JOSE EMILIANO ZAMORA

words & photos by samuel t martinez

On November 5, 2024, fourteen year old Jose Emiliano Zamora tragically took his own life. Details emerged in the following weeks that Jose was a freshman at Santa Clara High School, a member of the Junior Varsity Football team and that he’d suffered horrible bullying at the hands of his classmates, particularly for being unhoused. Santa Clara High School is two miles from Apple HQ and minutes away from the rest of Big Tech in Silicon Valley. Jose’s story against this backdrop, happening in parallel with election wins for California’s real estate community, is a dark reminder of an income gap that has gone well past its limit. I was blessed to be in attendance for Jose’s vigil with SV-De-Bug and witnessed Jose’s family & community come together to honor him while the school administration warned organizers not to get too close to the school and watched from afar.

Jose was honored with danzantes, prayer, words from organizers including youth who read letters to Jose’s family, parents of students at this high school spoke angrily and passionately - one father directly pointed out the school administration for their inaction and not allowing a memorial inside the school.

After, many went up to Jose’s family to express their condolences. School let out eventually and we spoke to a few of Jose’s friends who’d known him from middle school, played soccer with him, sold snacks together & were still visibly upset from losing their friend.

The organizers who lead this vigil were Laurie Valdez, Poor Magazine, Homefulness, & Deecolonize Academy. A big shout out to them for hosting this beautiful vigil honoring Jose and his family. The full video of the day can be seen here.