Remote

Chema Hernández Gil

@chema@social.sanfranciscan.org

Un prieto colorado. Foiled engineer and onetime media activist/journalist. Nowadays, stumping for the working class, full-time. Vegetarian from the start, vegan for the animals.

Opinions expressed are my own, but they could be yours too.

Often kicking it with @luna@social.sanfranciscan.org 🐕🐾 along the Embarcadero.

0 Followers

0 Following

21 Posts

Home:

https://sanfranciscan.org/

Ephemera:

https://ctrvx.net/chema

Donate:

https://liberapay.com/chema/

Verifiable with:

https://keyoxide.org/chema@sanfranciscan.org

Posts

Chema Hernández Gil @chema@social.sanfranciscan.org · Jun 30, 2026

I'm delighted that SCOTUS reaffirmed birthright citizenship today, but the threats are far from over. Europe remains a cautionary tale on why it must be protected here in the USA. https://sanfranciscan.org/2025/02/26/birthright-citizenship-and-europe-a-cautionary-tale/

Chema Hernández Gil @chema@social.sanfranciscan.org · Apr 21, 2026

This May Day, San Franciscans are saying: Shut it Down! That means no school, no work and no shipping.

Workers’ Needs Over Billionaire Greed: NO WAR, NO CUTS, NO DEPORTATIONS!

There will be at least two marches: One at 2PM at Civic Center Plaza and another one at 4PM at the Embarcadero Plaza.

#SanFrancisco #BayArea #MayDay #ShutItDown

social.sanfranciscan.org

A San Franciscan

Chema Hernández Gil @chema@social.sanfranciscan.org · Mar 05, 2026

I gifted myself a single-volume edition of the Lord of the Rings. I last read it when I was half the age I am today, and it's an entirely different experience now. This edition is not very bulky and the cover is a bit flexible, so it makes for good comfortable reading.

Chema Hernández Gil @chema@social.sanfranciscan.org · Jan 10, 2024

Replying to @ct_bergstrom@fediscience.org

Someone should lend him Cattle Colonialism: An Environmental History of the Conquest of California and Hawai’i. https://uncpress.org/book/9781469636061/cattle-colonialism/

Chema Hernández Gil @chema@social.sanfranciscan.org · Mar 28, 2023

Replying to @chema@social.sanfranciscan.org

It might also be that forcing the question of wealth and class into the urbanist discourse leads to the very uncomfortable conclusion that high- and middle-income households will continue to be disproportionate resource sink even in dense urban neighborhoods. They will still travel across the world for vacation, they can better afford to have children, many will still have cars for weekend trips. They can consume more and often will.

Chema Hernández Gil @chema@social.sanfranciscan.org · Mar 28, 2023

Replying to @chema@social.sanfranciscan.org

Maybe it is also because I actually lived in Europe. Having spent 13 years over there taught me that urban neighborhoods all have their positives and negatives. For sure it’s better than a suburb, but that’s a low bar.

Chema Hernández Gil @chema@social.sanfranciscan.org · Mar 28, 2023

Neighborhoods like the Mission, the Tenderloin, SoMa and Chinatown are dense and vibrant. Households have low car ownership and high transit usage. But many residents are working class, often immigrant. They’re not the “right” type of urban dweller for many fans of urbanism.

So instead of being urban archetypes, most urbanists focus on European models of urbanism. They point to the Netherlands, Germany, etc. Whenever places like the TL are mentioned, the focus is on the negatives, on how they’re doing urbanism wrong.

It’s super cringe.

Chema Hernández Gil @chema@social.sanfranciscan.org · Dec 30, 2022

Replying to @cubeofcheese@mstdn.social

In my experience is isn't so much from Native Americans in the US, but from non-Native peoples. It is easier to see the Maya Yucatec cook in your restaurant as an immigrant than as a poor Indigenous Native American fleeing his homeland due to colonial and capitalistic policies.

Chema Hernández Gil @chema@social.sanfranciscan.org · Dec 30, 2022

Replying to @chema@social.sanfranciscan.org

And on the flip side, you've got folks like my family, who left their ancestral Indigenous lands in what is now Mexico to come to what is now California because of capitalism and neoliberal policies, but because our town is on the other side of the border, we're no longer perceived to be Native American by many, but just immigrants.

