Temecula BLM Movement May Face Challenges After This Election

Over the summer the Black Lives Matter movement came to Temecula. A seven-day demonstration. A march to city hall. Hundreds of Temecula’s youth gathered to protest against systematic racism and police brutality held by the group Temecula Protest. Denton Burr, one of the main organizers for the events and leader of Temecula Protest, announced his intention to run for city council in early July. One of the first progressive candidates to run in Temecula, Burr has been advocating against racism since he moved to the city in 2017.

However, the elections are less than two weeks away and his name will not be on the ballot.

“The whole purpose of him running was not to win,” Meesha Moghaddam, Burr’s girlfriend and fellow leader of Temecula Protest said. “It was always the message behind him running.”

Burr says that he wanted to show others it was possible to run. As a 25-year-old, he would have been around half the age of the other city council candidates.

“He [Burr] showed all of us how to run, how to get involved in local politics,” Moghaddam said.

Now without his name on the ballot, Burr feels that the race is not progressive enough.

“I think that the people running are basing their platforms on pandering,” Burr said. “Personally, I do not endorse anybody running.”

One of the candidates running for District 4, Sonia Perez, believes that the BLM movement should not have been brought to Temecula.

“With some of these other events that happened around the country, why are we bringing a problem that happens there into our town,” Perez said.

Perez is running against former mayor James Stewart who stepped down because of criticism over a racist email he sent. Stewart has not responded to comment on the subject.

She believes that Stewart was too soft amidst criticism from the community. “When I come into office I will probably make mistakes,” Perez said. “Will I say I need to step down because of an error. No. I’ll take full responsibility for it and move on, move forward, and take care of my community.”

Moghaddam says that he tried to make a public apology at a protest, taking attention away from the Black Lives Matter movement and directing it toward himself.

“He hasn’t done anything sincere,” Moghaddam said.

Joseph Ravago, an active participant with Temecula Protest, says that the city council race looks pretty troubling.

“It is very likely that Stew is going to be back in the city council after he disgracefully resigned,” Ravago said. “He is still defending his actions while being openly homophobic.”

For Ravago there is no good option. He believes that Temecula has the awareness, but now needs the right candidates and policy.

Although the upcoming elections seem dim for Temecula Protest, they are still hopeful for the future. In late August, the Temecula City Council created the Race, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Commission, under pressure from the organization.

Burr has applied for the commission and hopes to build better community collaboration by giving more representation to people of ethnic backgrounds. He also plans to run for city council again in the future.