I am horrified at the inexcusable behavior of this city last night in its violent response to a peaceful youth-led protest of police violence. The proposed budget cuts facing the council go in the wrong direction. They reduce expenditures for Human Services, Race & Equity, and Youth Development/Parks & Rec, while leaving untouched the inflated budget for OPD .----This is a disgrace. The police are the main perpatrators of violence in our city. All the data shows investing in community welfare and youth services are the best way to increase community safety. We need to invest in the well-being of the people -- housing, healthcare, food security, youth development, and racial justice. We need to de-militarize and defund the police now.
I am a white Oakland resident with five generations of family history in this city. I condemn the long history of the Oakland Police Department terrorizing Black & other POC residents -- often in the name of white Oakland residents like myself. Like others, I am appalled at the amount of money that Oakland allocates to police. We must defund and divest from police and invest in truly affordable housing, public schools, health care, and dignity for ALL Oakland residents -- housed and unhoused. The time is now.
I am demanding that we DEFUND Oakland Police Department and allocate funds towards subsidized housing, youth programs, and public health. OPD has been given way too much money and has inflicted way too much harm on the Oakland community. I was a part of yesterday's peaceful protest from Oakland Tech High to Frank Ogawa Plaza. I was disgusted to find out that tear gas was used as a 'warning sign' to tell protestors - who were still protesting PEACEFULLY - to disperse at 7:40 pm, TWENTY MINUTES before curfew. Not only is tear gas a lethal weapon for those with underlying health issues, and deemed unlawful in the international community, but it is also a waste of the city's money to be deploying this on our youth, on our activists, and on our community. Oakland city council needs to do more in order to ensure the demilitarization of the police and only then will our communities feel safer.
My name is AJ Pluss and I am a white, queer physical therapist and parent living and working in Oakland. I have consistently been appalled at the amount of money that Oakland allocates to OPD. Communities have been calling for funding of real solutions for years and years, and it is time to act. Let’s fully fund our schools. Let’s make sure everyone has access to quality health care. Let’s fund solutions to homelessness led by houseless people.
What could our city be like for all who live here if we prioritized creative, generative, positive programs instead of a police force which used violence to control our people?
Coronavirus and policing make it hard for black and brown people in Oakland to breathe.
1) I am outraged that the City would enact a curfew and then use tear gas downtown on the evening directly following a peaceful march organized by Black and Brown youth from Oakland when there were thousands of youth and Oakland high school students downtown!!
And it was actually used at 7:40pm last night downtown which is 20 min before the curfew was supposed to take place!!
2) The current budget has cuts across the board except OPD overtime. The deepest cuts are in Parks & Rec for youth programs!! This is happening at a time of unprecedented crisis in this country over the issue of policing and its role in Black communities.
The main demand of the protests is to divest in policing and instead invest in things that actually help Black and Brown Communities thrive!! If you have to make cuts in the budget the police should be the first place you look. Youth services should be the last.
I am appalled by the behavior of this city last night in its violent response to a peaceful and well organized youth-led protest of police violence. It is indefensible and inexcusable. The proposed budget cuts before the council -- vastly reducing expenditures for Human Services, Race & Equity, and Youth Development/Parks & Rec, while leaving intact the (already grossly inflated) budget for OPD -- is unethical, immoral, unjust, and unwise. If your goal is to reduce violence in the city, the police are the chief perpetrators. Countless studies have shown that investing in community welfare and youth services are the MOST EFFECTIVE way to increase community safety. It is not a mystery. It is WAY PAST TIME to reallocate our city's resources to invest in the well-being of the people -- housing, healthcare, food security, youth development, and racial justice. The money is there, it is just being spent in the wrong place. De-militarize and de-fund the police. Serve and care for the people.
I would like the Council to ask the Mayor to commit the Police Department not to use tear gas or other chemical weapons banned for use against armed enemy combatants by the Geneva Protocol of 1925 against peaceful, unarmed civilian protesters, legal or otherwise. I would ask that the same restraint be applied to the use of firearms with live ammunition or other projectiles. Protesters should demonstrate a clear and present danger to life or risk of permanent bodily injury to themselves and others in order to justify use of force: one or two rocks or bottles thrown against police with shields and riot gear does not suffice. If the Mayor will not commit to this, the Council should constrain her with appropriate legislation.
My name is Somdeng Danny Thongsy, I am an Oakland City resident. I want to make a public comment about the injustice and racial inequity that people of color like myself and my community have faced. In the wake of police violences and many of the injustice and brtualities that community of color faced there has to be change on the City of Oakland operate.
I want to talk about two things:
1) I am outraged that the City would enact a curfew and then use tear gas downtown on the evening directly following a peaceful march organized by Black and Brown youth from Oakland when there were thousands of youth and Oakland high school students downtown!!
2) The City Budget has the majority of money going to OPD.
