FREMONT — People protesting police violence against Black people and people of color demonstrated outside Fremont Mayor Lily Mei’s home Monday evening, and called for reductions to the city’s police department funding.
Protesters drew messages in colorful chalk on the street in front of Mei’s home such as “Defund the FPD,” “Asian Silence is Violence,” and carried signs that said “Black Lives Matter” and “Care not Cops.”
Organizers said the demonstration started around 8 p.m., and about 40 people participated, marching up and down the block where Mei lives, chanting slogans including “No Justice, No Peace, No Racist Police,” and saying the names of some people killed by police, including Breonna Taylor.
The group, in a protest that went past midnight, also played music and danced outside of Mei’s home in the Kimber Gomes area of the city.
Protesters also used a digital projector to display onto Mei’s home an acronym that disparages police officers and the hashtag #defundFPD.
It’s unclear if Mei was home at the time of the protest, though organizers said she was not seen.
Justin Valenzuela, 21, of Fremont, who helped organize the protest, said he wants “to amplify the voices of Black lives, of Indigenous people, and to most importantly really make change in the system of Fremont…starting with defunding FPD.”
Valenzuela said police contacted him to say Mei wasn’t home, but that didn’t deter the group.
“We want to wake up the affluent suburban neighborhoods in this area,” Valenzuela said.
Police did not show up outside Mei’s home during the nonviolent protest.
Another organizer, Jefferson Peng, 21, of Fremont, said he wants the city’s police department budget cut, and more money to be directed toward services for homeless people, social services, and education resources.
“Small reforms are not enough. We need systematic change to fight systematic racism,” said Peng, who is Black.
“Right now, my family, we’re afraid to call 911, because there’s a chance that call is going to get me,” Peng said.
The city’s most recently adopted police budget is $96.5 million, accounting for about 48 percent of the city’s general fund, an amount some people criticized during a City Council meeting before the budget was approved, and at a subsequent policing town hall meeting the city hosted.
“The police have had a chance to make their statement, they’ve had a chance to change, they’ve had a chance to grow, and…it’s not working,” Peng said.
Mei was criticized by some for not kneeling during a Black Lives Matter protest in the city last month, though she later said she didn’t kneel because she only kneels for God. One of the chalk messages written on Mei’s driveway said “Take a knee.”
One protester who didn’t want to give her name, said she felt being in front of Mei’s home was necessary because the mayor is “not really pressured to take on political stances or be a leader,” but she has a “responsibility” to do so.
These kinds of direct protest actions are “rare” for Fremont, “but it’s starting not to be,” she said.
“We want to normalize this, we want to normalize having our voices heard,” she added.
Peng, echoing other organizers, said those seeking reductions in police funding in the city will need to continue their efforts if they want to see change.
“We don’t want to back down. We know what they’re waiting for. They’re waiting for us to slow down,” Peng said.
“This isn’t just a fad,” he said, “or something that’s calming down very quickly.”
