Diana Medina puts her dog Pacha in a backpack and jumps on her motorcycle. It’s Saturday and time for the Mission Artisan Market, where Medina has a silver-jewelry booth. “Before I owned a store, it was the artisans market that gave me the opportunity to sell my merchandise,” said Medina, recalling what life was like only a year and a half ago. Nowadays, the market’s only an extension of her Diju Jewelry store on 26th Street. The artisans market is where street vendors, artists and store owners like Medina sell their merchandise. They can come from as far as Peru and as near as Mexico. Every Saturday, they set up on the southwest corner of the 24th Street BART station, turning that corner into a space that, for many, offers memories of home. Vicky Valdez sells flowers at the market. From her spot, she hears the music and watches regular people break into spontaneous dance. “The sales aren’t always good but I like to come here because I feel happy,” she said. Merchants and customers were startled when, a few weeks ago, police officers visited and asked to see permits and identifications. “We were intimidated,” said Medina, who tried to answer an officer’s questions but wasn’t able to fully express herself in English. Vendors visited the Mission District police to explain who they are to Captain Steve Tacchini and clear up any misunderstanding. The officer who interrogated Medina didn’t know the market has been operating officially for almost two years. The idea of an arts and crafts market started with three Latino business owners and the help of the Mission Economic Development Agency, a nonprofit that promotes community economic development. “We wanted to create an organization for artisans and small businesses,” said Cesar Oyagata, an indigenous Ecuadorian artisan, and owner of G.G Tukuy on 24th Street, who has been involved with the market from the beginning. Along with other merchants the Mission Small Business Association was formed. In 2007, BART gave the association a permit to rent and operate as a market in their space. “Only after it happened we realized that we could do it,” said Sonia Ttito, from Qusqo Maky, a family-owned store on 22ndStreet. The association has only 16 members but has become well organized over time. It has a democratically elected board that rotates every year. This year Medina was voted treasurer and administrator. “We noticed that she was reliable,” said Oyagata, who was president during the previous year. Now a reality, the Mission Artisans Market attracts a good Saturday crowd. “It feels very cultural,” said Mano Castillo, a Nicaragu native who, like many others, stood mesmerized in front of a live salsa band in the market. “It is perfect,” said Lubia Ruiz, a passerby lured to the market by the music. She liked the Guatemalan handmade blouses, because she too was made in Guatemala. Latinos comprise the majority of shoppers, but many, like Ruiz, walk by and feel drawn to a space that reminds them of home. But the market appeals to others as well. “Every time I send a present to Europe, I send something Latin,” said Jette Vakkala, a Danish woman who dances salsa and lived in the Mission for 14 years. “I love the market. It adds life.” The idea at the outset was to sell only traditional handmade products from Latin America. But nowadays a few booths have emerged selling blue jeans, flowers and 20-minute Chinese massages ($15). The BART permit allows 12 spots for booths, so the association decided to allow other merchants in the vacant spots. Medina usually leaves her husband and Pacha to mind the booth while she collects the $40 fee that all the vendors pay every Saturday. She jokes with all the merchants. “I don’t know how but we understand each other,” said Medina about how she deals with the non-Latinos. “I get to practice my Spanish,” said Theresa Helton Lewis, who sells mass-produced jewelry. She and her husband are the only African Americans selling at the market. Two months ago, they got a spot. Lewis says the sales are “alright” and that she likes it there because “everyone is friendly.” “The manager is very nice,” said Susan Lom, from Hong Kong, who speaks little English but manages to communicate with Medina. She sells sunglasses and iPod cases at her booth. Lom doesn’t own a store but sells Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays at the Civic Center market. And so does Helton Lewis, the Chinese masseur, and a few others. There are also merchants who have other occupations and for whom selling on Saturdays is extra money. Margot Días from El Salvador has been in the market for two months selling jeans and purses but during the week she works as an attendant to elderly people. “Having your own business is the nicest