As Vallejo's city government pushes to give the Vallejo Police Department a new headquarters on the city's waterfront, community members have questioned why the controversial police department, known for killing 19 people since 2010 and marking on-duty shootings by bending the tips of their badges, deserves such a prime piece of real estate. The conflict over the new headquarters echoes past fights as Vallejo's waterfront has a long history of protest, dating back to work stoppages by Black sailors after the nearby Port Chicago explosion during World War II.

Even as protests against the police killing of Sean Monterrosa swelled in Vallejo in 2020, then-City Manager Greg Nyhoff moved forward with plans to place the police headquarters either at a former office building on the waterfront or the main library blocks away. In the face of community opposition and astronomical cost estimates, the city has steadfastly refused to consider other options.

Guest: Javier Arbona-Homar, assistant professor at the University of California Davis in American studies and design.

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Vallejo's waterfront along Mare Island Way is a popular destination for family friendly activities with its wide paved path, grassy areas for gatherings and activities, and plenty of space to cast a line into the water. But the area also holds a rich history as a space where people have exercised their First Amendment rights. That included protests following the police killing of Sean Monterrosa in the summer of 2020… including loud ones with a police helicopter overhead…

Woman: Not one more!

Crowd: Note one more!

That's also included quieter demonstrations involving the younger relatives of people impacted by police violence.

Young boy: Justice for my uncle, Mario Romero [applause]

Even further back, Vallejo's waterfront was also home to work stoppages by Black sailors in a highly segregated Navy during World War II.

Park Ranger: What happened here, July 17, 1944, is little known to most Americans, and almost forgotten in history. We now look back on this day as an early event in the civil rights movement.

As UC Davis researchers recently noted, Vallejo's waterfront has been one of many landscapes for Black resistance against police violence.

Javier Arbona-Homar: Not to mention that it was also the setting for various uprisings and sometimes smaller or sometimes kind of larger so-called riots, where Black sailors found themselves fighting in the streets of Vallejo against white residents and white shore patrol.

It's also where Vallejo's historically white police department wants to relocate its headquarters. It's a move many local residents say the department doesn't deserve, considering its history of violence…

Colin Eaton: "I'll fuck you up."

…civil rights abuses…

David McLaughlin: "Stop fighting and get on the ground."

…and overall costs to local taxpayers.

KPIX: The lawsuits accuse police of racial profiling, excessive force and other misconduct…

I'm Brian Krans. I'm a reporter and producer with the Vallejo Sun. In this episode, we're going to take a look back at the historical significance of Vallejo's waterfront in the struggle for racial and social justice, and how the Vallejo Police Department's quest for a new waterfront headquarters fits into that history.