John Santos

John Santos
Mayor of New Liverpool
In office 1948–1953
President	Juan Costa
Preceded by	Roberto Salazar-Smith
Succeeded by	Hugo Walsh
Superintendent of New Liverpool Public Schools
In office 1940–1948
Personal details
Born	August 20, 1902 Upper Rodero Town, New Liverpool
Died	January 18, 1961 Rio Blanco Mountain Prison, Silverado
Cause of death	Gunshot wound
Resting place	Haven House, Rodero Ward, New Liverpool
Citizenship	Slokaisian
Political party	Republican Left Alliance

John Santos was a Slokaisan politician and activist for religious freedom and education reform. His willingness to act in such opposition to Juan Costa has led to him being regarded as a national hero. Initially being a proponent of education reform as Superintendent his reforms led to the foundation of the modern school system for the City of New Liverpool. From this success he was elected Mayor of New Liverpool in 1948. Upon the election of Juan Costa, Santos was a strong critic and thus was a target of political violence by the National Reformist Brigade. Eventually he was arrested in 1953 and sentenced to a labor camp where he would be killed in an escape attempt.

Early Life and Career

John Casnila Santos was born in a small homestead in what was just outside the city limits of New Liverpool in Rodero Township. Santos was primarily of Mesitzo background with the family owning the property since at least 1785. The expansion of the capital district in 1905 made the Santos Family residents of the capital. From an early age, the Santos Family took in new residents to a rapidly growing city and provided them with charity and food grown on their homestead, which was rapidly being surrounded by the growing cityscape.

In 1921, John Santos began studying at the City University of New Liverpool (now known as Alexander Lin University) working toward a degree in agricultural studies and seeking to leave the city. However, Santos's observations of the growing urban poor and work in various charity food banks led to him opening the Haven House, a property in the Midtown Ward with food and beds for the city’s homeless and working poor. The rapid industrialization of the 1920s and 30s had led to mass migrations to New Liverpool and other cities seeking better opportunities. Soon, Haven House had several locations across the city, including his family's farm, which became known as the Haven Farm. Haven House was one of the first private organizations providing social services and largely inspired work in other cites. Meanwhile, Santos opened a medical clinic that would provide examinations and initial physical checks free of charge with only additional medical work requiring payment. This largely avoided the overcrowded public hospitals and the expensive and often ethnically segregated private faculties

Political Career

The quality of public education soon became a great concern to Santos, due to the enrollment of his children in the 1930s. Although initially pulling them out and sending them to a private institution, he realized reform of the public school system was for the best for not only his children but also many others. In 1940, Santos began a campaign for Superintendent of Education for New Liverpool. He faced opposition from private industry, which had sponsored private schooling as an economic venture. Santos won in the end with 57.5% of the vote.

As Superintendent, John Santos reformed the New Liverpool Public School System into a system of ward-specific departments which received general funding from NLPS. Additionally, local boards of education were created and a parent-response system was created. Santos was also known for traveling frequently around the city, investigating and dealing with local problems which made him famous. In 1946, after learning of mobs attacking primarily Ren schools in the Northrock Riots he personally traveled to one elementary school and stood throughout the day armed with a pistol. He was physically attacked by Reformist Brigade members on several occasions, due to his refusal to ban personal Minjian religious symbols and dress among students and teachers.

Mayor of New Liverpool

By 1948, Santos had become a popular figure in local politics and was encouraged to run for Mayor of New Liverpool. Santos received support from the Republican Left Alliance (RLA), the largest Anti-Costa political alliance. Santos campaigned on ethnic, religious, and class unity, receiving the key support of labor unions. The National Reformist Party nominated Agustin De Campos, a councilman from Northrock. Because of his prior defense of the Minjian community, Santos received strong support, which allowed him to win outright with 57.8%.

Once elected, Santos created the Public Works and Land Management Department to manage landfills and trash collection which had been managed via a private contractor. Additionally, Santos established a city-wide school lunch program and founded the New Liverpool Metropolitan Transportation Company. After Juan Costa's election, Santos condemned anti-Minjian riots and ordered police to arrest National Reformist Brigade members who had attacked businesses. This would make Santos the main target of the new Costa administration's "Clean Home" policy.

In 1951, Juan Costa called for, in his “National Reform to Education” policy, pictures of Juan Costa in every school and the establishment of separate and equal schools for Minjian students due to their "rudimentary moral foundations, given to them in their home environments". John Santos refused to do so in a public statement known as “The Right to Learn,” which outlined his views and the NLPS policy, contrary to the government's new directive. “Every child deserves a life free of fear, free of hunger and free of disenfranchisement”. Right to Learn would become a rallying cry in both education and general life, even as teachers began to be reported.

In 1952, the Educational Policy Act mandated a set curriculum of history, science, and math, which was largely viewed as pro-government propaganda; local officials or teachers who refused risked arrest. However, John Santos refused and publicly burned the act outside of his office before stamping it underfoot and saying to a nearby reporter. “The fire of knowledge and wisdom shall always prevail”. Just a few days later, John Santos as well as the entire school board, were arrested for treason and jailed. At his trial soon after, he was accused of being a foreign agent and part of the global “Minjian conspiracy”. In his defense, Santos stated, “If being well-educated is a crime, the President is not guilty. I serve every child, parent and citizen of this city and seek to make all of them part of the accused”.

Imprisonment

Santos was imprisoned at the Rio Blanco Mountain Site, a work-camp in Silverado Province. Conditions were extremely poor even by standards of the era, with limited tree cover, poor drainage, and extreme temperature variation. Waste management and drainage were directed into a single pond in the corner of the complex, leading to rapid outbreaks of several diseases. Additionally, prisoners were only given food if they mined a certain amount of slate per day to meet economic output requirements. Per fellow prisoners and former guards, Santos, who was identified as Prisoner #767-P, became a leader among prisoners speaking out against punishment and helping the allocation of additional collected slate to those who hadn't collected enough.

Despite constant punishment, Santos remained consistent and was even known for his forgiveness of the guards, seeing them as pawns of a "greater economic and political system". Great War industrial demand required increased output Rio Blanco was no exception, with production shifting to smelting. This increase in work, along with an especially cold winter led to frequent prisoner disruptions, with John Santos eventually planning an escape attempt.

Death

On January 18th, John Santos as well as other prisoners, staged a mass escape in the early hours of the morning using the night as cover to escape up the steep mountains. John Santos would end up being killed by a sniper while scrambling up a steep slope, with most others being recaptured or killed, although a group of around a dozen would escape.