thing because you make the decisions,” she said. Despite the diversity in the merchandise, the arts and crafts stand out. The colorful Peruvian-made purses hang next to the embroidered white Guatemalan dresses which hang next to shiny silver jewelry. Mariana Chuquin, an indigenous Ecuadorian, is a social worker during the week but on Saturdays she sells arts and crafts from Guatemala, Mexico and Ecuador. “I like it. I’ve been doing this all my life,” she said. In Otavalo, where she is from, there is a famous artisans market. Her people are known for weaving beautiful textiles and for being talented musicians and merchants. “If I just sit down in my store I won’t sell. That’s why I like to get out”, said Ttito from Qusqo Maky. Vendors agree that selling on Saturdays helps at a time when the economy is slow, and the location at the 24th Street BART station makes it easier to build customers. Even though thefts happen, and the sales have good days and bad days, Medina keeps coming. She has her own store now but feels attached to the market where she started. For Medina and the others, the market is about business

Hugo, a 19-year-old sophomore at UC Santa Cruz, knows the morning hours well.  Often this summer, he was up at 4:30 a.m. to help his mother pick up flowers in Salinas, Watsonville or Half Moon Bay. Once there, they would carefully stack roses, sunflowers, lilies, irises and orchids in the back of their old white family van before heading back to Oakland to make bouquets. Later they would sell the flowers at different sites in the Mission District and Oakland. “Since Hugo was eight he insisted to come with me to sell flowers,” his mother Lidia said. As the son of undocumented immigrants, Hugo’s school break is one not experienced by most Americans. That can be said for most of his life. Conveniences like a cell phone or a driver’s license are out of reach for Hugo — the cell phone because it’s too expensive and a license because undocumented immigrants are forbidden from holding one. “Even our social life is different. We don’t have money to go clubbing,” he said without bitterness. This year is particularly significant as Hugo and the estimated 3,500 to 5,000 other undocumented students attending California colleges and universities await the Supreme Court’s decision on the legality of AB 540. The 2001 state legislation allows undocumented students who meet specific requirements, including having spent three years in a California high school, to pay in-state tuition fees. The students, however, are excluded from seeking state or federal financial aid. “That’s the only way we can pay and we can barely afford it,” said Hugo, referring to in-state tuition that he cobbles together with scholarships and his earnings. The 2005 lawsuit was filed on behalf of out-of-state students who pay higher fees; it challenges AB 540 as a violation of federal law. Each year, 65,000 undocumented students who came to the U.S. as children with their parents graduate from high school. Hugo is among the 5 to 10 percent who pursue a college degree. In-state tuition is the only way he and others could consider going to college. “I understand their point but the reality is that we don’t have their privileges,” Hugo said, referring to the plaintiffs. He also says he realizes he has had more opportunities than his older siblings. On a recent ride to Half Moon Bay, Lidia remembered her first years in California when she didn’t get paid for months of work, or when the family had to split apart to find jobs. Her eyes filled with tears with the memory of one such incident when her older son Cesar was exploited and abused at the age of 10. A relative had promised to send him to school and take care of him in exchange for his help. The promise was a lie. “I was the best in my class. I wanted to be a doctor,” said Cesar, 28, recalling the past while sitting next to the flowers he now sells. Far away from his parents, Cesar had to work to survive. For his 2-year-old daughter and the baby his wife is expecting, he said, life will be different. Hugo is the family’s model for that different life. The youngest of Lidia’s children, he is the first in the family to go to college. “I was asked to join gangs, but my mom often talked to me about what is right and what is wrong,” he said. “I was never interested in joining.” A product of Oakland’s high schools, Hugo is studying health science and community studies, but wants to become a pediatrician. But during vacations it’s back to work at the family’s business. “Hugo helps me on Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day. Anytime he has vacation he comes to work,” said Lidia. The truth is, she said, all her children have been hard workers. Hugo understands why his older siblings never opted for college. “If nowadays immigrant children aren’t aware of their options, just imagine 10 years ago,” he said. “They didn’t know.” In a good year, Lidia can sell anywhere from $30 to $200 in flowers a day. These past two years, sales have dropped to half that. Her husband returned to Mexico a year ago and it’s unclear if he will be back. Her other children have their own families and she works to support herself and help Hugo with tuition. In the meantime, Hugo hopes the Dream Act will pass. The federal Dream Act to put undocumented students on the path to legal residency was first introduced in 2003, but has never made it out of committee. