A peaceful protest in support of Black Lives Matter in Mill Valley on June 5.

Mill Valley Mayor Sashi McEntee.

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Clockwise from top left, Mayor Sashi McEntee, Vice Mayor John McCauley, Jim Wickham, Tricia Ossa and Urban Carmel. Courtesy image.

Voices Carry

MVCAN co-founder Eileen Fisher to the council: “We will be watching you. Reforms are not good enough. Serious and structural change must occur. There must be a truth and reconciliation process in Mill Valley.”

Fellow MVCAN co-founder June Cooperman: “The local education system from kindergarten through high school has failed children of color in Mill Valley on so many levels. This has hit me very hard. We are asking the council to work with the Tam Union High School District to elucidate the problems we have and generate comprehensive solutions to them.” 

Emily Ulhorn, board of trustee, Mill Valley School District: "We as a district have our work ahead of us to undo systemic racism in our district. We will start by acknowledging systemic racism. Our board stands ready to collaborate and share resources with the Sausalit-Marin City School District. We believe that working together will provide better outcomes for all children. The ultimate decision lies with voters in these districts." FULL LETTER HERE.

Seniors for Peace: “We know that true racial justice is not achievable by a task force with short term goals and low expectations."

Jasson Minadakis, artistic director at Marin Theatre Company: “Our mission is to present new American plays and more than half of our work focuses on BIPOC playwrights and artists. We have a national reputation for doing so. We can only do this important work in this community if Artists of Color and Patrons of Color feel safe and respected here, on the streets, in our schools when they perform, in our businesses, and in their homes for those who choose to live here. I am here to say that Mill Valley has NOT achieved that goal. I know this from the first-hand accounts of their treatment that Artists of Color working with us have brought to me, and I am confident that there are many instances that they have not revealed, because suffering indignities—being questioned why they are here, being followed, being insulted and even threatened—are unfortunately par for the course in white communities for them. MTC wants to work with the City officially, including with its public safety officers, to ensure the safety and respect of Artists and Patrons of Color in Mill Valley. We want a direct line to public safety officers who will look out for and protect our artists and patrons. We want the community of MV to know that they can come to our productions to experience the empathy that is theater’s beating heart. The City Council needs the experience we have as the Council moves to address racism and prejudice in our community, especially the implicit and under-the-surface kind that exists through bias, White-favoring structures and white authority.”

Kress Jack, a longtime local business owner and Mill Valley resident, told the community about a new nonprofit she and others have started called Raise the Frequency. “It is about how, out of the pain and disgust, our fellow humans are underserved. We as a community have been called to action to make a change. Our vision is to provide safe inclusive spaces without discrimination.” Jack said it is crucial for the city to allocate funding towards events and programming specifically focused on inclusion, from waivers on city facility rentals to speaker and entertainment fees. “We want to engage with you to create a more just reality for more members of our community.”

Antonina Markoff, principal at Markoff/Fullerton Architects: "Like others do, I support you and our community to be boldly anti-racist. To that end I want to specifically call on you to openly identify and remove and remediate the structural racism that persists in our city and it’s regulations that benefit white people and oppress black people and to make common-cause with our neighbors and the County to do the same. Structural Racism takes many pernicious forms. I want to particularly call out Structural Racism as is manifest in Zoning regulations. This section "2.5 Zoning"  from the 2020 Marin County Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Report explains: Zoning refers to regulations related to the use of land and land development in specific areas within a city, town or county. Zoning regulates building density and height restrictions, property lot sizes and the placement of buildings on lots. They also designate residential, commercial and industrial districts and determine the type of housing allowed within communities. Exclusionary zoning practices, including those that limit where, how, or if affordable housing can be developed, can result in creating and maintaining segregated communities."

Former City Council candidate Max Perrey slammed Mill Valley and Marin for its dubious track record on racial disparities and income inequality. “It has been too easy for too long to pretend that the inequities that we are all seeing don’t exist.”

Joan Steidinger said that “one of the things that all of us white people in Mill Valley need to do is to apologize and acknowledge the depth of the pain that African-Americans and people of color have experienced over many years.”

Amy Haven praised the overall tenor of the event, saying “the respect and mindfulness has been really powerful to hear.” She said that while affordable housing was necessary, it wasn’t the first step towards a more inclusive Mill Valley. “People of color need to feel safe and supported in Mill Valley. We need a permanent coalition to see how Mill Valley can truly diversify.”

Wesley Cabral said he would “love to see us as a community have some serious conversations about we might reallocate the budget of the police department or disband it completely,” and to “see if we can reduce the police budget in half and free up about $3.5 million and put it in other areas, with more attention to mental health and social services and education. School teachers should be making more than police officers.”

Longtime local affordable housing advocate Dennis Klein lambasted the council: “for over 30 years, Mill Valley has failed to build affordable housing, “perpetuating the discrimination that has been made highly visible by themurder of George Floyd.”

“We as white people have to look in the mirror and understand what we don’t know and how we are complicit with the situations we are trying to solve,” said Jasmine Gavam. “We all have work to do and we need to do so at a very personal level. You might want to consider hiring a chief diversity officer and hold up the mirror to you all.”

Jake Cohen, a Tam High student, told the council that “we’re stuck on this treadmill of reform” when police simply needed to be defunded, with resources allocated elsewhere, to areas like social services with 911 getting triaged depending on the situation. “The public should have access to all records of complaints filed against police,” he said. “This job holds too much power.”

Hilary Heaven told the story of her grandfather, Dr. Daniel Collins, who first tried to buy his house at 700 Summit Ave. in Mill Valley during the early 1950s but was prevented from doing so by a deed restriction preventing the sale to a black man. Collins, who died in 2007 at age 91 at The Redwoods, eventually convinced the owner to sell the house to him, but only after a battle. “That’s the thing about being black in this country,” Collins told the Marin IJ in 1995. “You don’t know how the hell a white person is going to treat you.” Collins was also the first black professor at the University of California at San Francisco’s School of Dentistry and one of the first black men in the country to serve on corporate boards. He also helped create what is now known as Lifehouse, a residential and counseling center for people with developmental disabilities located in San Rafael. Heaven, who has a 14-year-old child in the Mill Valley School District, urged the council to get behind efforts to merge the Sausalito-Marin City and Mill Valley school districts. “Diversify the school system earlier so that families and children get to know each earlier and interact.”

Elan Morpurgo: “People are talking about defunding the police. It’s a lovely idea. Maybe instead of defunding them, we could unarm the police. If you take the weapons away from the police, it would be less money and the police would be very grateful for not carrying all of this ammunition. They look like a Mack Truck with all of the ammunition on them. Be a peace force and not a war force.”

Tiffany Parker: “We have experienced so much prejudice and racially targeted profiling here in Mill Valley. It’s so deep-seated in this community and it starts at home. We’re missing the mark.” Parker pointed to a “Straight Outta Compton”-themed Edna Maguire fifth grade graduation party. “A room of 14 white moms and not one of them thought this was inappropriate,” she said. 

Menden Kibera, one of the creators of the Change.org petition calling for McEntee’s resignation: “We still feel like she’s falling short. We’re so proud of everyone. And I’m impressed by Urban. He showed up after doing some homework. We want to be able to raise our kids here and feel like we’re part of the community. I'm pretty ashamed to be a member of this city. I really hope you guys are listening and ready to take action. I am not backing down and I hope you are committed to doing this work.”

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