Now that the Price recall has been approved by the Registrar of Voters, the people will be able to vote on it. I hope…there’s speculation out there that she’ll come up with some legal technicality to challenge it. But assuming it goes on the ballot in the next few months, what if she wins?
I don’t mean to throw negative vibes into the universe, but the Recall is by no means a cinch. We have to be prepared to accept defeat. If she wins, it will be—let’s be honest—a major loss for us and our cause. The wokes will declare that we’re losers, and it will not bode well for recalling Sheng Thao.
What can we do to prevent a loss? Keep up the pressure. Talk to your friends and tell them the facts of the case, which they may not know. Price will not bring felony charges against people below the age of 25 unless she absolutely is compelled to. A vast number of murders, attempted murders, assaults, carjackings, robberies and burglaries are committed by men under 25, yet these are the very people Price says are misunderstood and deserving of our compassion. Ask your friends how they feel about that.
Ask them, also, how they feel about Price refusing to bring criminal enhancements against the worst of the worst. She has called such enhancements “racist,” which, to be honest, is a lie. Pamela Price has never been able to explain why so many Black people commit crimes. Yes, she says it’s because they’ve been victims of structural racism, but ask your friends if that entitles them to murder, or to bip a car, or to slam someone to the ground and grab their purse.
Your friends probably consider themselves equitable and enlightened, and maybe they are. They probably pride themselves on living in the Bay Area where they’re part of a caring, progressive population. They’re probably willing to cut criminals slack because they feel sorry for them. It’s going to be very, very difficult to change this kind of thinking, but we’re really going to have to try. Ask your friends if they like what’s happening in Oakland. Ask them if they’re afraid to go to a downtown club at night—if any clubs are still open. Ask them if they’ve had their car windows smashed; the answer undoubtedly is yes. Ask them how they feel about that. If they say they understand how desperate poor people can be, remind them that most smash-and-grabbers aren’t poor, they’re looking for money to support a drug habit. Ask them if they’re okay with that.
Price is going to fight this with all the dirt at her disposal—which is a lot. Her themes are going to be the same lies she’s peddled all along: recall supporters are a bunch of billionaire Trump-loving out-of-town racist MAGAs who are attacking democracy. Her campaign team is already tweeting “Stop trashing Oakland,” as if recalling a prejudiced, pro-criminal D.A. is equivalent to hating Oakland. She’s still out there ranting about “racial disparities within the criminal justice system,” yet she refuses to admit that her “community” is responsible for most of the crime in Alameda County, which is why they get arrested so much. This is not a racist thing to say. It’s a truthful thing to say—and a painful one, because it doesn’t have to be this way. And by the way, babbling about “root causes” is a smokescreen distraction, a means for doing nothing, and Price knows it.
This dodging and deflecting in itself is enough reason to recall her. Ask your friends if they believe that criminals are compelled to murder and assault because of racism. Don’t let your friends get off with simplistic answers. Press them. Make them confront their own inconsistencies. It may cost you a friendship, but the struggle for truth is not a cheap one to wage.
Steve Heimoff