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger twice vetoed the California Dream Act. Still, Hugo looks forward to the day when he can go from being an “undocumented youth” to a “legal U.S. resident” and have the right to access educational opportunities and work as a doctor in the community where he grew up. “I wish he can make it,” Lidia said. Mission Local SEPTEMBER 26, 2009

Teenage singers, dancers, a saxophone player and a band gave their best at the Richmond Memorial Auditorium last Friday during the Richmond’s Got Talent show, a competition for a $500 first place prize. The event meant to inspire creativity and promote talent among youth. “Faith and hope is what we intend to inspire in our young people,” said emcee AJ Jelani, in a speech kicking off the event. Jelani, who was also the coordinator of the event, is the acting president of the Belding Woods Neighborhood Council, which organized the talent show in an effort to steer middle and high school teens away from crime and violence by giving them a peaceful, creative summer activity. An audience of about 200 people cheered and applauded the fifteen performances, including some that went far beyond amateur level. One of them was the performance of Haley Slamon, who sang “When You’re Good to Mama” from the musical Chicago. She showed coolness in her singing and stage presence. “I started singing when I was three or four but I haven’t taken professional singing ever,” said Slamon who has performed in front of large audiences before. Other contestants were very new at performing, including 16-year-old Derlante Sims. “I just wanted to try for the first time on the stage,” he said. Sims loves music and singing, and he chose to perform “Summer Time” by Sam Cook. “The song makes me feel warm on the inside, so I wanted to sing that and let everybody know how it made me feel,” Sims said. David Hernandez, almost 12, was one of the youngest performers, and enchanted the audience with his hip-hop moves during a solo dance performance. “He created the choreography himself, ” said his mother, Patricia Valdivia after he finished his act. “I’m very nervous and very excited for my child,” she said, pointing out that her son was talented but he never had a mentor. After he finished performing Hernandez said that he would be happy if he wins, but if he didn’t he’d be happy, too, “because I danced, and I’m happy when I dance.” Although there was more hip-hop than any other music during the event, Kalin Freeman played Michael Jackson’s “I’ll Be There” on his alto saxophone, an instrument he learned to play at Richmond High School. “If I win this, it’s a step for me to do something better,” he said. Freeman dedicated his performance to his uncle Clinton, who had recently passed away. Most of the contestants showed confidence on stage. Some singers came down to dance and interact with the public. The audience kept getting more and more enthusiastic as the event progressed, and a few even participated, like when one audience member stepped up to the stage to rap. Spontaneous participation was encouraged. When Lady-T, a professional young singer from Oakland, performed, some dancers from the group MalFUNKtion, who were competing in the contest, volunteered to accompany her song with their moves. Jelani, the emcee, constantly made people laugh and made them repeat “faith and hope,” throughout the show. He called nine year-old Alia Washington up onto the stage to help him co-host, too. During the show, the competitors showed no sign of rivalry. They were supportive of each other, clapping, cheering and singing along. When the time came to select the winners, the judges gave the third place prize to David Hernandez for his solo hip-hop dance. Second place went to singer Haley Slamon. First place went to MalFUNKtion, a hip-hop dance troupe of eight male dancers, whose elaborate choreography showed hard work. The winners received trophies as well as cash prizes. In another spontaneous move, individuals from the audience donated money for a fourth, fifth and