The bustling city of Oakland, California, in Alameda County, has been dealing with a serious increase in crime rates over the past few years. Now the city is one of several at the forefront of controversy due to the lax crime policies favored by hard left district attorneys, who appear to be more concerned with protecting violent criminals than the people they victimize.
District Attorney Pamela Price’s tenure so far has been marred by a huge outcry against her policies and the community is calling for accountability and action. She is now facing a potential recall effort similar to other California prosecutors. Naturally, Price, being a black progressive, simply dismissed the pleadings from the city’s residents as racism. RedState’s Jerry Wilson has reported on Price extensively:
In recent months we’ve covered the turbulent tenure of California’s Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price, whose unyielding progressive and “restorative justice” policies have outraged both the families of crime victims and the public at large to where a recall campaign has launched, an effort Price has bizarrely labeled akin to January 6. Price has, during her time in office, rebuffed most all interview requests by local media, an oddity since said media, based in San Francisco and Oakland, leans so far left that the only thing keeping it individually and collectively from toppling over is the fog blowing in across San Francisco Bay.
Since the recall campaign began, Price has partially rescinded her no-interview policy yet remains incapable of open discussion in even the most favorable scenarios. Such was the case on July 17, when reporter Betty Yu from KPIX in San Francisco obtained an interview. As the report shows, Price and her handler can’t allow honest discussion.
Much of the opposition to Price is related to her penchant for treating violent offenders with the type of leniency they did not give to their victims. Indeed, tempers erupted after the murder of a toddler named Jasper Wu, who was murdered after being caught in a crossfire between members of feuding street gangs. Instead of throwing the book at those responsible, she removed the special circumstances to the murder charges that could have resulted in harsher punishment.
Price’s stance on crime is ostensibly intended to promote “racial justice,” but it appears it is resulting in more violent offenders victimizing regular folks. Of course, to people like her, pointing out such a reality is tantamount to hating racial minorities. Instead of hearing the pleas of people tired of crime, she claimed the resistance was motivated by anti-Black bigotry:
District Attorney Pamela Price is also under fire. Her criminal justice reform agenda is seen by many as being soft on crime but, at the meeting, she struck back, saying criticism of her is based on something else.
“That’s racism. I’m calling it for what it is,” Price said. “If you believe the media hype, I went from a well-respected lawyer and businesswoman with 40 years of experience in this community to a bumbling, incompetent idiot who knew nothing about the law or the criminal justice system.”
This is not the first time Price has pulled her well-worn race card when facing criticism and demands for accountability. When the community was calling for justice for Wu, the prosecutor responded by claiming that the “tragedy is being used by people with a political agenda to divide our diverse community” and that “the kind of racist messages that my office has received…is unprecedented.”
Nevertheless, members of the community, many of whom are black, aren’t buying Price’s race-baiting antics. As usual, there is absolutely no evidence showing that those criticizing her policies spend their weekends burning crosses on people’s front lawns.
“Our District Attorney’s unwillingness to charge and prosecute people who murder and commit life threatening serious crimes and the proliferation of anti-police rhetoric have created a heyday for Oakland criminals,” the Oakland chapter of the NAACP wrote in a July letter.
Oakland NAACP calls on local elected officials to declare a state of emergency around crime. Almost too many noteworthy lines to choose from:
“Failed leadership, including the movement to defund the police, our District Attorney’s unwillingness to charge and prosecute people who… pic.twitter.com/PvJZgnwM3b
— Leighton 明 Woodhouse (@lwoodhouse) July 28, 2023
Oakland residents have expressed fears about leaving their homes and concerns about the decay of the community. A group of Oakland residents called “Neighbors Together Oakland” held a rally to protest against the rampant crime plaguing their neighborhoods:
The concerns over crime in Oakland led to dueling public events on Saturday, highlighting the growing divide over the issue of public safety in the city.
A group of residents calling themselves “Neighbors Together Oakland” staged a morning block rally in East Oakland to express their belief that crime is out of control in the city.
“This event is community members — neighbors — coming together acknowledging that their voices have not been heard,” said former Oakland city councilmember Loren Taylor.
The rally was held in advance of another community safety meeting at a church next door featuring elected officials. Taylor, who narrowly lost the last mayoral election, said various citizen groups are offering solutions but they’re not being heard at city hall.
“People are afraid to leave their homes, go downtown,” he said. “We’ve got other challenges — everything from the rising homelessness to blight — and there’s a sense that it’s just ‘business as usual’ by elected officials.”
Unfortunately for the residents of the city, Price is intent on coddling criminals instead of performing her actual duties, which involve protecting the public. However, if there is enough of a backlash, she may no longer be in a position to continue granting safe haven to violent offenders.
