The 2014 editorials were dominated by local elections, the killing of young black men, and immigration. But it was the local elections that took the prize this year as the most covered subject on the editorial pages of La Prensa San Diego in 2014.
With that said here is a look back at some of the editorials and our take on the topic at the time:
The year started out on a sad note when in January we talked about the passing of baseball man, Marine veteran, and Padre announcer, Jerry Coleman. Coleman transcended ethnic boundaries and was a friend to all who listened to Padre baseball games.
As we stated in our editorial: “Jerry Coleman made us feel comfortable, he was not brash or braggadocios, his stories were enjoyable, and he was a beacon as to what was right.”
From there we kicked off the local elections. The year started off with a bang, it was a special election for mayor of San Diego to replace the disgraced Bob Filner. The campaign was between Kevin Faulconer and David Alvarez. In our editorial for who we supported for mayor we surprised and disappointed many by making a non-endorsement. The assumption would have been that we would support the Hispanic candidate but in good conscience we could not support someone who was good at politicking but woefully short on experience and leadership.
In February we talked about Jordan Davis, a young black man who was shot at a gas station because a white man did not like the loud “thug” music that Davis was playing. Michael Dunn shot at Davis 10 times while Davis sat in his car. The outrage was over the fact that a Florida jury was deadlock on whether or not Dunn killed Davis or acted in self-defense. At that time little did we know that this case would pale in comparison to what was going to happen later on in the year.
As February passed local politics took over for a short time with the Primary elections upon us. There was the race for District Attorney where incumbent Bonnie Dumanis was facing her first stiff challenge. For the Hispanic community this was seen as an opportunity to replace Dumanis who had raised the ire of the Hispanic community over the years, but it was not to be. There was Prop B and C that affected the Barrio Logan community and community plan, again the Hispanic community came out on the short end of the stick. But in the end the real story was a lack of voter participation by the Hispanic community. Once again Hispanic voters stayed home and let others decide their fate and not in their best interest.
In July immigration was once again at the forefront with President Obama earning the moniker of “Deporter-in-Chief.” The South American children at the border looking for asylum which brought out the protestors, in particular, at Murrieta which sank immigration talk to an all-time low with racist screaming and yelling at young children, along with a bickering Congress that demonstrated its ineptitude.
As we stated in our July editorial, “Immigration is a total Debacle”: “What once started out as, “immigration reform” has now deteriorated (again) into a law enforcement border security plan with little resemblance to any sort of “reform” to realistically deal with the 11 million immigrants in the United States seeking legal documentation.” No truer words were said as we were to find out later in the year.
In August all hell broke loose when in Ferguson, MO, Michael Brown, an unarmed 18 year-old man with his hands up was shot 12 times by a policeman. The people of Ferguson protested in mass and the police overreacted with military style tactics and with assault vehicles. This was just the beginning. The protest would continue on till today and were reignited when a Grand Jury did not charge the police officer with any crime, instead calling it justified. America was outraged. In our editorials we tried to share this feeling of outrage and relate similar circumstance of the police killing unarmed citizens that existed within the Hispanic community. Again this was not the end of the story. Another killing of a Black man by the police and a Grand Jury failing to press any charges would take place in New York City.
Local elections once again took over the editorial pages with the General Election fast approaching. Some of the big issues included the Sales Tax in National City, School Board races in the South Bay, and the statewide issues and campaigns.
Our hope in Escondido was that there could be a change in that xenophobic city with a new mayor, this was our hope when we endorsed Olga Diaz for mayor. We questioned why Bertha Lopez and Jim Cartmill would try and seek re-election after being found guilty in court for accepting gifts and removed from office. One thing we knew for sure was that there was going to be a new start on the Sweetwater school board where all five seats were up for election. Finally the scandal from the past couple of years would be over. This was good news.
With the elections over our attention turned to Mexico where protest all over the world seeking answers to the massacre of 43 Mexican students, the cover-up, the involvement of the Mexican government, and the drug cartels.
Immigration became a topic once again when President Obama announced his executive decision on immigration enforcement allowing workers to stay, not to be confused with immigration reform. And finally, President Obama’s executive decision to establish normal relations with our island neighbor Cuba.
This is just a thumbnail sketch of our yearly editorials. Our intent has always been to provide a little insight, a little background, and the information needed so that you, our readers, can draw your own conclusions on the issues of the day. If we have done this then we have done our job.