Manuel Ortiz Escámez. Peninsula 360 Press.
"In Redwood City, the clouds are pink," I told my wife years ago - while in Mexico - and she didn't believe me. In time, when she first visited this city, she agreed with me.
From my perspective, I see, over the daily Redwood City, beautiful pink clouds, with tones that intermingle and degrade into oranges and blues.
But bad news for you: I'm colorblind.
Don't feel sorry for yourself. Fortunately, colorblind people are not hurt at all; it is a condition of the whims of Genetics. We simply see different shades of color than most people do. So I can't say for sure if the clouds of Redwood City are really pink; I like to think so.
Pink, as well as the other shades of color the sky can be tinged with, combines in Redwood City with the vast colors of the sea, the salt flats, the dense vegetation and the murals. To me, this huge range of colors represents the very rich ethnic diversity of the San Francisco Peninsula.
In the meantime, we cannot conclude whether or not we agree that the clouds here are pink. We must keep in mind my colorblindness. What is definitely not controversial is ethnic diversity. In Redwood City, over 38% of the population is Latino, over 10% is Asian, 2.2% is African American, and here there is also a Native American and Native Hawaiian population, as well as whites, of course.
The enormous ethnic variety of the pink cloud city, Redwood City, which brings knowledge, cultural and economic wealth, should be a source of pride for all the inhabitants of this region. However, this diversity is not adequately represented in those in power.
The efforts of some local politicians, such as Mayor Diane Howard, as well as Council members Alicia Aguirre and Giselle Hale, should be recognized for giving the importance they deserve to conducting diagnostics and open forums with the community in the search for "best practices on racial equity.
The adoption of Resolution 15877 is positive; it commits the Redwood City government to do more work for ethnic equity. But, as people in the community pointed out - last October 5th at the city's study session called Racial Equality, Services and City Policies - "there is still a lot to do".
It is important that we not only see white male faces at the helm of the Fire Department. In addition, while our police do not behave like some of the brutish officers in Kentucky, Michigan and much of the United States, the local demands of the Black Lives Matter movement need to be heard and addressed. It is urgent that more Latinos, Asians and Blacks represent their communities on the City Council.
Racism and ethnic inequality in the United States is a systemic issue. Yet the country is going through a critical and shameful time of division and brutal racism reinforced by Donald J. Trump and his disoriented spokesmen.
Elections are coming soon and, consequently, ethnic communities must vote with a social conscience and, above all, with historical memory. At the national level, "the man whose head the flies stand on" and his "patron" represent ignorance, division and hatred of our communities - a vote for them is a bullet in the foot!
Fortunately for Redwood City, there are good candidates for City Council. It is important to vote for who you choose.
From my perspective, Jeff Gee (District 1), Michael Smith (District 4), Alicia Aguirre (District 7), as well as Lissete Espinoza-García and Isabella Chu (District 3), have proposals and trajectories more in line with the theme of this column: the recognition of diversity and ethnic equity in the city.
We may or may not agree that the clouds of Redwood City are pink. However, let us not lose attention to the truly important detail: that we are able to recognise those who attack us and then vote against them, that we manage to preserve and give the enormous natural and ethnic wealth of our habitat the place it deserves.
Redwood City and the San Francisco Peninsula could - with time and hard work from our communities - become a good example of ethnic inclusion and equity for the entire country.
It's up to us to make it happen.
