As I researched the story on Banko Brown, many narratives came up. Many perspectives and many opinions. Details of this incident are hard to solidify but from what I understand, Banko Brown was leaving Walgreens when the Walgreen security suspected them of stealing and ended up shooting and killing the 24-year-old.
Some people say that Banko stole a sandwich, others claim that it was bought. Regardless of the details, I know that hunger is a painful thing, it will leave you in a desperate state where one would do anything for a bite of food. Whether food was stolen or not, it’s not a justification to end someone’s life.
“He was the type of person to give you his shirt off his back, that’s how we knew him” said Julia Arroyo the Young Women’s Freedom Center co-director, speaking in front of the Walgreens were the shooting happened. She added: “When I met with Banko he told me he was struggling with housing. He did everything he could, he showed up in lines at 7 am only to be turned away.”
That brings to light the struggle Banko was dealing with. The struggle of being a poor black trans youth looking for housing in San Francisco. Like Julia said, Banko was actively looking for housing, showing up every morning at dusk to wait in the long lines shelters have, just to be rejected for a bed. The daily struggle of looking for food, heat and safety. Even on top of all this, Banko was an aspiring community organizer, a member of YWFC who was loved by many people, and that love was clear when I went to the gathering at Walgreens. The block was full of people crying, yelling and standing up all for Banko.
This story is close to home for a couple reasons. I grew up in San Francisco and in almost every school I went to there was a Walgreens in a two-block radius. I would go all the time and many times with friends.
I’m mixed race. My mom has European ancestry and my dad is Guatemalan with Mayan ancestry. I’m white, passing thanks to being born with light skin, and even with that privilege I have been followed by security in the Mission Walgreens. The security guard didn’t even try to hide it, he followed me in every aisle I went. In situations like this I can’t help but feel invaded, I begin to wonder what makes him think a 13-year-old is a threat.
“The majority of security guards, sadly, are poor people hired to police, harass and kill other poor people,” explains POOR Magazine founder Tiny in a reflection of the incident. “There is no space for poor people in San Francisco, There’s no space, access or housing for trans youth of color, for Black and Brown communities and poor people… so now they are killing us.”
This whole situation could have been avoidable, if only Banko was provided with the resources he needed, if only the security was not armed. Sadly, this is nothing new: These killings happen all the time, and will keep happening as long as the city refuses to put any funding into grassroots, poor-people led solutions and movements, and as long as we still hate on each other and fear each other, as long as we buy into the scarcity model in which they tell us there is no space for housing when in reality there are hundreds of abandoned buildings, homes and lots in just San Francisco.
Justice for Banko Brown.
Akil Carrillo is a POOR Magazine youth poverty scholar reporter.