Chema Hernández Gil @chema@social.sanfranciscan.org · Dec 30, 2022

Replying to @Paperbacks_n_Frybread@mastodon.world

Not just colonization, but also immigration driven by capitalism! Someone whose family helped colonize Mexico or Argentina, who is fully of European descent and more wields more privilege at home than many white people in this country can emigrate to the US and have the "immigrant" experience of poverty and marginalization and then legitimately cloak themselves with the broader Latino mantle. It is super strange.

Chema Hernández Gil @chema@social.sanfranciscan.org · Dec 29, 2022

Replying to @Paperbacks_n_Frybread@mastodon.world

I think there's more debate and nuance about this. I consider former Mexican President Vicente Fox to be both Mexican and Latino, but his family arrived in my Indigenous town in Mexico as a colonizing force from Europe and the United States generations ago, making them very much part of the colonization that "latinicized" my people. I think that Indigenous-led Los Angeles community org CIELO position towards Latinidad is spot on: https://mobile.twitter.com/MyCielola/status/1573450868724183040

Chema Hernández Gil @chema@social.sanfranciscan.org · Dec 24, 2022

Replying to @chema@social.sanfranciscan.org

Many thanks to @chaprot for uncovering an actual physical item from this amazing story: The actual 1613 letter to the Pope from Date Masamune brought by the #Japanese embassy, and which the #Indigenous #Nahua historian Chimalpahin documented as they passed through #Mexico https://pouet.chapril.org/users/chaprot/statuses/109567485037898582

Chema Hernández Gil @chema@social.sanfranciscan.org · Dec 23, 2022

Replying to @chema@social.sanfranciscan.org

Again, if you read Spanish, give the PDF linked above a read. It is a super fascinating bit of New World meets Old World, #Nahua meets #Japanese. And follow me for random bits of #Indigenous history (and random political thoughts and photos of dogs and SF).

Chema Hernández Gil @chema@social.sanfranciscan.org · Dec 23, 2022

Replying to @chema@social.sanfranciscan.org

Maybe my favorite part is when Chimalpahin describes the suede sandals the Japanese wear and then goes on to say that they wear them without any shame, and that they walk proudly, like eagles. I think he says this because sandals (huaraches) were associated with the #Indigenous population and not something to be worn with pride. Even today, people will use the racist term “indio patarrajada” (Indian with rough/slashed feet) in reference to people wearing sandals as opposed to shoes.

Chema Hernández Gil @chema@social.sanfranciscan.org · Dec 23, 2022

This blew my mind: In 1614, the #Indigenous #Nahua noble and #historian Chimalpahin Messenger with Shield, documented (in Nahuatl!) the arrival of the Japanese embassy in Mexico on their way to Spain.

Chimalpahin writes out the dates using the Mexica calendar as well, staring with 1-Tochtli (1-Rabbit) and goes into great detail about how the Japanese dressed and acted. Amazing.

If you read Spanish, Miguel León-Portilla translated the diaries. You can find them here, with ample background: https://sci-hub.se/10.2307/40312014

#Japan #Mexico #Native #Aztec

social.sanfranciscan.org

A San Franciscan

Chema Hernández Gil @chema@social.sanfranciscan.org · Dec 17, 2022

Replying to @therefromhere@mastodon.nz

I did not know that, that's great to know!

Chema Hernández Gil @chema@social.sanfranciscan.org · Dec 17, 2022

Replying to @mmayo@hachyderm.io

Thanks for doing this. Will they work on allowing hardware security keys for 2FA? That would be swell.

Chema Hernández Gil @chema@social.sanfranciscan.org · Nov 27, 2022

Replying to @schock@mastodon.lol

Agreed, thank you! I am bookmarking it to share with folks.

Chema Hernández Gil @chema@social.sanfranciscan.org · Nov 22, 2022

Replying to @cathitza@mastodon.world

@cathitza@mastodon.world I identify more with the so-called Oregon Trail microgeneration, right in between Gen-X and Millennials. https://mashable.com/archive/oregon-trail-generation

Chema Hernández Gil @chema@social.sanfranciscan.org · Nov 21, 2022

Replying to @oatmeal@mastodon.social

@oatmeal@mastodon.social So happy you're here!

Chema Hernández Gil @chema@social.sanfranciscan.org · Nov 18, 2022

Replying to @signalapp@mastodon.world

Hi! Great to see y'all here. You keep my family and me connected.

Remote instance

social.sanfranciscan.org

Open on original server

Chema Hernández Gil

Posts

A San Franciscan

A San Franciscan

Remote instance

Media