School board race shocker
Police chief under fire
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Vol. 53 • No. 01 • January 5-11, 2023
Engardio readies to take San Francisco supervisor seat by Matthew S. Bajko Courtesy CA Courts Newsroom
Governor Gavin Newsom embraces California Supreme Court Justice Kelli Evans as she was sworn in January 2.
California Supreme Court welcomes 1st queer woman by Matthew S. Bajko
F
rom humble beginnings growing up in a Denver public housing development reared by her grandmother with limited means, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Kelli Evans is now making history as the first queer woman of color to serve on the Golden State’s highest court. Governor Gavin Newsom Monday afternoon administered her oath of office as an associate justice on the California Supreme Court. Evan’s January 2 robing ceremony, which was not open to the public, took place at 1:15 p.m. inside the Stanley Mosk Library and Courts Building in downtown Sacramento. Although it wasn’t livestreamed, video of the event was posted shortly afterward to the court’s website. “The California Supreme Court is a beacon, and I am immensely humbled and proud to be joining the court today. I pledge to serve the people of our beautiful state to the very best of my abilities, doing all I can to help fulfill the promise of equal justice under the law,” said Evans, 53, at the event. Her UC Davis law school classmate, Stephanie Finelli, recalled during the swearing-in event that “what stood out to us in law school about Kelli was her commitment to justice. She went to law school to make the legal system work for everyone ... and especially those the system had traditionally overlooked, or even mistreated.” Newsom also swore in Associate Justice Patricia Guerrero as the 29th chief justice of California, having won her retention race for the position on the November 8 ballot. Guerrero succeeds Tani Cantil-Sakauye, whose retirement became official Monday, to become the first Latina presiding over the state supreme court. “I look forward to protecting the rights of all Californians and ensuring equal access to justice,” said Guerrero. “Just as I did not get here alone, I do not move forward alone, and I look forward to embarking on this exciting new journey with family, friends, and colleagues.” The governor had nominated the two women for the judicial posts last summer. A Black married mother, Evans doubles out representation on the judicial body. Associate See page 6 >>
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fter his stunning victory in the November 8 election, ousting an elected supervisor in San Francisco for the first time in more than two decades, Joel Engardio took a well-deserved vacation with his husband, Lionel Hsu. In mid-December they traveled to Japan for a few days before spending the holidays with Hsu’s parents in Taiwan. It had been a yearly tradition for the couple to head overseas around Christmas until COVID brought an end to most international travel in 2020. Hsu returned alone in 2021 to see his family for the first time since 2019. “He endured the quarantine,” recalled Engardio. “I stayed behind.” The couple, having rung in the new year in Taipei, returned home January 2 to prepare for Engardio taking his oath of office as the new District 4 supervisor representing the Sunset district and the Lakeside neighborhood where they own a house. Engardio is hosting an RSVP-required affair Saturday at the Irish Cultural Center, due to the limited space of the venue. The pomp will harken back to his marriage to Hsu. Gay state Senator Scott Wiener (DSan Francisco), one of two elected officials in
Courtesy Joel Engardio
San Francisco District 4 Supervisor-elect Joel Engardio, left, and his husband, Lionel Hsu, visited Japan during a recent holiday vacation to see Hsu’s family.
the city who endorsed Engardio in his race, and former District 4 supervisor Katy Tang, now executive director of the city’s Office of Small Businesses, will make remarks. They had presided over the couple’s 2015 wedding ceremony. “Scott presided in English and Katy did it in Mandarin so Lionel’s mother – who flew
from Taiwan to San Francisco and knows zero English – could fully experience her son getting married,” noted Engardio, 50, a journalist turned editorial writer and columnist. Mayor London Breed will also make remarks. City Administrator Carmen Chu, also a former District 4 supervisor, will administer the oath, while Hsu will hold a Bible owned by See page 4 >>
Tullock breaks barriers as San Francisco’s chief adult probation officer
by Eric Burkett
C
ristel Tullock recalled a time back in 1990, when on the “Arsenio Hall Show,” gay icon Madonna said she liked hanging out with the Black kids because they got away with more. “Cause all my girlfriends were Black and it seemed their parents were more lenient than my parents,” the singer told Hall. “And somehow, I had it stuck in my mind that because they were Black, they had more fun. You know, my parents were really strict.” Madonna probably intended it as a compliment, but not everyone saw it that way. What Tullock, who started her job as chief adult probation officer for the City and County of San Francisco one year ago in January, remembers most about that interview was the ensuing outcry from Black parents, offended by the implication that they, somehow, didn’t care about their kids. “And how that had a kind of sense of – we’re just a free-for-all. No, we’re kings and queens,” said Tullock, a San Francisco resident and mother of two children, in a recent interview with the Bay Area Reporter. “The history of Black people and Latino people is so profound, why would you think we don’t want order?” The fact that that particular celebrity interview has stayed with Tullock, a Black Latina lesbian, and a first-generation American, probably says a lot more about her than it did about Madonna.
Rick Gerharter
Cristel Tullock will soon mark one year as San Francisco’s chief adult probation officer.
Tullock, who declined to state her age, was promoted to chief adult probation officer after 22 years in the adult probation department, and she carries a great deal of that sense of responsibility to her communities with her. She’s the first African American to head up the department and the first Latina, as well as the first lesbian. In fact, she was also the first such appointment in California, until a month or so later when Tamika Nelson, a Black woman, took the same position in San Diego County. And Tullock brings all those identities with her as she carries out her duties. According to a study published last year by the
Racial and Identity Profiling Board, San Francisco’s police officers “performed supervision only searches (where supervision status is the only basis for the search) of individuals perceived to be Black at 2.8 times the rate at which they performed supervision only searches of individuals they perceived to be white. Similarly, officers also performed supervision plus searches (where the officer also had some other basis to search the person) of Black individuals at 3.3 times the rate they performed supervision plus searches of white individuals.” See page 12 >>
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