by Minister of Information JR Valrey, Oakland Bureau Chief
On Jan. 18, the San Francisco Police Department announced the arrest of Shannon Collier Gwin, the white owner of Foster Gwin Gallery, located at 712 Montgomery St. in the Financial District-North Beach neighborhood. Gwin was recorded spraying an unhoused Black woman with a water hose on Jan. 9, in the middle of a historic series of storms that are being called atmospheric rivers and bomb cyclones. He was arrested at his gallery hours after San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins’ office charged him with misdemeanor battery.
Many people in San Francisco’s Black community don’t believe that DA Jenkins will truly prosecute Shannon Collier Gwin to the fullest extent of the law, because she was originally appointed to replace the recalled former DA Chesa Boudin, who was popular in the Black community, in June of ‘22. Her recent election was bankrolled largely by San Francisco’s big business community and allies of law enforcement.
When Shannon Collier Gwin was originally interviewed by police and members of the mass media immediately after the incident, he had not been arrested or charged with any crime. In true racist media form, a Jan. 11, 2022, article on the CBS Bay Area website included Collier’s justification in its story about the incident.
“To me, it’s not an issue of whether our mayor or DA are Black women. As a life-long resident and voter in San Francisco, my expectation is for everyone to be treated fairly. However, this country has practiced a type of justice system which upholds one set of rights for poor people and another set of rights for the wealthy,” explained Bivett Brackett, a San Francisco native and longtime community advocate.
Coincidentally, six days prior to the arrest warrant being issued, the San Francisco Bay View published a story called “Will SF DA Jenkins prosecute white racist who water-hosed Black homeless woman?” leading many in the community to believe that the story is what forced the DA into action.
“There needs to be an overall Stop Black Hate Campaign.”
“Poor Black people, in particular, face the worst inequities in our criminal justice system, even when we are the victims of crimes. Witnessing DA Jenkins being so vocal about standing up against crimes against vulnerable elders in the Asian community and being virtually silent about an elderly Black homeless woman being assaulted with a water hose, makes it undeniable that this type of hypocrisy and injustice in our criminal justice system still rings true today. And while these are not the same visuals as police dogs and fire hoses in the South during Jim Crow, it’s nonetheless the same mistreatment and disregard for human life that we see playing out in 2023!”
What Bivett Brackett said seems to be in line with what DA Jenkins has been saying on social media, considering that on Dec. 17, 2022, Jenkins wrote on her Twitter account, while tagging KPIX TV and Betty at KPIX, “We have a perception among people in San Francisco that there aren’t consequences. We have to change that culture here and we’re doing it day by day since I took over.”
“It’s sad, it’s sickening, and I pray our DA Brooke Jenkins does the right thing and charges Collier Gwin with assault and that he actually serves jail time. Mr. Gwin is unremorseful and he has been allowed to parade his violent ideology as if this behavior is an acceptable way to address our homeless crisis,” continued Bivett Brackett.
“There needs to be an overall Stop Black Hate Campaign. This will prevent any likely acts like the current events we’ve been experiencing. There need to be instant consequences socially and legally,” said San Francisco visual artist Malik Seneferu.
Gwin is being charged with misdemeanor battery and faces a maximum sentence of six months in jail and a $2,000 fine. If a Black business owner did this to a white homeless person on video, would the consequences have been more severe?
Police said that the San Francisco Street Response Team reported to the scene of the crime and offered the woman “multiple services,” but it was not specified if she accepted any of the options. What was also reported was that the woman, only identified as “Q”, was put on a 5150 psychiatric mental hold. Her current whereabouts are unknown.
“If we still have to see visions of Black people being hosed down in our streets by white men right now in San Francisco, then we know we have a long way to go before we achieve any equity,” lamented San Francisco Supervisor Shamann Walton.
JR Valrey, journalist, author, filmmaker and founder of Black New World Media, heads the SF Bay View’s Oakland Bureau and is founder of his latest project, the Ministry of Information Podcast. He can be reached at blockreportradio@gmail.com and on Instagram.
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