The Streets of San Francisco,Part One

While down in San Francisco, I took a walk down Geary Boulevard to get some of the local atmosphere. (The picture above is of Lombard Street. I didn't go down that street this time but I was close to it and this was the best shot I could find on the Web, so...)

It was a sunny Friday afternoon and I forsook the bus for a stroll westward, passing the many fine restaurants, clothing stores, laundromats, video/DVD stores, corner groceries with outrageous prices for edible and drinkable wares, and the various small but excellent Mexican and Chinese food joints that make up the street.

My walk was marred by the fact that as I walked closer to Civic Center, about three miles from where I started out, I happened open a police operation of some kind going on in a parking lot area near one of the area's Kaiser Hospitals. Several police cars were double-parked along the street. No attempt was made to divert pedestrians or traffic so I continued my ramble. I passed a burly red-haired officer standing on the corner, looking like he was on the lookout for something. I said hello. He replied 'hello' back.

Since I wasn't wrestled to the ground and "cuffed and stuffed" into a black-and-white I figured the situation was in hand and I didn't resemble any of the suspects.

I could see more cops moving about around the lot area and the adjacent buildings, looking for something...or someone. Obviously something had happened as there had to be at least a dozen troopers out.

As I crossed near the corner of Geary and Laguna Streets, I glanced back to look at another police car arriving on the scene. When I turned again, a uniformed cop was a couple yards away from me, moving at a quick clip and carrying the longest shot gun I had ever seen! It had a blue stock and looked like it had the power to put a hole in a Mack Truck. The barrel of the weapon was pointed down on the sidewalk as he strode by me with the "shootin' iron" on his hip. I decided I was anxious, and picked up the pace a bit.

A few blocks later I inadvertently passed by the Chinese Consulate. I could tell before I even saw the front of the building that it had to be such because there was a large display on the sidewalk with many older Asian men and women manning the site. The display featured large pictures of people who had sundry and long and ugly welts on their bodies. These unfortunates were said to be victims of human rights violations by our good trading partners in the Beijing government.

I stopped for a moment at the entrance to the building, a few yards away from the anti-Beijing display. The glass doors to the entry way revealed a long line of people just inside the foyer of the building, lined up I presumed for visas. A large fellow in a black uniform was manning the entrance just inside the building. I was heartened somewhat in that whatever repressions were going on in China today, such draconian laws as befitted a massive authoritarian state of 1.3 billion cut absolutely no mustard on the streets of San Francisco...or Los Angeles, New York, Houston or wherever else the PRC had a consulate.

It was just the previous evening that I heard on the Canadian CBC Radio news show, "As It Happens", about a Chinese/Canadian citizen who had just received a life sentence for "acts of sedition" against the government there. Despite official Canadian government protests--the man had committed no act of violence and the charges were very likely trumped up to the max---the broadcast reported the man was not allowed even to speak at his sentencing in a Chinese court. He appeared to the Western media covering the trial to have suffered during his already long stay in captivity.

Here is a bit more on the specifics of the case, taken from the CBC website, and another article on the case from The CTV News that is more detailed.

UIGHUR SENTENCE

Duration: 00:07:48

Huseyin Celil and his seven-month-old son will never meet. That's because yesterday, in a courtroom in Urumqi, China, the father of four learned he will spend the rest of his life in prison. Mr. Celil -- who is a Canadian citizen and a member of the Uighur ethnic minority -- has been held by Chinese authorities for just under a year. Now, despite protests by the Canadian government and his family back home, he's been convicted of two counts of sedition. Mohamad Tohti is Huseyin Celil's friend who has been fighting for his release. http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070419/china_celil_0704...

I think this is something to remember, along with the mistreatment of Tibetans and the suppression of the non-violent and non-political Falun Gong movement in China. You may want to remember Mr. Celil, and so many thousands of others rotting away in prison for "political crimes" in China, especially if you are planning a trip to Beijing for the 2008 Olympics next Summer or even if you plan to buy a souvenir from a sports shop in your local area.

(to be continued)