Somebody wrote to the S.F. Chronicle expressing her “disgust” for Brooke Jenkins, the wonderful District Attorney of San Francisco County. This was after Jenkins said that homeless people “have to be made to be uncomfortable,” a reference to the idea that regularly sweeping encampments encourages unhoused people to accept offers of shelter. “As the descendent of a German Jewish family that was nearly eradicated by the Nazis,” the letter-writer wrote, “I…am disgusted, once again by our district attorney.”
Lots to unpack. First of all, I too am the descendent of a Jewish family that lost people in the Holocaust. But I don’t use that fact as a cudgel to make ideological points, and I fail to see the lady’s point of including it in her letter. It doesn’t give her the moral superiority she apparently believes she has; all it is, is a form of virtue-signaling.
But to the point: Brooke Jenkins is a great D.A. because she’s doing what a D.A. is supposed to do: prosecute criminals. Between her and London Breed, San Francisco is finally in capable hands. It’s so refreshing to see a big city that’s turned its back on wokeism and decided to be decent, safe and clean again.
The obvious parallel to San Francisco—its evil twin—is Alameda County, where we have a ferociously horrible D.A. in the person of Pamela Price. Exactly opposite to Jenkins, Price believes in going soft on criminals because they’re just misunderstood folks who are the victims of systematic racism, so we can’t expect them to behave normally. Time after time, Price refuses to press charges against thugs caught in the act, or, if she must level charges, reduces them to misdemeanors instead of felonies. Because Price operates behind a veil of secrecy, it’s impossible to know much about whom she lets go or what they did. That sort of stuff is hidden from the media, because if the citizens of our fine county knew what was really going on, their hair would catch fire.
Thus, my D.A. envy. Oh, how I wish Brooke Jenkins were our D.A.! A woman of integrity, competence and compassion. Jenkins understands the role of a District Attorney, which is (to quote the California Code, section 26500) to “attend the courts, and within his or her discretion shall initiate and conduct on behalf of the people all prosecutions for public offenses.” The D.A.’s role is not to sympathize with criminals; it is not to make extra efforts to keep them out of jail; it is not to make excuses for their conduct. It is, once again, to “conduct on behalf of the people all prosecutions for public offenses.” Yet Madame D.A. apparently doesn’t believe in the rule of law. She believes it’s her job to coddle criminals. She brands anyone who disagrees with her a racist. This is why we’re recalling her.
As for making homeless people uncomfortable, I’m all for it, which I guess makes me “disgusting” to the letter-writer. These campers are not only breaking the law and befouling our neighborhoods and parks, they’re doing so deliberately. It’s a real middle-finger to the rest of us. Too many of them refuse to leave, even when told to do so by the police. We, in turn, are entitled to roust them. “Roust” is a grand old word, dating to at least the 1650s, from a term meaning to drive game birds from their cover or lairs. It may seem uncompassionate to roust or rouse homeless people, but that is a form of societal more. Mores “determine what is considered morally acceptable or unacceptable within any given culture,” and are as old as humankind. In fact, even animals have their own societal codes, which compel each member of the herd to obey the long-developed customs that enable it to survive, or else to divorce themselves from the pack or be driven out. When we roust homeless people from camping in inappropriate areas, we are simply doing what humans have always done: telling them that their behavior doesn’t fit in with our norms. We have every right to do that. If we can’t protect our own civilization, we might very well lose it. This, of course, is exactly what Pamela Price wants: for us to lose our civilization, so that she and her fellow progressives can build their Brave New World on the ashes of the old. If Oakland, as it is now, looks anything like the new world they hope to establish, then that justifies our resistance, and makes us fight all the harder.
Wishing you a wonderful, safe weekend. And a wonderful 2024!
Steve Heimoff