Equipto decided he’d had enough.
After seeing nine people in the past two years shot and killed by law enforcement in his hometown, the San Francisco hip-hop artist born Ilych Sato knew he’d have to get people’s attention somehow.
So, on April 21, Sato and four others stationed themselves outside the Mission District police station on a highly publicized hunger strike, vowing to stay put until embattled SFPD chief Greg Suhr steps down.
“We’re just right here, tired of taking it,” Sato tells KQED. “Our voice is powerful.”
Sato is joined in protest by fellow hip-hop artist Sellassie Blackwell, as well as Ike Pinkston, a preschool teacher; Edwin Lindo, a Ninth District candidate for Supervisor; and Sato’s mother María Cristina Gutierrez, who serves as executive director at the Mission District’s Compañeros del Barrio preschool.