Shamann Walton is a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He represents District #10, which includes the neighborhoods of Bay View and Hunters Point. Walton attended and graduated from an HBCU—Morris Brown College, which is located in Atlanta, Georgia. While there, he pledged and became a member of the phenomenal and illustrious historically Black fraternity known as Omega Psi Phi (ΩΨΦ).
Founded in 1911, Omega Psi Phi’s stated purpose has been “to attract and build a strong and effective force of Handsome Men dedicated to its cardinal principles of manhood, scholarship, perseverance, and uplift.” It was fraternity member and iconic Black scholar/author, Carter G. Woodson, who urged the Omegas in 1924 to begin a program known as “Negro History and Literature Week.” By 1976, Negro History Week had transformed into Black History Month. That describes the significance of my mention of Walton’s fraternal membership. It’s relevant!
Shamann Walton is a valuable member of our community. Walton has been trained and educated to represent and defend our community. You could say that it’s in his pedigree.
THE PLANNED CLOSURES OF SAFEWAY AND SEVERAL WALGREENS
When I first heard of the planned closure of the Safeway located at 1335 Webster Street, San Francisco—in the Fillmore District/Western Addition—it immediately raised a red flag in my mind. In a social media posting, Shamann Walton had this to say: “Standing in solidarity with the Fillmore community, and my colleagues Supervisors Preston, President Peskin and Safai, to fight against the closure of the Webster Street Safeway, without a guaranteed replacement of a full service grocery store in this neighborhood! We know all too well the devastation a grocery store can cause and we will fight to make sure that this threat cannot happen again and that community needs to be informed and participate in any future conversations about possible closures and their negative impacts! In unity!”
For those, like myself, who are well versed in the history of Black San Francisco, the pre-planned and coordinated gentrification of the Fillmore District still leaves “a sour taste” in my mouth.
Fillmore Revisited — How Redevelopment Tore Through the Western Addition
I’m confident that if we would have had more Shamann Waltons or Tinisch Hollins’ on those Boards of Supervisors or Re-Development Agency committees back in the day, we wouldn’t have experienced the Black exodus we did. Today, Blacks only make up approximately 3% of San Francisco’s population. That’s a shameful statistic considering our rich history and contribution to this amazing City.
Fighting to prevent food insecurity and food deserts in his own community of Bay View Hunters Point is nothing new to Supervisor Walton. In 2021, Walton welcomed a new Grocery Outlet which opened at 355 Bayshore Boulevard in the Bay View district.
Shamann Walton had this to say on X: “We now have a new Grocery Outlet on Bayshore. We will continue to push for more grocery stores in District 10. More work to do. This grocery store has quality produce, meats and necessities at reasonable prices for all. They have also provided jobs for many District 10 residents.”
Link: https://x.com/shamannwalton/status/1387790368008146945
Outlet Opens in Bayview
Approximately four months ago, Walton helped welcome a new family-owned Mexican grocery chain, Mi Rancho, to the Bayview neighborhood located at 5800 3rd Street.
In May 2024, in Bay View-Hunters Point, a FREE grocery store opened up located at 5030 3rd Street. There are some qualifications to receive the services from this store: “…the District 10 Community Market will serve low-income residents who meet set criteria, including receiving public assistance, having children in the household or a diet-related illness. Residents must also be referred by a community organization in the market’s referral network and live in the Sunnydale, Visitacion Valley, Potrero Hill or Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhoods.” The District 10 Community Market serves their clients on the first Wednesday of each month.
Bayview-Hunters Point gets free grocery store to address food insecurity
When a community lacks access to basic needs such as food, shelter, and health care, does that make residents want to live in that neighborhood or does it encourage them to pack their belongings and move elsewhere?
“Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more affluent residents and businesses. Gentrification often sees a shift in a neighborhood’s racial or ethnic composition and average household income as housing and businesses become more expensive and resources that had not been previously accessible are extended and improved.” – Source: Wikipedia
Another recent development which is taking place in the Bay View community is the proposed closing of two Walgreens stores.
Walgreens closures leave entire SF neighborhoods without a pharmacy
https://sfstandard.com/2025/01/23/san-francisco-residents-losing-neighborhood-pharmacies/
Apparently, Walgreens is planning to close a total of 12 stores throughout San Francisco. I was alarmed to hear that Walgreens plans on shuttering the doors of not just one but two of their stores in Bayview.
I couldn’t help but reflect on the mayoral ad campaign commercials of Daniel Lurie walking alongside Dr. Nadine Burke Harris. San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie is the founder of the nonprofit known as Tipping Point Community.
