Good evening everyone,

I want to begin with something real.

I remember when I was deciding to run for Pajaro Valley Unified Board Trustee . I had doubts. I questioned myself. I asked, “Should I do this? Am I ready? Will it even matter?”

And then I saw Hector Marin.

I saw a young Mexicano who did not wait for permission. I saw someone who stepped forward, again and again, on behalf of his community. Not for attention. Not for recognition. But because he knew people were not being heard.

And that stayed with me.

Because right now, across this country, our gente is rising.

Young people are stepping forward.

Working people are stepping forward.

Not because politics is easy, but because survival is getting harder.

We are tired of contributing to this country and still fighting for the basics.

Tired of seeing our families priced out of the communities we built.

Tired of watching decisions get made without us, about us.

And let’s be honest about the moment we are living in.

We have seen an administration attack education.

Attack the electoral process.

Attack immigrant families, working families, Latino families.

We have seen fear used as a tool.

We have seen division used as a strategy.

So what do we do?

We organize.

We stand up.

We run for office.

Because if we do not speak for ourselves, someone else will speak over us.

And that is why Hector’s race matters.

Because in a city like Santa Cruz, where so many of our people have already been pushed out, where so many families are hanging on by a thread, representation is not a luxury.

It is a necessity.

Hector is a bilingual paraeducator at Harbor High School.

He works with students every single day.

He sees the pressure families are under.

He sees the gap between what people need and what they are getting.

And he is doing something about it.

He is fighting for real affordability.

Not housing that looks good on paper, but housing working people can afford to live in.

He is pushing to keep our housing dollars local, investing in solutions that serve Santa Cruz families.

He is calling for an Office of Housing Stability, because no family should be left alone when they are at risk of losing everything.

He understands that growth must respect the people who are already here.

That means water. That means traffic. That means safety.

That means building a city that works for the people who live in it.

He is fighting to protect what we love.

Our culture.

Our small businesses.

Our community spaces.

He helped bring together over 11,000 people to protect the Catalyst.

That is not theory. That is action.

He has stood with workers as a union organizer, fighting for dignity, fair wages, and respect.

So when he says he will fight for working families, understand this clearly,

He already has.

Now let me ask you,

What kind of city do we want to be?

One where families are pushed out, or one where they are rooted and supported?

One where young people are ignored, or one where they are leading?

One where decisions are made behind closed doors, or one where the community has a voice?

Because this moment is not about one person.

It is about all of us.

It is about whether the Beach Flats are heard.

It is about whether working families are seen.

It is about whether our community finally has a seat at the table.

So I will ask you the question that every movement must answer,

If not now, then when?

If not him, then who?

Because change does not come from waiting.

It comes from courage.

From people who are willing to stand up and say enough.

Hector Marin is that courage.

He is that voice.

He is that change.

And I am proud to stand with him.

Hola everyone,

My name is Trustee Gabriel Medina. I serve the Pajaro Valley Unified School District, representing the families of Pajaro, Las Lomas, and Watsonville. I am the son of farmworkers. I am a Chicano. And I represent communities whose lives are shaped by borders, but defined by resistance.

Immigration isn’t just policy where I live, it’s personal. It’s the voice of elders speaking Mixteco in our clinics. It’s the students translating for their parents at school. It’s the fear that rises when a white van slows down near your house, not knowing if it’s delivering a package or taking someone away.

And this past week, that fear became real again.

Rumors spread across our community, ICE agents were stationed in Monterey, planning raids in Salinas and Watsonville. People panicked. Some pulled their kids from school. Others skipped work. By 7am, I was on San Juan Road with community members, no reporters, and me as the only not elected officials, just us, protecting each other the way our ancestors always have.

But that same evening, I sat in a board meeting where we were asked to vote on expanding campus security, bringing more law enforcement into schools that serve undocumented and Indigenous youth.

Let me be clear:

We cannot call ourselves a sanctuary district in the morning, and vote to criminalize our students by night.

We cannot separate the trauma of ICE raids from the trauma of school policing. It’s the same uniform. The same fear. The same message: You don’t belong here.

And this is where I want to speak directly, not just as a trustee, but as a Chicano and as someone who refuses to stay in my lane.

What’s happening in Palestine-to our hermanos and hermanas is also happening here.
The checkpoints. The detentions. The surveillance. The disappearances.
It’s not a metaphor. It’s a mirror.

Palestinian families are being bombed by U.S.-funded weapons. Children are being buried in rubble. And at the same time, here in Watsonville, we’re watching ICE vans pull up to homes, detain parents, and disappear green card holders with no warning, no due process, no humanity.

These aren’t isolated systems. They are deeply connected.
Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian green card holder, was detained by ICE without cause.

Luis Leon, an 82-year-old Guatemalan grandfather, was secretly deported while renewing his residency.

A farmworker in Camarillo fell to his death during an ICE raid just this month.

In Mesa Verde and Golden State Annex, detainees are held in for-profit prisons with no timeline, no justice, no names.

Let’s name them for what they are:
Concentration camps.
Built to strip people of dignity.
Funded to break spirits.
Designed to disappear.

And it’s not just happening “to them.” It’s happening to us.
It’s happening to our Muslim neighbors.
To our Arab neighbors.

To our Haitian, Dominican, pCentral American, and undocumented neighbors.

And yes, it’s happening to our communities, too.

This is why we must speak the words out loud:
From Watsonville to Rafah, oppression looks the same.

This country is not just funding genocide abroad, it is practicing displacement at home.

We cannot be divided into our issues, into our neighborhoods, into our hashtags.
Palestine is not just a foreign policy debate. It’s a moral line in the sand.

That’s why I’m proud to endorse Sean Dougherty for Congress.

Sean doesn’t walk the middle of the road while people are being hurt. He stands firmly on the side of justice. He supports a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. He believes in ending ICE’s unchecked power. He supports pathways to citizenship, not pathways to prison. And he knows that real school safety comes from trust, not militarization.

Sean doesn’t treat our communities as political liabilities, he treats us as people worth fighting for.

So to my fellow Chicanos, Mexicanos, and Latinos:
This isn’t just about immigration, it’s about liberation.
And to our Muslim and Palestinian neighbors:
We see you. We believe you. We fight with you.

Our struggles are not the same, but they are bound together by a shared enemy: state violence.
And we will not win until we rise together.

Let’s build a future rooted in dignity, not detention.
A future rooted in solidarity, not silence.
A future rooted in love, for all people, across all borders.

¡Viva Palestina! ¡Viva la gente! ¡Y viva la justicia!