sixth prizes that went to saxophone player Kalin Freeman, singer Ramell Jones and Ponopoly, a hip-hop band composed of three boys and one girl. All of the participants got certificates for competing in the talent show. As she received her trophy, Slamon said how impressed she had been by the performances of those who had been onstage for the first time. “I’m so proud of everyone and so happy that I got to be a part of this,” she said as the crowd cheered. The performers and the audience left the venue in high spirits. “I think events like this make the children feel that they are important,” said Patricia Valdivia, the mother of second place winner David Hernandez. “Richmond needs to speak up and let everybody know that we have talent too,” said Sims. Lu Parker, 82 came to see fifth place winner Ramell Jones perform—he is a friend’s grandson. Parker said there were more people that she expected and that she had fun. “I just enjoyed this show. It was beautiful to see all the talent,” she said. Audience member Jackie Thompson said she was there to show support for the youth. “I know they need the support of the community,” she said. Thompson’s grandson was murdered in Richmond in 2003, and she said she is aware of the importance of networking with young people. “When they do something good we need to support them, so I’m here,” she said. Mayor Gayle McLaughlin attended along with her husband Paul Kilkenny, as did city council member Ludmyrna Lopez and her baby son. Officer Reyes-García of the Richmond Police Department, who was monitoring the site during the event, said, “It was a real joy to see the kids performing and do what they really enjoy.” Reyes-García thinks events like this bring the neighborhoods together. “We need to show the world that the youth has talent, especially in a city like Richmond,” said Raina Hinchee, one of the singers from sixth place winning band Ponoply. “A lot of people when they hear ‘Richmond,’ they just want to push away, but showing that this city has talent is really, really crucial.”

Dogs of all sizes and breeds run unleashed, fetch balls, meet other dogs, swim and enjoy Point Isabel Park in Richmond. Afterwards, dogs and their owners can stop by the only businesses at Point Isabel: Mudpuppy’s Tub and Scrub, where the dogs can get baths, and the Sit and Stay Café, where their people can get coffee and food. These two businesses, run by the same owners, are located one next to another in a small, one level rectangular building. The café is a walk-up counter with seating at a nearby patio. Mudpuppy’s is a pet store that has lots of dog toys, treats and supplies with bathtubs where the dogs get washed. “You came here, you take your dog for a walk, it gets all dirty, then you wash your dog and then you go home. It’s a great location,” said Diane Blake who has been coming for a couple years to Point Isabel to walk her dog, Zoe. “I love being in the East Bay, I love this community, I love dogs,” said Daniel Bergerac, one of the businesses’ three partners and owners. Bergerac, his husband Eddie Lundeen and long-time friend Todd Ahlberg run Mudpuppy’s and the café in cooperation with the East Bay Regional Park District. Mudpuppy’s began about 15 years ago at Point Isabel, but it was much different back then. Original owners Cynthia Sloan and Holly Stockton started washing dogs in a small RV with one tub. A year later they got a 12 by 28 feet “mobile modular” with four tubs, a little sales counter and a ramp so that the dogs could come inside. Lundeen worked as their employee in 1997; soon after that the two original owners decided to move to the country and open a pet wash and a pet store. Lundeen and Bergerac took over the business in 2000. Since then, they worked with the East Bay Regional Park District to build a permanent building for the dog wash. The park district also wanted to add a café; that became the building where Mudpuppy’s and Sit and Stay Café are now. A percentage of every sale goes to the park district and the building is owned by the East Bay Regional Park District. “I loved this park even before we got the business. We were coming here with our dogs,” said Bergerac. Before running Mudpuppy’s, Bergerac was an executive recruiter, and not thrilled to be sitting in an office for ten hours a day, he said. “It was good money but I wasn’t loving it. I just felt that I needed a job that I could love,” said Bergerac. “Finally I quit my recruiting job and started doing this full time and never looked back.” Ahlberg joined the partnership more than a year ago. “I joined to help the company grow,” he said. And the company has grown a lot over the last 15 years. Mudpuppy’s and the Sit and Stay Café now have 10 employees; seven work full-time. Mudpuppy’s