“Rest is resistance” reads one of the dozens of messages posted around San Francisco Supervisor Jackie Fielder’s door on the second floor at City Hall. Next week, Fielder will put her resistance back to work, as she returns to work after an almost three-month break to recuperate from mental health issues.
Fielder announced her return Tuesday on social media. In a candid, emotional post, the District 9 supervisor explained that she required a break after moving at “100 miles per hour” since her campaign two years ago. The time off, she said, allowed her to understand that she isn’t alone shouldering the burden of issues facing the Mission, Bernal Heights, and Portola, and how much she is joined in her fight by colleagues, and community advocates and organizations.
“I’m coming clear-eyed, and grounded, and eager to serve in this role again,” Fielder said.
Fielder said she will return to City Hall Monday, June 29, when the fights around the city’s budget, much of which has played out in Fielder’s district, will be essentially over, following the Board of Supervisors’ vote later this week.
Jennifer Esteen, a psychiatric nurse at San Francisco General Hospital who has been on the front lines of protests against Lurie’s budget cuts, said she’s seen the toll untreated mental illness can take, and that she’s proud of Fielder for taking time off to recover. Esteen, who also serves as vice president of organizing for SEIU 1021, said Fielder bears a particularly heavy burden as a female leader.
“When women finally do get into those positions, we have to work harder to get there, we have to work harder to stay there,” Esteen said. “The way that we embody leadership, even if it’s the exact same way that men embody leadership, we are scorned for it,” she said. “Women are called bitches, and men are called powerful. So, you know, I think what Jackie needed a break from is very understandable, and I just really hope that she continues to feel supported by the people around her.”
For People Organizing to Demand Environmental and Economic Rights, or PODER, Fielder is a key environmental justice champion at City Hall. Reina Tello, a community organizer at PODER, said Fielder has been an important partner in their fight to decarbonize San Francisco by replacing propane stoves and water heaters with electric appliances.
While Mission-based PODER’s focus is environmental issues, Tello said it also advocates for medical attention, food assistance, employment, housing, and arts and culture for its working class members. “One hundred percent of Lurie’s budget cuts will affect low-income people of color,” Tello said.
There is little doubt that Fielder was missed. The South East Mission Geriatrics clinic, the only free facility left in the city serving poor people 60 and older, is just one of the casualties of the mayor’s budget cuts in her district.
“There are some huge losses that we will not be able to recover from,” Tello said, acknowledging the loss of the clinic. While Fielder’s office and other supervisors have helped in her absence, both Tello and Esteen said the supervisor is a critical voice and an essential check to the mayor. While the budget fight may have passed, other important fights, especially those over protections for immigrants, lie ahead, Tello said.
“We definitely missed Jackie, and it would have been wonderful to have her in the fight, but honestly, if you’re sick, it’s really hard to function at the high level that we need to,” Tello said. “So, it was better, in my opinion, for her to take the time off to recover, so that she can come back, and she can still fight.”
At City Hall, the reactions to Fielder’s return were more muted. When approached by Gazetteer SF, District 2 supervisor Stephen Sherrill mustered a single sentence of support — “I think we’re all extremely happy that she’s healthy” — before expressing annoyance at a follow-up question about Fielder’s role as a progressive opponent to Lurie’s moderate agenda. Sherrill was walking with District 8 supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who was more expansive. “I think every district needs representation, and every supervisor has their own perspective, and her perspective is important, and it’s important to have her in the discussions,” Mandelman said.
District 1 supervisor Connie Chan, who’s in the thick of a campaign to replace Rep. Nancy Pelosi in Congress, is often viewed as a progressive ally of Fielder’s. Stopped outside her City Hall office, Chan said: “I’m very proud that Supervisor Jackie Fielder has taken the time to prioritize her health, and that now she’s ready to come back, and I look forward to working with her.”
Asked if her return restores a political balance to the Board of Supervisors, Chan scrunched her face and declined to comment.
Chan’s non-comment said everything about the complicated, politically-charged job Fielder will be returning to next week.
