About this Event
Manny's is excited to welcome fellow Mission mainstay Mission Local to our living room for our newest monthly event!
Since 2008, Mission Local, the Mission's fiercely independent local news site, has focused on everything from police reform to corruption at City Hall, housing, the gig economy and the people and places that make the Mission a community. Now Mission Local is bringing its award winning team of journalists to Manny's every month to delve into the big issues facing our neighbors and the city as a whole.
This month, Managing Editor Joe Eskenazi is sitting down with Julia Arroyo, the co-executive director of the Young Women’s Freedom Center, and Lateefah Simon, a longtime achiever in undoing the worst excesses of the criminal justice system — and, presently, a candidate for Congress. The subject of their discussion will be the life and death of Banko Brown and the city he called home.
While the early April stabbing of tech executive Bob Lee grabbed international headlines and spurred ruminations on the condition of San Francisco, the facts of the case as they now appear indicate it had little to do with the state of this city. Brown’s death, however — a homeless Black trans man shot by a Black Walgreens security guard who had himself struggled with housing security — did indeed epitomize the dystopian state of San Francisco. In brief: Two marginalized Black men were pitted against one another, with one killing the other, in a conflict sparked by $14.64 worth of goods from a cynical, billion-dollar corporation.
Arroyo knew Brown well and worked alongside him at the Young Women’s Freedom Center. Simon founded the forbearer of the Young Women’s Freedom Center when she was just 19, and has spent decades fighting for better outcomes for society’s least fortunate.
Please join us for this important and necessary conversation.
This conversation will be open for all community members and we never turn away folks due to lack of funds. If you need a complimentary ticket or have any access needs/questions, please email [email protected] with the title of the event.
ABOUT OUR PANELISTS
Julia Arroyo:
Julia has over two decades of experience in community health, rape crisis, and work with sexually exploited youth. Since joining YWFC in 2014, Julia has been instrumental in the success of the organization’s programmatic work and in maintaining the culture and healing methodologies central to its ability to effect change. Julia can also be credited with running the YWFC headquarters in San Francisco – enabling expansion to Santa Clara County, Oakland, and Los Angeles.
She is a second-generation immigrant of Mexican/ Filipino descent and identifies as Xicana. And this work and YWFC are personal to her, having had involvement in foster care, the underground street economy, and incarceration. She has healed her life and is committed to supporting marginalized girls to break free from systemic and interpersonal violence. She is currently majoring in Women’s Studies at San Francisco City College and has an extensive background in community health, rape crisis, and work with sexually exploited youth.
Lateefah Simon:
Lateefah Simon was first elected to serve District 7 on the BART Board of Directors on November 8, 2016 and was reelected in 2020. She served as President of the BART Board in 2020.
A nationally recognized advocate for civil rights and racial justice, Lateefah brings over 20 years of executive experience advancing opportunities for communities of color and low-income communities in the Bay Area. She has been the President of the Akonadi Foundation since 2016. That same year—driven by the death of Oscar Grant—she ran and was elected to the Bay Area Rapid Transit Board of Directors. Lateefah is also a member of California State University's Board of Trustees and frequently turned to by state officials for strategic advice on policy matters related to racial justice. Lateefah received the MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Award in 2003—making her the youngest woman ever to receive the award.
Previously, Lateefah served as Program Director at the Rosenberg Foundation—where she launched the Leading Edge Fund to seed, incubate and accelerate bold ideas from the next generation of progressive movement leaders in California. She also held the position of Executive Director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area. Lateefah also spearheaded San Francisco's first reentry, a highly effective anti-recidivism youth services division under the leadership of then-District Attorney Kamala Harris.
Joe Eskenazi:
Joe is the Managing Editor and a Columnist for Mission Local. He was previously a writer and columnist for SF Weekly and a senior editor at San Francisco Magazine. You may also have read his work in the Guardian (U.S. and U.K.); San Francisco Public Press; San Francisco Chronicle; San Francisco Examiner; Dallas Morning News; and elsewhere. The Northern California branch of the Society of Professional Journalists named Eskenazi the 2019 Journalist of the Year. Born in San Francisco, raised in the Bay Area, and attended U.C. Berkeley, he now resides in the Excelsior with his wife and three (!) kids, 4.3 miles from his birthplace and 5,474 from hers.
Want to support community members? By purchasing a "Pay It Forward" ticket you will allow us to provide free tickets to those who may not be able to afford entry otherwise and ensure we can create a diverse socio-economic audience that represents San Francisco.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Manny's, 3092 16th Street, San Francisco, United States
USD 5.00 to USD 18.00