by Malik Washington Destination Freedom Media Group
“When you bring my name up to the judge, just tell him FACTS: Tell him how we funding all these kids to go to college! Tell him how we ceasing all these wars, stoppin’ violence! Trying to fix the system and the way that ‘they’ designed it! I THINK THEY WANT ME SILENCED!”
~from the song “What’s Free” by Meek Mill (featuring Jay-Z and Rick Ross)
Photo Credits:
Inspiration Mural (top left)
https://ronhenggeler.com/on_the_walls/6-212.htm
Harvey Milk & Ella Hill Hutch (top right):
https://www.sfomuseum.org/exhibitions/harvey-milk-messenger-hope/gallery#10
Caption: Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon receive a Certificate of Honor from supervisors Harvey Milk, Carol Ruth Silver, and Ella Hill Hutch – January 1978
Photograph by Daniel Nicoletta (b. 1954)
Courtesy of the photographer
R2019.0204.003
Halloween photo (bottom right)
https://www.bsotc.org/events/event-one-dhela-gnrja-zwn2b-56bwg-kygy6-wp6hg-2drwf
Ella Hill Hutch Community Center (bottom left)
https://www.instagram.com/p/CMcpcubBAv5
Ella Hill Hutch (center)
Caption: Supervisor Hutch, with City Hall in the background. Image courtesy of SF Call.
When I used to walk through the Fillmore District, past the murals of our heroes and sheroes and the echoes of jazz clubs long gone, I was often reminded of the unyielding resilience of San Francisco’s Black community. At the heart of this resilience stands a name that demands reverence:
ELLA HILL HUTCH
(June 9, 1923– February 25, 1981,)
Ms. Hutch broke barriers as the first Black woman elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. She was a colleague and friend of Harvey Milk. She was known not only as a trailblazer but as a fighter who lived for her people. Her dedication laid the foundation for the Ella Hill Hutch Community Center, an institution that has been a safe haven and a cultural stronghold in the Western Addition since 1981. “Ella Hill Hutch Holds Community!” Today that legacy is under threat. Developers are eyeing the land. City budgets are shrinking. Smear campaigns are in full effect! Bureaucrats continue to calculate numbers while forgetting about the lives behind them. But let me be clear: The Ella Hill Hutch Community Center must not close.
JAMES SPINGOLA: HELD THE LINE FOR THE PEOPLE DURING COVID
The Executive Director of the Ella Hill Hutch Center is a Black man whom I know. His name is James Spingola and affectionately known in the neighborhood as “Uncle Stank.”
Raised in the rough and tumble Turk Street Projects, Spingola’s journey like mine included incarceration but his life story did not end behind bars and neither will mine. Instead, James transformed his pain into purpose, and he kept the doors of the Ella Hill Hutch Community Center open during the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic. I interviewed James during that time, and he told me this: “When the pandemic hit, many places locked their doors. I kept the doors of the Ella Hill Hutch Community Center open because I knew our neighbors needed help and I was determined that this would be the place of help and refuge.” “Ella Hill Hutch Holds Community!”
From hot meals, PPE, and clothing distribution to even creating an impromptu clinic in partnership with Dr. Catherine James when Maxine Hall was shuttered, the center became more than a building. It became lifeline for elders, the youth, and struggling families. That is the spirit and legacy of Ella Hill Hutch: Never turning our people away.
SHERYL DAVIS: BUILDING MAGIC FROM THE GROUND UP
Dr. Sheryl Davis the former Executive Director of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission embodies the same spirit as Ella Hill Hutch. (Photo of Sheryl Davis and Dr. Cornel West).
Photo credit: https://sherylevansdavis.org/keynote-talks
Born in Texas and raised in Oakland, Dr. Davis has long been a teacher and an advocate for “The People.” Her work in San Francisco uplifted countless youth through the creation of Mo Magic (Mobilization for Adolescent Growth In our Community), a Fillmore-based initiative dedicated to empowering Black youth. Mo Magic — alongside its sister program B Magic in Bayview Hunters Point — nurtured our children with after-school programs, summer enrichment, and community-led solutions that kept kids off the streets and put them on a path of success.
These programs which were born out of community love were sustained by institutions like the Ella Hill Hutch Community Center.
WHY ELLA HILL HUTCH MATTERS
The Ella Hill Hutch Community Center is more than brick and mortar. It is a living monument to Black perseverance and ingenuity. It is where youth find mentors, where elders share wisdom, where families receive food, clothing, and care. It is where programs like Mo Magic give young people the tools to thrive and influence many to attend college. When developers salivate over its real estate and location, they are not simply targeting a property, they are attempting to erase a legacy of Black culture, history and love in San Francisco. To lose the Ella Hill Hutch Community Center would be to betray the very soul of the Fillmore. Ella Hill Hutch Holds Community!
