I’ve refrained until now from taking a public position on the Israel-Hamas war because it’s so divisive, and I don’t wish to wade into that maelstrom. But things have become so weird and negative in Oakland that I have to.

BREAKING NEWS: Last night it was announced that Price has reversed her decision to ban independent journalist Emilie Raguso from her press conferences. Raguso will now be admitted, as she should have been from the start. I wrote the below column yesterday, before the news broke. Following the column, I offer some remarks on Price’s backtracking.

The City Council’s resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and refusing to denounce Hamas’s barbaric Oct. 6 assault on Israel has aroused criticism around the world. Oakland—already an international embarrassment as a failed city—now is seen as supportive of Palestinian terrorism simply because the Palestinians are allegedly people of color and most Israelis are White. And, as we’ve sadly learned over the years, progressives in Oakland conceive of recent history as a justified uprising of people of color against White colonialists.

The W-word, White, increasingly is used by Black progressives as a curse or epithet to describe people they hate. As the publication Spectator World noted, “use white as an epithet, and no one will notice. It is now assumed that whites will be flagellated for their race and will accept such flagellation as normal and just.”

There’s a popular meme going around from Price supporters that they hope will gain traction among undecided voters. A letter to the Chronicle yesterday is a perfect example: “I believe that recalls should be reserved for instances of true malfeasance only. It’s not appropriate to try to recall someone just because you disagree with them or their policies. That’s what elections are for. Deal with it and wait for the next election. And I agree with Pamela Price’s take that the…recall effort is an effort to undermine the election and, therefore, our democracy.”