Why Is the California National Guard in San Diego?

The California National Guard deployed 200 troopers in San Diego County over the last 20 hours or so. One hundred are assigned to La Mesa and another hundred to the County Sheriff’s Department. Sheriff Bill Gore is the one that requested them. Governor Newsom authorized their deployment.

From my knowledge of San Diego history, this could be the very first time National Guard soldiers have been assigned to San Diego County. They weren’t deployed during the infamous San Diego Free Speech fight in 1912-1913, the labor strife during the thirties, nor were they deployed in San Diego during the social turbulence of the sixties and 1970s, and not during the May 1970 student rebellion, which in part shut down the gates to the Naval base on Catalina Boulevard.

So why are they here now?

Yes, there were two banks burned to the ground in La Mesa and numerous businesses looted, and some damage in downtown San Diego. But there are no current threats of any repeat of that – in fact there’s been nothing but peaceful protests throughout the county ever since. And on a national level, the massive protests seen have been very peaceful lately – perhaps due to the fact that the other three officers involved in George Floyd’s death have been arrested.

Nobody seems to be asking the questions that need to be asked. Does this mean the San Diego Police, the Sheriffs and Jail and prison personnel can’t handle anything that could come along? Why was it Sheriff Gore who asked for them? Isn’t it supposed to be the civilian authorities, like mayors, who can ask fro the National Guard?

Now with the Guard here and all these controversial curfews saddling the County, where are all those “open-it-up” demonstrators? Some of them no doubt are counter-protesting the Black Lives Matter event.

The local media and elected leaders are just taking this too lightly. Nobody is apparently objecting. Armed soldiers are now on the streets in San Diego to keep the peace, to ostensibly assist local law enforcement. To provide back-up and guard sensitive infrastructure.

Unfortunately, having armed soldiers here feeds into a narrative that protesters need to be “dominated” because they’re nothing but domestic terrorists and thugs and anarchists – and not the narrative that views these local and national protests as the future of America demanding change to a racially-based criminal justice system. Focusing on the looting and property damage ignores the genuine cries of pain and anguish that must be addressed by San Diego and the nation.

This is indeed a dark moment for San Diego. The National Guard do not need to be here; their presence is a mark on San Diego’s character and a rubber bullet to the head of any image of “America’s Finest City.”