I don’t know exactly what went down in that confrontation between Vincent Williams III and Tu-Ha Ak last year. Neither do you or anyone else. The only ones who know whether or not Ak “pushed, choked and punched” Vincent, as Vincent alleges, are Ak and Vincent.
I do know Vincent, however. He was the Coalition’s Person of the Year in 2022 for his noble work at Urban Compassion Project, which he founded and leads. I also know Vincent’s remarkable history. He arose from a life outside the law, after bouts of prison time and homelessness, to help homeless people with whatever they need. Vincent is a fine, young idealist, with a keen sense of outrage at the people who have plunged Oakland into our current nightmare, like Carroll Fife, who just happens to be the partner of Mr. Ak.
I’ve never met Mr. Ak, but his reputation precedes him. I won’t go into details, but let’s just say he’s scary—not to mention his connection with Fife. He prides himself on his physical toughness: “I’ve studied martial arts since I was 9,” he’s bragged. Vincent is a little guy. I believe Vincent when he says Ak assaulted him.
The incident occurred when Vincent, Ak and Fife all were present as an Oakland city crew attempted to shut down a homeless encampment. Anyone who was familiar with that particular encampment—in North Oakland, near the Emeryville border—knows how bad it was. Oakland government hates to shut down encampments, so if they tried to in this case, you know the place had to be awful. The brawl between Vincent and Ak broke out at some point. Vincent called OPD; cops cited and released Ak.
We may never know precisely what happened that day, but one thing’s for sure: it’s all part of a pattern of Fife and Ak accusing her critics of violence and threatening behavior. She’s played the victim card so often, she’s become a parody of psychological projection. Fife, as we all know because she’s proven it over the last 5 years, has resisted every effort to remove encampments. A racial extremist, Fife believes she’s been assigned the task of liberating Black people from oppression, and in furtherance of that effort, she’s broken the law and caused massive divisiveness in Oakland, pitting the races against each other and amplifying social divisions. As an elected politician, she represents only a small section of her constituents. (She refuses to communicate with me, for instance, although I live in her district.) Fife, like her friend Cat Brooks, insists on a Black Panther-style revolution in which her enemies will get what they deserve, while our tax dollars are transferred to the sketchiest, most dubious “equity” projects that turn out to benefit—who else?—her cronies and Mr. Ak.
Fife is up for re-election in November. We’ll be following the race in District 3 closely. If you’re in favor of the Recalls of Pamela Price and Sheng Thao, you shouldn’t vote to return Fife to the City Council, where she’s done so much damage to Oakland, and will do even more if returned to power.
Steve Heimoff