sell toys, leashes, collars, training supplies, treats and nearly everything for dogs except food. The dog wash service is very popular. The washer will ask each new customer about their dog — if they have any skin or shedding problems or nail issues, for example. They make sure to pick the right shampoo. They do hair conditioning, nail trims and a flea dip if necessary. Weekends can get busy at the dog wash, so they recommend that people book online or walk in to make appointments. The dog washers get to know their canine clients very well. Jay Villamor , who has been working at Mudpuppy’s and at the café for five years, said that when you have a regular customer, “the dogs tend to bond with you. It’s fun that way.” Villamor started working at the café and after two years was trained to work at the dog wash. “I fell in love with it, because working with a variety of different dogs is not the same as serving the same cup of coffee every day,” he said. Bergerac said that there have been situations where bathers have spotted a dog’s health problem, like when Claudio Eleccion, a employee that had been working there for seven years, found a small tumor on a dog. “When the owner’s took him to the vet, they cut it out on time and the dog is still with us,” said Bergerac. Ahlberg said that he knows the dogs’ names better than their owners’ names —“When we book the dogs for washes, we put the dog’s name, not the person’s name,” he said. He’ll address people by saying, “Hey, Fido’s dad!” Ahlberg thinks that the dog owners enjoy it. “They like that we are all about the dogs,” he said. The Sit and Stay Café does have some treats for humans — a full espresso menu plus chili, soups, deli sandwiches, hot dogs, ice cream, smoothies, and bagels. “Boy, do we sell bagels,” said Bergerac. “I think it’s the best job I’ve ever had,” said Simone Granada, who has worked at the café for five years. She started working at the café because she liked the dogs, and found that her employers helped her go to college by giving her flexible work hours. Granada describes the work environment as being like a family, and a good place to network because business is always good and different people are always coming into the café. “Having the café is like when you have a party and people congregate in the kitchen. It gives them some place to eat and have a good time,” Lundeen agreed. Bergerac said that people bring family and friends that are visiting from out of town “to see Mudpuppy’s, to see the café and to see how incredible this park is.” Point Isabel is a 23-acre park at the west end of Central Avenue in Richmond. Visitors get a wide view of San Francisco, the Golden Gate and Marin County from the park. Its attractions include bird watching, fishing, jogging, running,

For two hours it was as if all that surrounded Joel Alcaraz, 10 and Greg Lope, 33, had disappeared. Divided physically by a chessboard and mentally connected by the game, they competed at the Contra Costa College Community Chess Tournament this past Saturday.  “If I beat him, he is just a kid, but if I loose, I got beat by a kid,” Lope joked lightheartedly after the game. Lope won, but it was tough and he knew it would be — he had seen Alcaraz play before. Lope and Alcaraz were two of the 28 participants of the fourth tournament organized by the West Coast Chess Alliance, a nonprofit community-based chess advocacy group. Co-directors, Trendell Ball and Will Delaney are promoting chess by teaching it in Bay Area schools, nonprofits and community centers. Some of the participants were their students. Contra Costa College supported the event by providing the facilities and the chessboards. Players all ages were welcome and registration was free. The turnout at the tournament included a very diverse crowd of people: The youngest participant was 6 years old and the oldest was 50. Some were Richmond residents and some came from surrounding cities. “Chess is a great equalizer,” said Ball. “You can compete on an equal basis with anybody.” The event was a “quad tournament” in which players are divided in groups of four. Each participant has to play all the members of their group, so they play three games. “The quad is a fun way to play,” said Ball because it’s a friendly format for beginners. “Players talk and get to know each other in their group. Plus you have more winners.” There were seven quads (groups of four) and seven winners in this tournament. The kids who won went home with a trophy. “Young people love the trophies,” said Ball. Jaqueline Leal, 10, didn’t win this time but she wants to compete again, “so I can win the trophy.” Leal learned to play at Girls Incorporated of West Contra Costa, a nonprofit involved in education and