THE HEAT IS ON ! Justice4JulioAyala

Justice4JulioAyala Press conference &Protest, The Heat is ON !
(mesha Monge-Irizarry, Idriss Stelley Foundation)

On Wednesday 6-21, the family and friends of Julio Ayala, Latino and Police Accountatibility activists gathered at 8:30 am in front of Redwood City City Hall, holding the October 22 Against Police Brutality Coalition banners, chanting "No justice, No Peace !" and "Justicia para Julio Ayala". The corporate press was at the rendez-vous, City Bay, the Examiner, La Prensa Grafica Salvadorena, Channel 2 &7.
Julio Ayala, 26 yr. Salvadoreno legal US resident, who lived on Jamestown Avenue in SF Bayview Hill until his tragic fate, died at the hands of 13 police officers at the SF Airport Inn on 6-3-05, allegedly "stopping to breathe" after being restrained in a body wrap for 15 minutes.

Before stepping into the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors Chamber, we were forwarned by a city official that although the board was aware that a group was planning to address them in public comments, no disturbance would be tolerated, "fill out your slips, no more than 2 minutes per comment!".

Reminiscent of the former apathic SF Police Commission before November 03 Police reform, Supervisors Mark Church, Jerry Hill, Rich Gordon, Adrienne Tissier (all of European descent) and Rose Jacobs Gibson (African American), stood motionless, strictly sticking to the 2 minutes imposed time limit, "Next !", and did not care to ask any questions to Tanya (Julio's sister), Julio and Mirna Ayala (his parents), who made a moving appeal to the board, often breaking into heartwrenching tears (which prompted each time for the corporate press to swirm upclose, avid for sensational material). Mr. Ayala presented the board with close to 1000 petitions (some from 32 states outside of California, and 11 foreign countries),demanding all reports pertaining to the death of his son, release of the 911 dispatching tape and an independent federal investigation, along with a letter to the Board, portraying his family as "Law abiding, hard working Latinos" who fled disaster, oppression and war in El Salvador to seek refuge in the Land of Opportunity, where they ended up loosing their beautiful son at the hands of SSF PD.

Juio's friends described him as a children loving, conscencious worker, undeserving of such horrible fate, and pleaded the board for their serious consideration of Julio's death matter. Union workers, peace activists calmly reiterated the same request: "Do the right thing! Give us Justice 4 Julio"!

"Any more comments?". "well, we do not have authority to settle this issue at this hearing, we will review the evidence and get back to you in 2 weeks". The whole matter was wrapped up in less than 15 minutes before the board moved on to the next agenda item,without another glance toward the Ayala's.

Board President Mark Church did, for whatever that was worth, pay respect to the grieving family. On our way back to San Francisco, Mirna and Julio Ayala alternatively break into tears. Waves of wrenching pain and despair constantly tear them apart, over and over, compiled with the total absence of information, disrespect and diregard inflicted upon them for the past two and a half month. Each unanswered appeal to let them know what happened to their son takes a terrible toll on their emotional health and hope that our community will honnor their beautiful child...

But the struggle for Justice4Julio will go on !

To send a message of support to the Ayala family, you can write to
Ayalajulio2 [at] aol.com or post a message on http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Justice4Julio/

If you have been assaulted by PD, please call (415) 595-8251 Idriss Stelley Foundation 24HR Bilingual Spa. Crisis line or write to iolmisha [at] cs.com