SF ID: A Tool to Fight Marginalization
What is marginalization? Well, it’s when you’re not regarded or treated as a bona fide, real live, fully equal citizen! You’re seen as second rate—you don’t qualify. The local dominant culture’s seal of approval is not upon you, therefore the rights and privileges duly accorded the approved citizenry, are denied to you. Your papervork iss not in order, perhaps?
Have you ever tried to rent equipment or an apartment without an ID? How about apply for a job? It is next to impossible. What would you do if you did manage to land an “under the table” job, then on payday your employer only gave you half of your money, saying they’d owe you the rest, and if that wasn’t okay, oh well! Will anybody even take your complaint when you can’t so much as prove who you are? Without one shred of documentation to support your claim, or indicate anyone owes anybody anything? And no other job in sight? Variations of this scene play out over and over, in the out-of-sight nooks and crannies of the undocumented, unregulated shadow economy of day laborers, domestic workers, and bus boys.
“The marginalization of San Franciscans who don’t have government issued photo ID is a serious public safety issue, for those individuals, as well as for our community as a whole. People without ID are often too afraid to report crimes, meaning perpetrators are free to strike again,” stated Supervisor Tom Ammiano. “This safety issue is compounded when these same community members lack the ID that’s needed to open bank accounts, and so must always keep all their cash on their person or in their homes, making them a target for further crimes.”
In an effort to reduce the marginalization inflicted upon a variety of the subpopulations of San Francisco’s broadly diverse demographic, on September 18, 2007, Supervisor Ammiano introduced legislation amending the San Francisco Administrative Code to authorize the County Clerk to issue San Francisco Municipal ID Cards to qualified applicants. This legislation was passed by the Board of Supervisors, voted resoundingly to approve the legislation on November 20. On November 28, Mayor Gavin Newsom put his signature on the legislation, and thirty days after that the legislation became law.
Printed on the card will be the applicant’s full name, photograph, an address, signature, date of birth, the date the card was issued, and the date the card will expire. An SF City ID Card is valid for two years from the date of issuance. The Office of the County Clerk anticipates launching the SF City ID Card in late October of this year.
Marginalization is epidemic, morally contemptible and wears different faces on different days. Some days it wears the face of a law enforcement officer or financial institution manager. Other days it may wear the face of some kind of clerk.
Anthony doesn’t have a place of his own right at the moment. He’d been getting by with a little help from his friends, most all of whom live in one or another of the city’s many single-room occupancy (SRO) hotels. Anthony’s friends were happy to help him out with a night on the floor here and a shower there. Then, Anthony’s backpack was stolen while his ID was in it. Now, he has to get by without his friend’s help. That’s because any hotel one goes to—market-rate or subsidized—will be staffed by a desk clerk asking for a current ID. No ID = no entry is the prevalent local policy. Replacing a California ID or Driver’s License from the DMV can take weeks, especially if you don’t have the requisite $26 readily available. Were the SF ID program currently operating, Anthony would be able to go to City Hall with a fee waiver and requisite corroborating documentation, and walk out with his new SF ID the same day! How about that?
Julie can’t visit her friends in SRO hotels any more either. Not since some cop stole her ID from her. The cop said, “Because you don’t live there any more, this ID is no good any more,” and kept it. Julie said she thought that the SF ID seemed sorta like a nice idea but she wondered if it would really change people’s attitudes. This confused me. My egocentricity told me that if one had ID, others had to honor it. I am a white male, and until I went broke, I was accustomed to having my rights respected. Julie is a woman of color with indigenous American ancestry. Her opinion was that until people’s attitudes changed, the SF ID could be just another card for them to steal and then say you never had or chose not to honor. Who’s she gonna call? I could see what she meant: The SF ID could help folks, but just how much will depend as much on attitude as ID.
Marginalization has a variety of tools it uses. It is the intention of the people supporting the SF ID to create tools for equalization. While I agree with Julie that it’s mostly a screwed up attitude that makes steps like these necessary, I’ll thank Tom Ammiano and Pilar Schiavo for helping San Francisco take these steps.
Karl
November 26th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
This in response to “Replacing a California ID or Driver’s License from the DMV can take weeks…” I have lived in many states including CA, MN, and TX all of which have a weeks long processing to get your state ID, for it has become a fact of life… but wait a minute… let me think… oh yeah the memory is coming back that maybe it isn’t the only way.
When I was living in Miami, FL in the summer of 2000, I applied for a Florida State ID and the application process that day took much longer than in Texas and I was a little frustrated until my name was called and given a card. I asked is this temporary. The answer was “No that’s your permanent ID.” So how come Florida issues same day IDs yet CA, TX and MN requires weeks and weeks to issue the ID?