and McAllister.
  • José Góngora Pat, brother of Luís, will deliver a visceral comment,
  • Carlos Poot Pat, cousin of Luis, will read a statement from family in San Francisco and Teabo,
  • Adante Pointer, Law Offices of John Burris, family attorney in federal civil case against SFPD,
  • Carolyn Goosen, legislative aide on behalf of Hillary Ronen, District 9 Supervisor
  • Francisco Ugarte, Immigrant Defense Public Defender of San Francisco
  • Amalia Alvarez, poet, will close with a poem of her creation in honor of Luis Góngora Pat, then cross the street to:
• 2:00 p.m.—Polk and McAllister—Civic Center Plaza.
  • Open Circle-Families United for Justice for Families Hurt by Police Violence, sponsored by the Idriss Stelley Foundation and Mesha Irizarry, mother of Idriss Stelley killed 15 years ago by SFPD at the Metreon Cinema. Facilitator: Antoinette Gaggero
  • Meal to be provided by the San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness, and coffee by Coffee not Cops, a project of station 40

Luis’s killing at the nexis of struggles of poor people of color in San Francisco

On the one year anniversary of his death, Luis’s family will March Against Police Terror in The Sanctuary City of San Francisco. Your participation in the march is humbly requested. We will address Luis’s unjust killing, and heighten awareness of the systemic oppression that regularly takes the lives of people of color in the City of San Francisco through evictions, homelessness, discrimination, deportations, police violence, and other injustices.

“My cousin suffered many injustices to get to this Sanctuary City only to face more cruelty here. He suffered poverty, forced migration, low wages, illegal eviction, homelessness and discrimination, only to be killed by an act of senseless police brutality in less than 30 seconds,” says Luis Poot Pat.

Luis’s killing was at the nexis of several struggles faced by low income people of color in the City of San Francisco: indigenous peoples’ struggles, housing rights, illegal evictions, immigrant rights, dignified wage labor, homelessness, racial profiling and discrimination, police brutality and utter impunity for killing Black and Brown residents in a so-called Sancturary City.

Justice delayed, justice denied

District Attorney Gasón has made no charging decision in the 10 out of 11 officer-involved homicides that occurred from 2014 to 2016.

Table 2.1 SFPD fatal officer-involved shooting incidents and declinations May 1, 2013-May 31, 2016

Date	Subject	Ethnicity& Race	District Attorney’s Office Legal Review Decision
March 21, 2014	Mr. Alex Nieto	Latino	Lawful actions; D.A. declined to charge
September 25, 2014	Mr. Giovany Contreras Sandoval	Latino	Open
October 7, 2014	Mr. O’Shaine Evans	Black	Open
January 4, 2015	Mr. Matthew Hoffman	White	Open
February 26, 2015	Mr. Amilcar Perez-Lopez	Latino & Mayan	Open
March 17, 2015	Ms. Alice Brown	White	Open
October 15, 2015	Mr. Herbert Benitez	Latino	Open
November 11, 2015	Mr. Javier Lopez Garcia	Latino	Open
December 2, 2015	Mr. Mario Woods	Black	Open
April 7, 2016	Mr. Luis Góngora	Latino & Mayan	Open
May 19, 2016	Ms. Jessica Williams	Black	Open
Source: COPS Office. 2016. An Assessment of the San Francisco Police Department, Table 2.1; Ethnicity&Race added

In October of 2016, the family of Luis Góngora Pat filed a federal civil lawsuit against SFPD, but the jury trial will not take place until October 22, 2018. At the federal court hearing on March 13^th 2017 in which the date was set, Deputy City Attorney Sean Connolly, who is representing the officers, explained to Federal Judge Thelton Henderson that the trial date needed to be set so far-out because “several officer-involved shooting cases are pending in front of the court.” Source: 48 Hills More information about the Case Status here…

San Franciscan authorities have done nothing to make police officers accountable for killing Black and Brown people in the City.

How can you help?

• Please save the date for this very special day, and please outreach to all friends and colleagues!
• Please circulate the flyer below and The Facebook Page for the Event  or
• Website Event Page as widely as possible!
• Please donate to the Luis Góngora Pat Anniversary Memorial Fund to support the family of the deceased in a time of grief and mourning and help them build his final resting place in their hometown of Teabo.
• But a T-Shirt with Luis’s image here!
• If you would like to co-sponsor this event, please send an email to justice4luis@gmail.com and we will add your name to a flyer for circulation and our flyer on our website.
• If you can help us with media outreach, or would like to offer other support, please reply to this email.

Co-Sponsors

The March Against Police Terror in the Sanctuary City in Commemoration of Luis Góngora Pat, killed one year ago by SFPD is CO-SPONSORED by:

Justice & Honor for Luis Góngora Pat Coalition, www.justice4luis.org

Answer Coalition

Asociación Mayab

Causa Justa:: Just Cause  Causa Justa :: Just Cause

Do No Harm Coalition

Idriss Stelley Foundation

Justice for Amilcar Perez Lopez Coalition, www.justice4amilcar.org

La Raza Centro Legal

Loco Bloco

Members of the Shambhala Meditation Center of SF

Mission Neighborhood Resources Center

Mothers on the March for Justice

National Brown Berets; Autonomous Brown Berets of Merced

POOR Magazine/Prensa POBRE/Homefulness & Deecolonize Academy

Restaurant Opportunities Center Bay Area (ROC the Bay)

San Franciscans for Police Accountability (SFPA)

San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness

San Francisco Tenants Union

Santa Clara County Green Party

SURJ Bay Area

SURJ San Francisco

Western Regional Advocacy Project (WRAP)

Articles

• Police shooting tore a hole in SF’s Mayan community, SFChronicle, David Talbot
• Civil Suit Against Police Will Go to Trial in Fall 2018, 48 Hills
• The life and death of Luis Góngora: the police killing nobody noticed, The Guardian UK
• The PoLice Murder of Luis Demetrio Gongora Pat, One Year Later/ El asesinato de Luis Demetrio Gongora Pat un año más tarde, Poor Magazine
• Family of slain homeless man files lawsuit against city, officers, El Tecolote
• Luis Gongora autopsy confirms he was shot on the ground, 48 Hills

In Spanish and Mayan, from Coalition’s visit to Yucatan Nov. 2016

• Contra la Policía de San Francisco: Asesinato de migrante, tragedia internacional (Against the Police of San Francisco: Assassination of migrant, international tragedy), La Jornada Maya, Mexico
• Tu yo’olal Luis Demetrio Góngora Pat, Kíinsa’abik táanxelil lu’ume’, yaj óolal ti’ yóok’ol kaab, La Jornada Maya