Dr. Burke Harris has worked in the Bay View Hunters Point community for several years. “From 2010 to 2012, Burke Harris co-founded the Adverse Childhood Experiences project in the Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood in San Francisco, with colleagues Daniel Lurie from Tipping Point Foundation, Kamala Harris, Victor G. Carrion, Lenore Anderson, Lisa Pritzker, and Katie Albright.” ~ Wikipedia. Tipping Point Community has focused their energy on improving education, employment, and family wellness for people living in San Francisco. Dr. Burke Harris has defined herself as an expert in treating children who have suffered from ADVERSE CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES.
It only makes sense to me for the community to encourage Mayor Lurie and Dr. Burke Harris to pursue strategic partnerships with grocery store and pharmaceutical chains who are eager to provide services to the people who live in the Fillmore District and the Bay View/Hunters Point District. Perhaps that will mean offering some incentives that will ensure the security and safety of those stores as well as the merchandise they have to offer. Like Mayor Lurie, I also enjoy good Louisiana gumbo, but the Bay View neighborhood also needs quality access to pharmaceuticals and health care.
I can’t imagine how our respected elders who live in Bay View would feel if they woke up and discovered that there were no pharmacies in close proximity in order to obtain life-sustaining medications (e.g., insulin or nitroglycerin). What about a new mom who needs formula or amoxicillin suspension for her young baby that has an ear infection? Apparently, the CEO of Walgreens didn’t consider those scenarios or if they did, they don’t care.
WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?
Gentrification is a complex subject which cannot be easily explained or understood by a Wikipedia definition. Historically, locations in San Francisco, like the Fillmore and Bay View/Hunters Point Districts, have been attractive places to urban planners and corporate developers.
TAKING CARE OF HIS CONSTITUENTS
In 2021 when Covid was still a thing, Supervisor Shamann Walton proposed that grocery store and pharmacy employees receive a $5 per hour boost to their pay. His reasoning was grounded in the valid belief that these service employees were placing themselves in harms way in order to serve our community. Supervisor Walton was sensitive to the needs of his constituents. Many people in District 10 were losing their homes and apartments during Covid because they could not afford them. I remember riding the bus one day and a woman recognized me from my picture in a local newspaper and we began conversating about the recent drastic increase in apartment and house rents in Bay View/Hunters Point. She told me that day, that she had raised two children in a house that she had been renting for over 20 years. She began shedding tears on the bus as she recounted her having to move out recently and live in an SRO (single residence occupancy) apartment in the Tenderloin. That’s another reason why Supervisor Walton was requesting an ordinance to raise the pay of these service industry workers because he knew that times were hard.
BLACK HISTORY IN SAN FRANCISCO
Allow me to share a piece of Black history from San Francisco that the powers that be don’t want you to know.
“In 1941, A. Phillip Randolph, national president of the Pullman Car Porters’ Union organized a civil rights march on Washington (D.C.) to demand that President Roosevelt ban the segregation and exclusion of African Americans in defense industries. The President (FDR) stalled for months, trying to convince civil rights leaders to call off the march, but less than a week before it was scheduled, he persuaded Randolph to cancel the demonstration in return for an executive order prohibiting racial discrimination by unions and management in government controlled war industries.”
~ Richard Rothstein, Author of the Color of Law, page 161-162
I want our readers to know that the executive order signed by U.S. President Franklin Delanor Roosevelt helped to create the Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC) in San Francisco. However, the FEPC was a paper tiger and had no authority or respect amongst union leaders and war industry executives. For instance, local San Francisco hospitals refused to admit or hire African American doctors even though there were many Black soldiers returning wounded from World War II.
Racial discrimination was alive and well in many aspects of San Francisco’s society. “San Francisco practiced discrimination in public employment and in its public utilities, such as telephone companies which at the time were heavily regulated because they had local monopolies. Pacific Telephone and Telegraph, one of the region’s largest firms, did not have a single Black operator; it hired African Americans only as janitors or for similar low-level work…the city’s street car system refused to hire African Americans until 1942. (Famous Black poet) Maya Angelou, who lied about her age to get a conductor’s job as a teenager was one of the first.” ~ The Color of Law, page 165
I want everyone who is reading this article to consider the geo-political climate in America right now, and as you reflect, repeat this quote from Richard Rothstein:
“We like to think of American history as a continuous march of progress toward greater freedom, greater equality, and greater justice. But sometimes we move backward, dramatically so. Residential integration declined steadily from 1880 to the mid twentieth century, and it has mostly stalled since then.”
~Richard Rothstein, an excerpt from his book entitled: The Color of Law (A forgotten history of how our government segregated America)
This Black History Month we will be highlighting individuals such as Shamann Walton, who continue the legacy of political and civil rights advocacy and activism practiced by our ancestors.
Malik Washington is a freelance journalist and Director at Destination: Freedom and Destination Freedom Media Group.
