Late on Christmas Day I came home from visiting my San Mateo family. Walking home from 19th Street BART, I decided to grab a beer at one of my favorite neighborhood gastropubs, Low Bar. When I got to the door, there was a sign on it:
WE HAVE BEEN BROKEN INTO 8 TIMES
WE HAVE NO CASH
WE HAVE NO SAFE
WE WISH YOU HAPPY HOLIDAYS
WE ARE CLOSED
There was something so heart-wrenchingly poignant about that sign that I thought about it a good deal afterwards. You can sense the sadness and despair behind the words. WE HAVE NO CASH … WE HAVE NO SAFE. A wail from the deepest reservoirs of their hearts. I felt a gush of love and compassion for the owners and staff and patrons of Low Bar. Simultaneously, a wave of loathing towards the thieves and the vile personalities that enabled them to rob Low Bar.
Here are some of the enablers’ names: Carroll Fife. Pamela Price. Libby Schaaf. Sheng Thao. Cat Brooks. Nikki Bas. Dan Kalb. These are merely the most public faces of the movement that has caused so much pain and grief in Oakland. For every one of them, there are a hundred others who work their mischief through lesser government posts, nonprofits, and the media. It may take a village to raise a child, but it takes a conspiracy to wreck an entire city.
What have these negative forces done, you ask? How are they responsible for Low Bar’s woes? Let me tell you. Each has exalted what we call Wokeism above all other values in Oakland: public safety, economic security, fairness, decency, cleanliness, order, civic pride and integrity. In the name of “social equity,” they have excused the awful behavior of the predators that prey on our small businesses. They have let these monsters off the hook by alleging that “systemic racism” has so deprived them of their “personhood” that they—the thieves and burglars—have no choice but to rob, steal, pillage and occasionally kill. These Woke apologists claim that our first priority, as a city, is to protect and coddle the criminals, and give them whatever services (i.e. money) the leftwing and often corrupt sociologists determine they need to help their tender, misunderstood souls. As if that’s not enough, they have led the effort to defund, if not to abolish, the Oakland Police Department.
This is exactly what we see in Oakland: not a determination to end crime (as any sane society would do), but to enable it. Pamela Price will not bring charges against thugs below the age of 25, and if she’s compelled to in the worst of cases, has instructed her deputies to level younger criminals with the lightest possible charges that result, not in jail time, but with some slap-on-the-wrist probation. The result, obviously, is that, out there on the streets, the hoodlums know they can break the law with impunity. The D.A. has their backs—and even if they do get arrested, little to nothing will happen. And so we get eight break-ins at Low Bar, with more, undoubtedly, on the way. (By the way, I think Low Bar will reopen after the holidays. At least I hope so.)
So, yes, I point the finger of accusation at the individuals I listed above. I accuse them of fostering, aiding and abetting crime against the people of Oakland. I accuse them of being racists because through their actions and words they denigrate and undermine White people, whom they see as oppressors who must be crushed. I accuse them of being insurrectionists who want to destroy an America they hate. I accuse them of crass, vast stupidity, because they cannot or will not perceive the damage they have caused. I question their motives, their loyalties, their mental health. We are being hoodwinked, my friends, and the most hoodwinked of all are our young people, those idealistic souls whose developing brains are not yet mature enough to comprehend how and why societies depend on its citizens obeying the law.
What can we do? Continue to resist. Vote for sane, moderate candidates. Write letters to the editor. Patronize our local businesses, especially places like Low Bar, which so badly need our support. If you hear someone spouting idiocy, speak up. Tell your truth, even if it’s to a friend or family member. When someone says something disparaging about the Oakland Police Department, inform them that they’re wrong. These pernicious woke lies cannot continue to spread unchecked through the body politic, like some gruesome form of Ebola. The Big Lie hovers over Oakland as it does over the nation as a whole. No one who claims to be anti-Trump or anti-MAGA can legitimately be “progressive.” If you hate Trump’s lies and divisiveness, you must hate Wokeism’s with equal passion.
These people, the ones I listed, are not here to help you! They’re here to destroy you, your neighbors, your neighborhoods, your safety, your economic well-being, the wellsprings of democracy, the foundations of peace and security. This is not hyperbole. Look around at Oakland and ask yourself if we’re in good shape. Then consider the leadership we have, and put two and two together.
Steve Heimoff