LGBTQ, ANTI-RACISM ACTIVISTS DEMAND REMOVAL OF WILSON STATUE

Photo by Julia Woock

OUTDATED?—Civil rights activists argue a statue of former San Diego Mayor Pete Wilson, like Confederate monuments, is an anachronistic celebration of racism and homophobia that must end.

By Julia Woock

This summer activists worldwide demanded the removal of statues of racist historical figures. A statue of 17th-century slave trader Edward Colston was pulled down in England and a likeness of Belgium’s Leopold II—who brutalized Black Africans in The Congo—was razed. In the U.S., statues of Confederate figures and colonizers met the same fate.

Downtown San Diego’s statue of former California Republican Gov. Pete Wilson should be next, insist Latino and LGBTQ activists.

Human rights leader Enrique Morones of Gente Unida said a statue of Wilson has no place in modern, diverse San Diego.

“After Pete Wilson stated he supported Donald Trump, family separation, the wall and Trump’s very racist policies, I thought ‘that’s enough!’” he said. “We’ve had so many people protest racist representations like the Confederate

statues and demanding changing the Washington football team’s racist name. It is time to remove the Pete Wilson statue.”

Wilson was mayor of San Diego from 1971-83 during a period of intense anti-LGBTQ activity by conservatives, including regular police raids of law-abiding gay bars by San Diego Police he sanctioned. As governor in 1994 Wilson led the effort to pass Proposition 187, a Republican measure to strip away basic educational and health care safety net benefits from undocumented children. Though it narrowly passed, the measure was later ruled illegal by the State Supreme Court.

“When he was the voice of Proposition 187 back in 1994 he was promoting commercials which had black and white photos of people running on the freeways with a scary voice and painting the migrant community as criminals,” Morones said. “That was uncalled for. Pete Wilson caused great damage to people of color in California, which at that time was a red state. Wilson’s attacks on minorities turned California into a solid blue state.”

Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez also credits Wilson with unintentionally galvanizing the Latino community to vote for Democrats and toss out racists.

“It is the work Latinos did on the ground—our housekeepers, our janitors and our citizens—who, after Pete Wilson attacked us, rebuilt California as a blue California,” said Gonzalez.

Morones said Wilson was San Diego’s J.E.B. Stewart or Jefferson Davis, an anachronistic racist figure from a repressive bygone age. Wilson may have been popular in the right-wing San Diego of the 1970s like Davis was in the slavery South of 1860, said Morones, but times have changed and San Diego has evolved.

“Wilson represents the worst of the American spirit,” he said. “Pete Wilson is very divisive and has a very racist ideology. Proposition 187 is something we will never forget. We don’t want symbols of hate here in San Diego or anywhere.”

Modern San Diegans need to stand up to outdated conservative dictates, Morones said.

“The statement by Pete Wilson’s law partner that said he represents what San Diego is about has some truth to it because San Diego does have racism in its history,” he said. “The KKK. The wall. The beating to death of a migrant (Anastasio Hernandez Rojas). The Minutemen. There is a history of that in San Diego, so Pete Wilson does represent that. The rest of us don’t.”

Morones said the owners of the statue argue it is on private property, but he insists that is irrelevant because it is in a very visible public place.

“To have a symbol of hate—whether it is a swastika or a Pete Wilson statue—is unacceptable, whether it is on private or public land,” he said. “Does that mean I can place a swastika or a horrible image on a wall that is private, but in a very visible place?”

Wilson gained additional notoriety when he vetoed the Gay Rights Bill of 1991 intended to protect the LGBTQ community from job discrimination, said Lopez. Wilson greenlighted San Diego police to raid LGBTQ community bars and spaces. Police arrested people there for “lewd behavior” during his three terms as San Diego mayor.

Fernando Lopez, Executive Director of San Diego Pride, said Wilson had the opportunity to stand on the right side of history and failed.

“He refused to meet with LGBTQ leaders and discuss how inappropriate, degrading and discriminatory those (SDPD) practices were for our community at the time,” Lopez said.

It is essential that a modern society address the toxic history statues like Wilson represent, Lopez said.

“As a country we believe in the promise of liberty and justice for all, and that all people should be treated equally,” Lopez said. “It is very clear that Pete Wilson was not a part of that and did not share those values and saw the LGBTQ as less than and as other, so I don’t think we should have a statue of Pete Wilson in our city.”

Lopez said those are not the values the city stands behind and the evidence is that San Diego just elected its first mayor of color and member of the LGBTQ community. Data from SDPD and regional law enforcement agencies show that police are still targeting and mistreating members of the LGBTQ community and brutalizing people of color, including Black, Latino and Filipino, Lopez said.

“While I would like to believe we have come a long way, it is very clear that we have a lot further to go to rectify the legacy of Pete Wilson,” Lopez said. “Removing that legacy means the proactive work of putting an end to the misuse of force and asymmetrical law enforcement through any police agency.”

Morones said it was important for our children to see that we practice what we preach.

“Martin Luther King taught us not to remain silent,” he said. “We’re always going to remember the words of our enemies, but we’re also going to remember our friends being silent. Our friends being silent is not acceptable. It sends the wrong message.”