advocacy for girls. She says she likes how chess makes her focus and she likes the challenge of competing. At home she plays chess with her 13-year-old brother and she writes down moves and strategies to win. Do Nguyen, 17, who is from a family of Vietnamese immigrants, learned to play a year ago and has started studying chess moves, too. He sometimes plays Chinese chess with his dad or his brother. Like many other players he likes the challenge and the social aspect of the game. “You go to tournaments and you meet new people,” he said. “You get challenged pretty much every time you’re playing and every time is different.” At this tournament, chess players were divided by age. Alcaraz was the only child who asked to be put in a quad with adults. He didn’t care about winning, “I want to learn,” he said. If Alcaraz had played kids his age or older, he would have definitely won said the organizers. The parents of some of the participating children were at the tournament. Joel Alcaraz’s father, Noi Alcaraz, was one of them. He taught his son to play chess when he was four. “He used to play with me before, but I never win now,” he said, laughing, “I tell him, you’re not learning anymore when you play with me.” For Alcaraz, it’s great to see his son be so passionate about chess — it was his dream to be a great chess player but “I didn’t have the chance to excel,” he said. Now his son plays chess online and although the family lives in Vallejo, his father takes him to the Berkeley Chez Club every Friday. Silvia Naldoza, the mother of 8 year old participant Vans Naldoza, said that her son learned to play just a month ago when she persuaded him to join College for Kids at Contra Costa College. Naldoza said her two sons play chess at home. “I know it really challenges their mind. It’s like a mind marathon and I want them to have their brain exercised,” she said. “Chess can be used to promote positive self-esteem in a student because it’s a thinking game and a lot of the youth today aren’t being challenged enough in terms of thinking,” Ball said. His nonprofit is about promoting the positive values embedded in chess. “There are a lot of academic crossovers,” he said, but the group also wants to promote community and family chess playing. Some family members competed at the tournament. Brother and sister Mauricio and Julissa Morfin from Peres Elementary School in Richmond both competed in different quads — Mauricio won the trophy. Father and son David and Gabriel McDonald competed in separate quads too, and both of them won. At six years old, Gabriel was the youngest winner. Other adults who do community work with youth were there to support the kids, including Doretha Morris, the executive director of Girls Incorporated of West Contra Costa County. Eight girls, ages nine to 14, were competing.  For Morris, chess is a really positive thing. “It’s all about increasing their analytical and critical thinking skills. I know that chess will really help them in math as they go along with school,” she said. One of the winners Mauricio Morfin, 11, and proud sister Julissa, 9. Photo by Veronica Moscoso. Carlos Taboada, who runs the chess team at Richmond High School and is a school counselor, came to support two of the kids from the school’s chess club and his own son David. “It is very valuable activity to cultivate mental discipline in the students,” he said of chess. “We think that chess can improve academic skills,” said McKinley Williams, president of Contra Costa College, who attended the tournament. Williams said he’s read research that shows how chess can improve mathematical reasoning, critical thinking and attention span. “It’s a great support for someone that is involved in academic pursues,” he said. Williams is such a supporter of chess that now

After he was shot while driving his car on the evening of June 25, 20-year-old Asama Ayyad drove back to the mosque in Richmond where he had been praying and volunteering just before the assault. Almost unconscious, he crashed into two electric poles at Cutting Boulevard. “There is no God but God and Mohamed is his prophet. To God we belong and to Him is our return,” he prayed in Arabic. Those were his last words. Ayyad had been shot in the upper right side of his torso, and by the time the police arrived he was unconscious. He was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead there. A 15-year-old friend who had been riding in the passenger seat survived being shot in the leg. The fatal bullet had come from a white van carrying four teenagers and a 20-year-old man; the van had followed Ayyad’s vehicle after he and his friend left a ceremony at the mosque that night. Nineteen-year-old Nickie Donald of Richmond has been charged with Ayyad’s