TO OUR COMMUNITY LEADERS:
Supervisor Shamann Walton, Assemblymember Matt Haney, Pastor Amos Brown, Del Seymour, Donna Hilliard, Arieann Harrison, Richard Ybarra, DJ Brookter, Jon Henry, Amelia Ward, Kevin Epps, Cathy Davis, Tinisch Hollins, London Breed, Dwayne Jones, Theo Ellington, Fathina Holmes, Glide Church, Mano Raju, Charles Bonner, Dr. Ahimsa Porter Sumchai, Bilal Mahmood, and the Archdiocese of San Francisco
WE NEED YOUR LEADERSHIP NOW!
Photo Credits:
Pastor Amos Brown: https://www.sfexaminer.com/forum/amos-brown-says-sf-dream-keeper-initiative-must-be-preserved/article_b9fd08a8-866b-11ef-96c6-471fd76d98fc.html
Fathina Holmes (“pushin’ through 💪🏾”): https://sfbayview.com/2020/10/fathina-holmes-and-city-build-academy-putting-our-people-to-work/
Theo Ellington: https://www.strategies360.com/bay-area-community-development-pro-and-former-commissioner-theo-ellington-joins-s360/
Amelia Ward: https://representcollaborative.com/stories/amelia-ashley-ward-sun-reporter
Shamann Walton https://missionlocal.org/2025/01/interview-supervisor-shamann-walton-wants-less-nuclear-waste-more-affordable-housing-in-district-10/
Dr. Ahimsa Porter Sumchai: https://asumchai.medium.com/about-8d036a259bc8
Photo Credits:
Richard Ybarra: https://www.citybiz.co/article/16638/mission-neighborhood-centers-appoints-richard-m-ybarra-ceo/
Cathy Davis: https://sfhdc.org/meet-everyday-hero-cathy-davis/
Kevin Epps: https://www.facebook.com/thekevinepps/
Jon Henry: https://www.bsotc.org/jon-henry
Tinisch Hollins: https://anewlegacy.com/podcast/episode2
Arieann Harrison: https://www.baaqmd.gov/en/about-the-air-district/community-advisory-council/harrison
Photo Credits:
Charles Bonner: https://bgcfund.org/charles-bonner/
Del Seymour: https://tlcbd.org/blog/tag/del-seymour/
SF Archdiocese: https://cahill-sf.com/portfolio/pastoral-center-archbishop-of-san-francisco/
Bilal Mahmood: https://growsf.org/people/bilal-mahmood/
Mano Raju: https://sfpublicdefender.org/personnel/mano-raju/
Glide Church (Glide provides critical services and nonjudgmental support for thousands of in-need families and individuals – D. Ross Cameron / Special to The Chronicle): https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/Glide-must-remain-true-to-its-mission-13012066.php
Dwayne Jones: https://susanreynolds.substack.com/p/wheres-dwayne-jones
Former San Francisco Mayor, London Breed, knows about struggle. She was raised in Plaza East Public Housing. Along her path to success, she faced poverty and confronted systemic racism. As Mayor, she launched Opportunities for All which created over 10,000 internships for San Francisco youth; 95% have been young people of color. Ironically, my current defense attorney in Sacramento, Athena Edwards, was a beneficiary of this remarkable program, and Athena is a stellar example of what happens when young, gifted, and Black young men and women are provided the support they need to excel and thrive in their communities.
And to cultural icons like Danny Glover, Alicia Garza and the students’ faculty and alumni of San Francisco State and City College of San Francisco, the torch of activism has always burned brightest in your hands. Help us carry it forward!
ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE
Sisters and brothers, the fight to preserve the Ella Hill Hutch Community Center is not just about saving a building. It is about protecting a sanctuary for our youth, a memorial to our elders, and a cornerstone of San Francisco’s Black identity. If we allow the doors of Ella Hill Hutch to close, we send a message that our history is expendable. But if we stand together, if we raise our voices, open our wallets, and demand to be heard and seen by those inside City Hall we send a different message: That Black Culture, Black Spaces, and Black Futures will not be erased!
ELLA HILL HUTCH HOLDS COMMUNITY!
Let’s make these words our rallying cry at protests and community gatherings. My name is Malik Washington, and I continue to be a Servant of the People. Dare to struggle, Dare to win, All Power to the People! I want to let everyone who reads this piece to know that I wrote this article for the kids in The Fillmore and beyond.
As is customary I end this piece with a song and video that I believe our younger generation will love. It is entitled:
The Method by Miles Minnick (Featuring E-40 and Lecrae)
SOME LESSONS CAN’T BE TAUGHT; THEY HAVE TO BE LIVED TO BE UNDERSTOOD
~Malik Washington
Malik Washington is a freelance journalist and Director at Destination: Freedom and Destination Freedom Media Group. For over 13 years, Malik has been a published journalist and news reporter focusing on criminal justice issues, conditions of confinement in jails and prisons, as well as hot-button political issues. You can reach him via email: mwashington@destination-freedom.org
Suggestions or leads on stories are always welcome.
Write to Malik at:
Keith Washington Xref 5383546
c/o Securus Digital Mail Center – Sacramento Main
P O Box 20888
Tampa Florida 33622
