I thanked Gov. Newsom yesterday for the tremendous news that he’s sending 120 California Highway Patrol officers to help Oakland fight crime.
“As crime rates across California decrease — including right across the Bay in San Francisco — Oakland is seeing the opposite trend," he announced, adding, “What’s happening in this beautiful city and surrounding area is alarming and unacceptable.”
Everybody, from Pamela Price to Sheng Thao, admits that what’s happening in Oakland is “unacceptable” but only Newsom so far has stepped up to the plate to do something about it. The rest of them offer nothing but empty, cynical rhetoric.
Cat Brooks naturally is shocked, shocked by Newsom’s move. KTVU-TV reported that “Brooks, co-founder of the Anti Police-Terror Project,” said that sending state highway patrol officers is "not rooted in effective violence prevention policies or data, but rather is a lazy attempt to suggest action while endangering the people of Oakland.”
Hmm. Somehow, in Brooks’s fever dream, fighting crime is “endangering the people of Oakland.” Can someone sane interpret that for me? And then, just yesterday, there was Brooks again, this time on her little blog, alleging that “the struggle for Black liberation and Palestinian liberation are inextricably linked,” claiming inspiration from the Black Panther Party, and lying that “so far, in 2024, according to the Washington Post, law enforcement has already murdered 51 people” in America. If you can cite this WaPo report—I couldn’t find it—you win a free subscription for life to his blog. I’m not saying Brooks made the whole thing up, although I wouldn’t put it past her, in her desperation to smear law enforcement. In fact, almost always with these types of accusations, cops murdered no one. Those shot dead were either attacking police officers or threatening other innocent civilians. In either case, they deserved to be shot.
Of course, there’s an indirect relationship between Cat Brooks’ responses and those of everyone else: Where we celebrate the presence of more cops on the ground to battle thugs, Brooks laments it. For her, criminal activity is simply the natural reaction of an oppressed people fighting back against racism. Well, if you think the situation today in Oakland is a praiseworthy uprising of the oppressed, go take a walk along International Boulevard after midnight.
I sincerely hope the extra CHP officers will help, and I’m sure they will. Something obviously had to be done, and the Governor responded appropriately. It makes complete sense to me that the more cops are out there, the less criminals will be able to get away with their predatory crimes. I heard Pamela Price interviewed on KQED radio yesterday and she echoed the Brooks line: more arrests do not equate to less crime. To my way of thinking, this just shows how prejudiced and irrational Price is. It’s exactly the opposite. I hope the CHP busts criminals left and right, and I hope that soft-on-crime judges don’t let them off the hook. We have got to figure out a way to track and out these woke judges, but it’s really hard, because they operate in a black box that, by design, is all but impenetrable for even intrepid journalists.
However you view Gavin Newsom—and I know a lot of people don’t like him—give him credit for this CHP move. My understanding is that it’s just the beginning of his help to Oakland. I don’t know what else is coming, but we need every bit of aid we can get. As for Sheng Thao, she’s fooling no one. Her attempts to portray herself as anti-crime are laughable. Everybody sees through it. In about 2 weeks you’ll begin to see petition gatherers recruiting signatures to recall her. Sign one, and do it for the city you love, Oakland!
Steve Heimoff