My building, like many others in Oakland, bears a sign that reads “THIS IS A NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH COMMUNITY. WE IMMEDIATELY REPORT ANY AND ALL SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY TO THE POLICE.”

Sometimes it seems like Groundhog Day around here. Another week goes by, and the same stories are out there, seeming never to be resolved. Wood Street, for one. Caltrans finally is clearing it out, but “some residents won’t want to part with their vehicles and others don’t want to live in a congregant shelter.”

We complain a lot about our city, Oakland. But I took a long walk yesterday, from my home in Adams Point down Broadway to Jack London Square, and back up through Old Oakland to City Center and Frank Ogawa Plaza, and I re-fell in love. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, the air mild, the sun strong, the sky blue, as it almost always is. And I couldn’t help but think, What a beautiful city.

Actually, I don’t have a gun, and never will. But the use of that word is offensive to me. For example, our neighbor to the north, Richmond, created a Reimagining Public Safety Community Task Force “to prepare a plan to transition from Richmond's current ‘community policing’ model to a plan conducive to the reduced police force and return to Council with the preferred policing model and a plan for implementation…”. Yes, in Richmond, as here in Oakland, there’s a hard core of defunders who resent the police and wish to significantly reduce—if not eliminate—their budget.

I was inspired to write today’s post by the comments of a Coalition member, Paul Merriwether, who is quite active on our Facebook page. Paul’s comments concern who has the right to observe that the great majority of murders in Oakland are committed by Black men against Black men. Here’s Paul’s take (by the way, Paul is Black). (I have lightly edited his comments for clarity and brevity.)