I am horrified at the inexcusable behavior of this city last night in its violent response to a peaceful youth-led protest of police violence. The proposed budget cuts facing the council go in the wrong direction. They reduce expenditures for Human Services, Race & Equity, and Youth Development/Parks & Rec, while leaving untouched the inflated budget for OPD .----This is a disgrace. The police are the main perpatrators of violence in our city. All the data shows investing in community welfare and youth services are the best way to increase community safety. We need to invest in the well-being of the people -- housing, healthcare, food security, youth development, and racial justice. We need to de-militarize and defund the police now.
I am a white Oakland resident with five generations of family history in this city. I condemn the long history of the Oakland Police Department terrorizing Black & other POC residents -- often in the name of white Oakland residents like myself. Like others, I am appalled at the amount of money that Oakland allocates to police. We must defund and divest from police and invest in truly affordable housing, public schools, health care, and dignity for ALL Oakland residents -- housed and unhoused. The time is now.
I am demanding that we DEFUND Oakland Police Department and allocate funds towards subsidized housing, youth programs, and public health. OPD has been given way too much money and has inflicted way too much harm on the Oakland community. I was a part of yesterday's peaceful protest from Oakland Tech High to Frank Ogawa Plaza. I was disgusted to find out that tear gas was used as a 'warning sign' to tell protestors - who were still protesting PEACEFULLY - to disperse at 7:40 pm, TWENTY MINUTES before curfew. Not only is tear gas a lethal weapon for those with underlying health issues, and deemed unlawful in the international community, but it is also a waste of the city's money to be deploying this on our youth, on our activists, and on our community. Oakland city council needs to do more in order to ensure the demilitarization of the police and only then will our communities feel safer.
My name is AJ Pluss and I am a white, queer physical therapist and parent living and working in Oakland. I have consistently been appalled at the amount of money that Oakland allocates to OPD. Communities have been calling for funding of real solutions for years and years, and it is time to act. Let’s fully fund our schools. Let’s make sure everyone has access to quality health care. Let’s fund solutions to homelessness led by houseless people.
What could our city be like for all who live here if we prioritized creative, generative, positive programs instead of a police force which used violence to control our people?
PLEASE DECREASE FUNDING FOR THE POLICE.
Coronavirus and policing make it hard for black and brown people in Oakland to breathe.
1) I am outraged that the City would enact a curfew and then use tear gas downtown on the evening directly following a peaceful march organized by Black and Brown youth from Oakland when there were thousands of youth and Oakland high school students downtown!!
And it was actually used at 7:40pm last night downtown which is 20 min before the curfew was supposed to take place!!
2) The current budget has cuts across the board except OPD overtime. The deepest cuts are in Parks & Rec for youth programs!! This is happening at a time of unprecedented crisis in this country over the issue of policing and its role in Black communities.
The main demand of the protests is to divest in policing and instead invest in things that actually help Black and Brown Communities thrive!! If you have to make cuts in the budget the police should be the first place you look. Youth services should be the last.
I am appalled by the behavior of this city last night in its violent response to a peaceful and well organized youth-led protest of police violence. It is indefensible and inexcusable. The proposed budget cuts before the council -- vastly reducing expenditures for Human Services, Race & Equity, and Youth Development/Parks & Rec, while leaving intact the (already grossly inflated) budget for OPD -- is unethical, immoral, unjust, and unwise. If your goal is to reduce violence in the city, the police are the chief perpetrators. Countless studies have shown that investing in community welfare and youth services are the MOST EFFECTIVE way to increase community safety. It is not a mystery. It is WAY PAST TIME to reallocate our city's resources to invest in the well-being of the people -- housing, healthcare, food security, youth development, and racial justice. The money is there, it is just being spent in the wrong place. De-militarize and de-fund the police. Serve and care for the people.
I would like the Council to ask the Mayor to commit the Police Department not to use tear gas or other chemical weapons banned for use against armed enemy combatants by the Geneva Protocol of 1925 against peaceful, unarmed civilian protesters, legal or otherwise. I would ask that the same restraint be applied to the use of firearms with live ammunition or other projectiles. Protesters should demonstrate a clear and present danger to life or risk of permanent bodily injury to themselves and others in order to justify use of force: one or two rocks or bottles thrown against police with shields and riot gear does not suffice. If the Mayor will not commit to this, the Council should constrain her with appropriate legislation.
My name is Somdeng Danny Thongsy, I am an Oakland City resident. I want to make a public comment about the injustice and racial inequity that people of color like myself and my community have faced. In the wake of police violences and many of the injustice and brtualities that community of color faced there has to be change on the City of Oakland operate.
I want to talk about two things:
1) I am outraged that the City would enact a curfew and then use tear gas downtown on the evening directly following a peaceful march organized by Black and Brown youth from Oakland when there were thousands of youth and Oakland high school students downtown!!
2) The City Budget has the majority of money going to OPD.