Sureño graffiti appeared Wednesday morning on the wall of a building near 18th Street and South Van Ness Avenue, according to an employee at nearby Whiz Burger.
In an article in the Bay Citizen late last year, reporter Scott James spoke to Officer Martin Ferreira, who investigates graffiti. “One example of violence sparked by graffiti occurs when gang graffiti is placed in a rival gang’s area or turf,” Ferreira told James. “This action is most likely to be perceived as a disrespectful act, and can cause a cycle of violence that affects the entire community.”
There is somewhat of a precedent for incidents like this in the Mission.
In the fall of 2010, the Solidarity Mural at 24th and Capp streets was covered with graffiti from several Norteño cliques, and black faces in the mural were covered with white paint.
Community groups held a meeting at the parking lot to try to defuse the tension.
This kind of graffiti comes and goes. However, this is the second instance we have seen around the neighborhood recently.
A Mission Loc@l reporter also spotted some near 19th and Capp Street two weeks ago.
Landlords are responsible for removing graffiti from their property.
We called a gang expert, the San Francisco Police Department and the Department of Public Works to find out what it means when gang graffiti shows up in your neighborhood, and will update this post when we hear back from them.
Oh good let’s give a couple of rival gangs as much attention as possible. Just what they’re looking for. The landlord should get out the paint ASAP.
This graffiti is not “technically on Sureño territory,” it is technically on somebody’s house. In addition to being factually wrong when you publish sentences like this, you give legitimacy, aid and comfort to criminal gang culture that is responsible for murder and mayhem on public streets. Is this kind of reporting what they’re teaching in J-school these days?
“you give legitimacy, aid and comfort to criminal gang culture,” exactly how? There is an increase of gang activity in the area and one, I believe, worth documenting. I tried to give context as to why it is important to pay attention to these tags. In 2010 similar graffiti lead to a surge in gang violence. In that case we didn’t document it because we didn’t know about it after the fact. I am happy to hear your response here or by email at rigoberh@gmail.com. We are always looking for way to improve and you can help, Andy.
I am sorry Andy, if you are referring to just that sentence than you are right. It could be better worded.
Thanks for the response, Rigoberto, and thank you for helping to document this non-trivial issue.
I was being a bit of a stickler for the distinction between editorial and factual reporting since this piece is presented as news, but wanted to emphasize the fact that no one has ceded private or public property in the neighborhood to organized crime, nor do we operate with that mentality.
In the broader sense, the Sureños do consider this to be their territory, as the Norteños consider the area South of 20th St. to be theirs. I just don’t want to see any legitimization of this claim appear in the media without the qualification that it is being made by a violent, criminal group whom the ordinary working people of the neighborhood (who live and work in theses places and raise children here) would like to see eradicated.
Living on the borderline, my neighbors and I are no strangers to the effects this kind of “land grab” can create…we appreciate the coverage on this and other issues that ML provides.
The Surenos are at it again.
Listen people. Nortenos are a hispanic street organization indegenous to Northern California and especially the Bay Area.
Nortenos means Northerners of California. The Nortenos have been here for well over 50 years and can trace their roots to the United Farm Workers union movement with Cesar Chavez and the radical politics of the 1960′s especially within minority groups(Black panthers, Brown Beretts and so on)
The Surenos are a group of gangsters indegenous to Southern California but especially LA. Surenos means Southerner of California and work for the Mexican Mafia.
Since the 1990′s orders have come from high ranking Sureno/Mexican Mafia prison gang members to move into Northern California
and to take Nor Cal by force from the Nortenos.
This is whats been happening and is the major drive of violence in the Mission District and eles where.
People in the loop call it the ” Sureno invasion”. Nortenos are on the defense trying to hold down the fort so to speak.
Knowing this, that Nortenos are usually native born San Fransicans and Bay Areaens and that Surenos are usually native to Los Angeles and even 3rd world countries where the Sureno invasion is already in full force(El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico).
Knowing this, that Surenos are the agitators of violence from an outside community, why doesn’t the SFPD focus of removing the small but very violent group of Surenos that exisit in the City instead of targeting the thousands of native Nortenos who call SF home.
Why are we tolerating Los Angeles gangs in San Francisco?
In the 1980′s the Bloods and Crips try’d to move into SF’s black community to establish themselves here but were met by fierce resistence by the locals. Now in the 2000′s Los Angeles is sending us another wave of gangs that are trying to establish a foothole in our community, in our City. These are the Surenos. We as a City, as a community most stand together and unite and do anything we can to get rid of the Surenos/Mexican Mafia before we are just as gang infested as LA.
The surenos number in the low hundreds in SF and the SFPD should step up there efforts in targeting them and sending them back to Los Angeles or their 3rd world country of origin.
I am not a Norteno but I am from the Mission District and I am latino so I understand the politics of whats going on right now and frankly thats what the violence in the Mission has been about in the last 20 years, The native San Francisco population resisting the LA Sureno invasion.
Well no longer shall this inside knowledge be kept only in the streets or in law enforcement circles. Everyone needs to know whats going on because you all live here and are effected by this LA gang invasion.
Tell your, neighbors, board of supervisors and your local SFPD lieutenent that you want the Surenos out of San Francisco NOW!!!!!!!!
So, we should just celebrate our own local criminal organizations?
Jesus, “third world country of origin”? I don’t care if you’re a Latino, native to the Mission or what, you’re a racist.
People like you make me so happy I’m moving to a neighborhood this weekend with no Latino gangs at all. Enjoy your little turf war here.
How about both the Surenos and the Nortenos get out of SF now? That works for me.
What a load of garbage! What are you, part of the Norteno propaganda arm? Your attempt to give these vicious thugs credibility by linking them to the UFW and other social movements is laughable and downright despicable. And guess what buddy, there are Norteno cliques in southern California, and even in other states. So much for your theory of poor innocent San Francisco natives being picked on by big bad LA, huh? All of these gang members are scum and should be wiped off of the face of the earth whether they are from SF, LA, or Mars, period.
Tell the Surenos
Go back to LA.Go back to LA.Go back to LA.Go back to LA.Go back to LA.Go back to LA.Go back to LA.Go back to LA.Go back to LA.
Gang graffiti, political graffiti, tagger graffiti… It all is a sign of disrespect toward the community and as documented at http://www.DefacingAmerica.com , leaves us with $12 billion in clean-up and restoration expenses each year.
Maybe if these types of tags can lead to increased violence, couldn’tthe city of SF or anti-violence community groups should take initiative to clean it up faster than the property owner? Would that make any difference?
And…there’s a shooting today at 24th and Harrison.