CALEXICO – Standing next to the stump of a freshly cut mesquite tree in downtown Calexico, Fernanda Vega used a microphone to lead volunteers in chants for nearly two hours in temperatures of around 40 degrees outside.

Supporters of the Imperial Valley Equity and Justice Coalition followed Vega, a community organizer with the coalition, waving signs and shouting messages to raise awareness that the tree that formerly stood in this spot once provided shade on the hottest summer days for the homeless who frequented the area.

For Vega and the coalition, the city’s cutting down of the tree was symbolic of the general, systematic disregard for the homeless in Calexico and was the focus of the show of solidarity on Wednesday afternoon, August 7.

“The only thing that’s really happening here is us asking, ‘Hey, what happened to that tree, and other than that tree, if it’s not there … where else would they go?'” asks Dylan Castillo, another organizer with the Imperial Valley Equity and Justice Coalition, referring to the displacement of the homeless.

The scene near the gathering turned grim within an hour when a homeless man lying at a gas pump at the neighboring Filco gas station was surrounded by Calexico police, firefighters and paramedics. With sirens activated, Calexico officers arrived on the scene and performed a wellness check on the man just 50 feet from the site of the former tree.

Outside 55 E. Third St., the chants stopped and community members watched anxiously as the man was surrounded and searched for signs of heat stroke. Within about 10 minutes, officers helped the man to his feet and left the scene. Paramedics did not take the man for treatment, and he left the scene on foot.

Ismael Arvizu, who was there with the coalition, saw the man lying there seemingly motionless when he arrived for the event sometime before 5:30 p.m. “The man who was lying there, I gave him water when we got here,” Arvizu said afterward, adding that the man’s friends surrounded him at the pump and said he was fine, sleeping and snoring, although he could have been tired due to heat exhaustion or worse.

The scene highlighted the reason the group had gathered there that Wednesday night. “I grew up near this downtown area,” Arvizu said, adding that his community is close to his heart.

He said he was not happy with the tree being cut down. “I had to go back in time and literally remind myself what that tree meant to me,” and said that as a youngster he often came to the area with his parents to run various errands and that the tree had grown close to his heart.

The mesquite tree had been growing for over 15 years and provided an estimated 20 feet of shade to the area, big enough to cool dozens of people. “This is also a hotspot for campesinos,” Arvizu said of the tree, adding that the tree’s removal not only harms the homeless, but also all the farmworkers in the area seeking shade.

What are we wondering?

The tree in question was located on the public sidewalk in Calexico, just two blocks from the U.S.-Mexico border and in the heart of downtown. The area was busy with foot traffic, both from homeless people who live in the area and farm workers who frequent the area. Cars honked in support and slowed down to read the signs as they drove by.

Since there are very few trees in this area of ​​downtown Calexico, the mesquite tree was a landmark of the area and an oasis for many. “Trees and vegetation lower surface and air temperatures by providing shade – in fact, during peak temperatures, for example, shaded areas can be as much as 20 to 45 degrees (Fahrenheit) cooler than unshaded areas,” says onetreeplanted.org.

“People have been very vocal about the removal of shade and what drives this discussion, whether it’s the lack of infrastructure, lack of shade, lack of housing…” said the coalition’s Castillo, listing some of the many problems in downtown Calexico.

Castillo clarified the group’s intentions on Wednesday, knowing that other groups and individuals might give the action a more inflammatory name. “People might want to call it a protest, but this is not a protest … this is really just a community solidarity act that we are just responding to,” he said.

IV Equity and Justice’s chants were in Spanish to appeal to the predominantly Spanish-speaking community and to point out the shade of trees that is now missing in the area. One chant went as follows, led by Fernanda Vega.

Vega: “Qué queremos?” (What do we want?)

Others: ¡Sombra! (Shadow!)

Vega: “Cuándo lo queremos?” (When do we want it?)

Others: ¡Ahora! (Now!)

Castillo said the original intention for the afternoon was to be outside Calexico City Hall before and after a city council meeting. He said the group wanted to “make sure that what we hear on the street is recorded and documented.”

Even though the City Council is not in session in August, Castillo said, “It’s important to have a visual demonstration of what’s happening so that this comment doesn’t get lost in another agenda item that goes unheard.”

Community members are taking to social media to criticize the city for finding time to cut down the shade tree during one of the hottest months of the year despite a staff shortage. The summer heat was a threat to the community that calls the streets of Calexico home, and now there is one less place to retreat.

IVEJC volunteers walked the surrounding blocks on Wednesday, distributing cold water, umbrellas and large-brimmed hats to homeless people in the area, offering an alternative to the felled tree.

Help for the homeless

With dangerous temperatures in the Imperial Valley reaching as high as 120 degrees Fahrenheit in July, IV Equity and Justice helped provide cold water and towels to the area’s homeless. The organization supported the Brown Bag Coalition, which conducts “Extreme Heat Water Runs” on days when temperatures exceed 115 degrees Fahrenheit. Volunteers drive through downtown Calexico and El Centro to provide water to the homeless.

The Brown Bag Coalition also hosts about 45 dinners a day in the Paulin and Third Street area of ​​Calexico, right at the site of the mesquite tree.

Arvizu criticized the local government for allowing the current treatment of the homeless and said they should not shift the responsibility to nonprofits and residents. “We are the worst county in California… you can’t expect anything better than this and that’s the sad thing,” he said, disappointed in his city’s government.

The treatment was described as inhumane and signs read snarky comments such as “Welcome to Calexico, please fry responsibly” and “I speak for the trees!”

One homeless man, Elias, joined the calls for shade and waved a sign with the others for a cause that concerns him personally. Elias said he has been living on the streets for several months since his apartment burned down and was not happy about the tree being removed.

“I come from a tree-filled town in Sacramento and everyone benefits from it, the fresh air, you know. And shade for people who don’t have air conditioning or anything, you know, especially older people. It saves lives,” he said.

Elias went on to say that Calexico officers don’t have much compassion for people on the street. He said that the same day, a police officer on patrol in the neighborhood stopped him and harassed him for using a sidewalk faucet. “He said he would cite me or arrest me if he saw me getting water or washing my face or whatever again,” Elias said, shaking his head.

“But it’s pretty hot and I just wanted to cool off,” he said of the faucet he found.

Another homeless man who was near the IV Equity and Justice scene on Wednesday told Arvizu that the number of homeless in Calexico has dropped by one since the tree was cut down. The man said that his friend, known only by his last name Varela, had died of the heat just last week across the street.

The man claimed it took police about 45 minutes to respond after Varela collapsed from the heat near the Third Street bus stop and eventually succumbed to his symptoms. “He was always hanging out on the tree, but after it was cut down, he had nowhere to go,” the man said.