John Nauer

Photo Credit: Joe Budd

“Instead of seeing the dark side, now you're gonna see more of the light and positive side.”

Back in 1988, I was 20-years-old. I was a street outreach worker for a program in the Mission called the Real Alternatives Program. Every afternoon, we would go pick up young men and take 'em to the gym to work out or play basketball.

One afternoon, I picked a group of eight guys—myself and a colleague—in a van. When we pulled up in front of the gym, I noticed there's a lot of narcs all over the place and they all had their guns out. We all ended up with our face on the floor, their foots behind our back and with the barrel to the back of our heads. 

Next thing I know, one of the officers come out from the van and had a brown Safeway bag full of cannabis. Long story short, myself and my colleague ended up in jail because we were the drivers and the responsible individuals for the vehicle. 

To this day, no one would not disclose to me who owned that bag. And it had an impact, especially in our community. You know, the Pacific Islander community, we're tight-knit. Once something happens to you, everybody knows your business. And when you do that type of work in the community, a lot of folks, they look up to you. 

It was like, "Wow. For real? John, you selling?" They lump you together and say, "You're all sellers. You're all users." Getting arrested, it's embarrassing. So it did have a very big impact on me. Even up to now. Look at me. I'm talking about it like it was yesterday. That's how much of an impact it had on my life. 

Who would've known that 30 years later, that arrest would help me become an equity applicant. 

So it's really big. It's taking something that was once negative in the family to now become something that could help the family better their future. And that's the case for a lot of us from the different neighborhoods throughout the city that was impacted by the War on Drugs.

I'm really proud of the city, but those of us that are part of this really need to make sure that we hold the city accountable. Let's get business owners to pair up with an equity partner. Not just for the sake of fulfilling criteria or requirements, but to make sure that some of us who are fortunate to get a permit can be successful for the long-run.

Let's flip the script. Game's on. Let's take this thing to another level. Let's get in here, become businessmen and women, own properties, have a business, show a whole ‘nother light to this. Instead of seeing the dark side, now you're gonna see more of the light and positive side.