Do you know why radicals like Carroll Fife and Cat Brooks hate Chief Armstrong? Because he’s a strong, decent Black man who was bringing together the Black community and the police. Fife-Brooks hated that. They prefer to drive wedges between the Black community and the police. The Chief is a uniter. Fife-Brooks are dividers of the worst type. They can sustain their careers only continue by stirring up anger, hatred and resentment.

At 10 a.m. today the rally for Chief Armstrong begins at City Hall. We’re hoping for a very large turnout. It’s important that we show up in force to get the message across to Thao, to the other police bashers, and to the media: We the people are tired of the cop hatred that’s been on sickening display in Oakland in recent years, of which Chief Armstrong’s firing is the latest and most visible symbol. We’re not going to take it anymore.

I’m sending out this rare Saturday column because of its importance. There was talk of recalling Thao even before her Wednesday firing of Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong. After she committed that heinous act, the recall chatter has turned into real action. With the firing, Oakland communities have had it with Thao, and whether she knows it or not, she’s facing an existential crisis barely one month into her mayoralty.

Yesterday’s rally on behalf of Chief LeRonne Armstrong was a great success. Called at very short notice, it attracted a good crowd at City Hall. Organization was by the NAACP and Seneca Scott; Loren Taylor also was there. The media showed up in force, and this morning, it’s a lead story in all the local news.

I don’t suppose anyone is surprised to hear that Thao has sacked the Chief. Thao has been a cop hater since day one. A self-professed “progressive,” she repeatedly tried to defund the police, despite warnings that to do so would further endanger the people of Oakland. When she was on the City Council, she allied with Carroll Fife, the leading cop hater on the Council, and her underling, Nikki Bas, and also affiliated with the biggest cop hater of them all, Cat Brooks. Together, these people led assaults on the Oakland Police Department and refused to do anything about homelessness. They and their allies plunged Oakland into the crisis we see today.