I speak only for myself here, as an Oakland citizen, taxpayer and voter. I address my words to Robert Warshaw.
There is karma coming for you, sir. I don’t know what form it will take, but it will not be pleasant. You have caused much suffering, and now suffering is coming for you. I have no idea what you tell yourself about why you have this obsession to kill the Oakland Police Department. Perhaps you know that you should have abandoned this homicidal fixation long ago. Is it the $1 million a year you get that keeps you going? Or do you rationalize that the cops still need the kneecapping you’ve inflicted on them for twenty years? Do you tell yourself you’re on the side of the poor people of color who are brutalized by cops? That’s a laugh. Black and Brown Oaklanders want a strong, effective police force. They’re the ones who suffer because of you; you’re their brutalizer, not the police.
Someday this will all catch up to you. You crossed the line, and will soon find out what’s waiting on the other side. Have you at last no decency, sir? Do you not see that your crusade is against, not the cops, but against us, the innocent people of Oakland? Are you not aware of the calamitous results of your vengeful purge? You have brought Oakland to her knees, and still you’re not content to end your carnage. So your carnage will consume you.
I want to talk about cops—the men and women who brave the uniform and put their lives in danger every single day and night, in order to protect us, and you, sir, even though you don’t deserve it. They are a broken group of people right now. If it was your intent to demoralize and hurt them, congratulations, sir: you have succeeded. I know our cops. After Chief Mitchell’s resignation (for which you, sir, bear primary culpability), their hearts have been torn from their chests. They weep, not necessarily outwardly, but inside. They curse your name, and wonder what motivates you. Why them? Why Oakland? What is it that you want from them, sir, after two decades of torment?
Historians will record that you, Robert Warshaw, were corrupt and sick. I say these words not lightly; you are corrupt because you continue to get rich from persecuting innocent cops, and you are sick because your sociopathy has no moral or ethical limits. There’s not a decent official in town who won’t privately admit that your expiration date ran out years ago. Everyone wants you gone. So please, go. Just leave, before you’re chased out of town. And take Burris and Chanin with you, your little gang of grifters. Go blackmail some other city for your millions.
And with that, fellow Oaklanders, have a happy and safe weekend. Back on Monday.
Steve Heimoff