The following piece is a newsletter sent to supporters of “Friends of Friendship Park” in late May 2023.
Even as federal contractors are erecting the first of two 30-foot walls at Friendship Park, we are building something else: a national movement to encourage President Biden to embrace FRIENDSHIP on the U.S.-Mexico border. Democratic party leaders — from California to the halls of Congress — are joining this movement by urging President Biden to halt construction at this iconic border venue.
I want to tell you how YOU CAN JOIN THE MOVEMENT, but first… here’s a quick summary of what has happened in the last ten days.
On Sunday, May 21, hundreds protested at Friendship Park. (See the front-page coverage in the San Diego Union-Tribune.)
The next day, Bob Ross, President/CEO of The California Endowment, wrote this stirring account of his experience, arriving at this simple conclusion: “Amistad. Not a 30-foot wall.”
On Tuesday May 23, our delegation from California met with high-ranking officials at the White House, who promised to take our appeal to Neera Tanden, the incoming leader of President Biden’s Domestic Policy Council. Tanden has said she wants to make immigration a central focus of her work. What better way to signal a new direction than by embracing the symbolism of Friendship Park?
On Friday, May 26, my report-out from Washington was featured on the opinion pages of the Union-Tribune.
The very next day, Saturday, May 27, the editors at the U-T urged President Biden to halt construction in their lead editorial. And the venerable San Diego Magazine published this piece by Maria José Duran lamenting the “militarization” of Friendship Park.
And the day after that, Sunday, May 28, California’s Democratic Party passed a resolution at their Statewide convention condemning the Biden Administration’s plans to wall off Friendship Park. The list of Democratic elected officials endorsing this resolution is too long to list here, but we thank them!
THAT GETS US TO THE NEWS OF THIS DAY, and how you may be able to help:
Rep. Juan Vargas has authored a letter asking President Biden to halt construction at Friendship Park, and he is inviting other members of Congress to sign on.
We are concentrating our efforts on the California Congressional delegation, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and the House Progressive Caucus. If your member of Congress belongs to one of these, here is how you can encourage them to sign the letter.
This is the great irony of what is happening on the border. A 30-foot wall is being erected as you read these words, and yet…
WE ARE BUILDING A MOVEMENT that is telling President Biden IT’S NOT TOO LATE TO DO THE RIGHT THING.
We don’t want to see President Biden go down in history as having built new 30-foot walls at the most historic location on the US-Mexico border. Friendship Park is supposed to be preserved in perpetuity as a monument to transnational friendship. Our message to the Biden Administration is simple:
John Fanestil
AN IMMEDIATE CALL TO ACTION: STOP THE WALL
Our current and urgent goal is to stop the building of two 30-foot border walls that will destroy the international meeting place known as Friendship Park, the feature component of California’s Border Field State Park and a prominent public plaza in Playas de Tijuana. These walls will mar the visitor experience on both sides of the border, will destroy the garden and native plants, and eradicate views across the international San Diego and Tijuana boundary
THE VISION: BUILD THE PARK – A TRULY INTERNATIONAL PARK
Our 2 to 4 year goal is to build a truly international park without walls where visitors from both sides of the border can enter and exit safely and securely to visit, embrace and share a day together. This is what happens routinely at the several binational parks on the U.S.-Canada border, like the Peace Arch Park connecting Washington state to British Columbia. With the proper investment of public funds and robust international collaboration, we know it is possible to create a vital public space of this sort at Friendship Park
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