Dear John,

It’s always exciting to welcome new allies to our campaign, and I’m especially excited to introduce one of them to you. Our most recent endorsement is from Eric Curry, who—like me—ran to replace Pelosi as San Francisco’s voice in the House.

We’ve collaborated on several projects over the past year, from direct action promoting universal healthcare to joint statements calling out institutional racism. I’m grateful for his recent announcement endorsing our campaign.

Can you join us in supporting our campaign to finally end the Pelosi dynasty? We’re building an expanding coalition and invite you to help us expand it!

Eric Curry is a grassroots activist, direct action organizer, small business owner, and native San Franciscan. As a man of color challenging the city’s power establishment and Democratic Party machine by mobilizing grassroots support, he reminded me a lot of myself. That was true even before we met, and eventually took action alongside each other from the East Bay to the streets outside Nancy Pelosi’s house.

I’m deeply grateful for Eric’s support.

I’m equally outraged to observe the dynamics that drove him from the race. They include some of the same headwinds that emerged to blunt our campaign’s momentum in 2020, after we—with your support—had forced Pelosi to shift on half a dozen policies.

Eric is a mixed-raced gay man who grew up in San Francisco. After announcing his campaign challenging Pelosi, he confronted bias, ad hominem attacks, and the smug self-assurance of “progressive” values from the leaders of some of the very same “grassroots” groups in San Francisco that orchestrated a racist character assassination in 2020 to insulate Pelosi from our challenge.

Can you stand with us against the bias and demagoguery of the smugly self-assured local establishment?

In a previous era, northern support for civil rights activists in the South proved crucial to expose local corruption. Today, multiple candidates of color in San Francisco have called out a pattern that persists only because the local establishment refuses to acknowledge it.

The latest public revelations about the plot targeting our campaign & San Francisco voters in 2020 include the documentation of payments from a former tech executive (who now leads a public relations firm) to local media outlets. They unethically published his fabrications not only without investigating—but also without disclosing their own conflicts of interest, let alone those of their self-serving sources.

Those revelations came on the heels of whistleblower Gloria Berry's 2021 exposé reaching a wider audience than ever through the SF Gate's long overdue reference to it. More previously unreported facts revealing the corruption and depravity of the Democratic Party’s use of racist character assassination as an election strategy remain forthcoming. They ultimately make the false, politically motivated, racist accusations weaponized to insulate Pelosi pale by comparison.

Eric said to me that he didn’t think he could take it if he was forced to endure what I did in 2020.

Hearing that redoubled my resolve, even as it broke my heart.

I’ve often thought of my persistence—despite the attacks on my name and character—as necessary to defend the integrity of the electoral process. I particularly wonder what lessons other candidates of color are poised to learn from watching my experience at the hands of San Francisco’s white “progressive” establishment.

It was jarring to discover how prescient my concerns were.

Having come to realize the depth of Eric’s commitment to the issues, watching a fellow candidate of color feel driven out of the election by the corruption of local groups felt downright painful—not unlike the trauma from being publicly subjected to their smears in 2020.

People who have suffered in retaliation for standing up for the truth share a common bond. It’s one reason why I have always had such deep respect for whistleblowers, from those who expose federal government corruption like Edward Snowden, to their local counterparts who expose local partisan corruption like Gloria Berry.

It’s another reason why I’m still here: I recognize that fire can help forge stronger steel. Having been battle-tested by everything from enduring false accusation and overcoming the racism embodied by petty partisan climbers, to forcing the corrupt party leadership to sink to such unethical depths to defend itself in the first place, I’m ready to finish the job with your support.

Can you join us again today to expand our work, reach more voters, and hold the corporate establishment accountable? Power concedes nothing without a demand, and the strength of our demands are a function of the support we receive from supporters like you.

We’re vastly outgunned by the dynastic corporate incumbent and the establishment she represents. That’s why I’m all the more grateful for your help and support—and Eric's—as we continue building momentum to confront and overcome them.

Thanks for standing with us!

Your voice,

Shahid

P.S. — Want to learn more about our work holding the press accountable for abandoning ethics, accuracy, and democratic accountability? Mark your calendar and join us for a crucial court hearing via zoom on St. Patrick's Day, Thursday March 17!