murder; according to law enforcement he had mistaken Ayyad’s car for someone else’s and opened fire. Although the number of homicides in Richmond has dropped — according to the Richmond Police Department there have been 12 this year, nearly 50 percent fewer than at this time last year — violence remains an enduring problem for the city. In the two weeks since Ayyad’s murder, there have been two other shooting deaths involving young men in Richmond, those of 20-year-old Alan Torres and 18-year-old Emani Stephens. Ayyad’s friends and family remember him as a peaceful spirit who was respectful to his elders, helpful with the young, and who tried to avoid violence. “He had such a pure heart. He was like an angel,” said his mother Faisa Ayyad with tears in her eyes as she spoke about her son at an interview at the family’s home a few days ago. Last Tuesday, about 60 of Ayyad’s friends and family members showed up at the Richmond City Council meeting to express their sadness over the young man’s death and their disgust with violence. Most of them were wearing T-shirts bearing his picture. “His death has left a hole in the heart of many people in Richmond and El Cerrito,” his mother said sorrowfully. Ayadd’s family moved to the United States from Palestine more than three decades ago because they wanted to live in a safer place. Naim Ayyad, his father, emigrated 35 years ago; his mother joined her husband five years later. A hard-working couple, they opened a halal market selling Middle Eastern food and meat in Berkeley and raised their five children, three boys and two girls. Asama Ayyad was their fourth child. Although the family currently lives in El Cerrito, he attended Kennedy High School in Richmond and regularly attended Masjid Al-rahman, a mosque in Richmond. After some recent hardships, including Naim Ayyad having a heart attack a few years ago, the family sold the market and Asama Ayyad dropped out of school to help the family. Currently their family business is a Middle Eastern restaurant in Albany called Zaki Kabob House opened by the eldest son, 27-year-old Ramsy Ayyad. But despite the family’s hardships, Ayyad’s relatives say that the young man was looking forward to the future. In November he was planning to visit Jerusalem, where his parents are from originally. He wanted to get married and dreamed of having his own business one day. He also hoped to work for the California Highway Patrol. In order to make that possible, he wanted to get his high school diploma and was planning on taking classes soon to get his GED. On the evening of his death, Ayyad had left his part-time job at Whelan’s Cigar Store in Berkeley and gone to Masjid Noor, a Richmond mosque at 13th Street and Cutting Boulevard that was hosting a reunion for about 1,000 Muslims from California and other states. They were getting together for an annual Ijtimah, a gathering to pray, help each other, and remember Islamic values. Ayyad enjoyed helping and especially wanted to give a hand to his uncle, who was the cook for this large crowd. After dinner, some people stayed to sleep at the mosque, and others went home. After helping his uncle, Ayyad decided to leave, too. He was afraid for his beloved car, which was parked outside. The white 1999 Lexus that his father had given him as a present had become Ayyad’s project. The car was bought for cheap but Ayyad had spent time and all his savings fixing it and adding new features, like 24-inch rims, new paint and speakers. “The car was like his little baby,” said his cousin Noor Ayyad. Family members say that Asama Ayyad was aware of violence and gangs in Richmond, but wanted nothing to do with them. Just a week before, his 22-year-old best friend Samir Ayesh had been shot and killed in Hayward when he asked graffiti painters not to tag the walls of his house. So far the police have not caught the perpetrators, and his family members say that Ayyad had been very depressed about it. When his uncle asked him to stay longer at the mosque, Ayyad said, “I don’t feel comfortable being in this area and I don’t feel safe at all.” Ayyad left with his friend, a teenage neighbor who wanted a ride in the shiny white Lexus. The plan was to go for a ride and then go home, said his family. But at the traffic light on 22nd Street and Bissell Avenue, gunfire erupted from a white van that was following them, hitting the Lexus several times. Mortally wounded, Ayyad’s first instinct was to go back to the mosque, a safe haven of spirituality, family and community. The police have stated that the shooting was a case of mistaken identity, but Ayyad’s family thinks that the youngsters in the van were trying to steal the car. “I wish they had asked for the car,” said Kammal Ayyad, one