On June 24, the same date that the Oakland City Council voted to defund the Oakland Police Department, Cat Brooks wrote on her website: “Anti Police-Terror Project applauds City Council’s vote to reallocate $18M from Oakland Police…”
Eight days later, on July 2, in her op-ed piece in the San Francisco Chronicle (“No, Oakland didn’t ‘defund’ police’”), Brooks is saying the exact opposite. “The Oakland Police Department was not defunded.”
This Orwellian doublespeak would be funny if it weren’t so cynical and dismissive of our intelligence. WTF, Ms. Brooks: last week you “applauded” the defund and this week, according to you, it never happened!
Brooks is hardly alone in rewriting history. From the desk of the City Council president came this press release: “Oakland Police Budget Increased by $38.5 Million or 6% in Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas’ Budget.”
What we’re seeing from Brooks, Bas and their defund allies-- Carroll Fife, Rebecca Kaplan and others--is a massive, coordinated PR campaign of disinformation. Facing massive public backlash over their OPD raid, they’re telling their Big Lie, in true Trump fashion, and hoping that if they repeat it enough, someone will believe it.
Won’t happen.
Everybody knows what went down in the City Council on June 24. Every media outlet in the Bay Area, and beyond, reported on it. Here’s NBC News:
Oakland City Council Votes to Divert Funds From Police to Violence-Prevention Programs
Here’s the San Francisco Chronicle:
Here’s the East Bay Times:
Oakland City Council pulls $18 million from proposed police budget to fund violence prevention
Even Newsweek picked up the story:
Oakland Police Chief Warns Crime is 'Out of Control' as City Cuts Law Enforcement Budget
“Fake news!” cry the defunders. They hate these headlines, because they know that the concept, “Defund the Police,” is politically toxic among both Democrats and Republicans. They know they’ve lost serious credibility in Oakland, where 78% of the population is demanding the same level, or more, of policing.
They know they’ve lost the battle for public opinion, but in their pride, obstinacy and ideological rigidity, they just can’t admit it.
It’s time to vote these people out of office. As for Ms. Brooks, let her complain, as we rebuild the Oakland Police Department into a fighting force to serve and protect us.