Pamela Price, whose tenure as Alameda County D.A. got off to such a rocky start, is shortly to be confronted with the test of her career: Whether or not to charge Jasper Wu’s murderers with murder.
Little Jasper, you’ll recall, was less than two years old when he was shot and killed by three rampaging Black men during a heated gang battle on the 880 Freeway. Jasper was asleep in a car seat, as his mom drove their way home, when a stray bullet from the gunfight passed through the car’s window and shattered his head. Former D.A. Nancy O’Malley brought murder charges against Trevor Green, Ivory Bivins and Johnny Jackson, but Price, who replaced O’Malley, now says she’s considering lowering the charges her predecessor brought against the three gang killers.
Price released a video to the community attempting to reassure us that she’s committed to prosecuting the case. She refused to explain, though, why she rejected O’Malley’s original charges, or what lesser charges she has in mind. In reality, all Price did was bleat sugar-coated “thoughts and prayers” to Jasper’s parents. Clearly under pressure to say something to an outraged public, Price resorted to her usual practice of race-baiting. She accused those who have suggested she’s soft-pedaling her prosecution because the three killers are Black as having “a political agenda to divide our diverse community…Those who claim that race has somehow influenced the prosecution of this case,” she added, “are wrong.”
I’m among those who believe that race is influencing Price, as it always does. In giving preferred consideration to Black criminals, Price shows herself to be the racist. When Black men commit awful deeds of murder and mayhem, she goes soft on them, on the premise that they are the real victims of “racism” by “white supremacists.” I even perceive hints by Price that, because little Jasper was Asian, she’s taking the crime less seriously. Had the toddler who was shot and killed been a Black child, and the shooters White men, Price would be screaming from the rooftops for maximum justice. I know this is true, and so do you.
Jasper’s grieving parents, meanwhile, are publicly expressing their concern over Price’s dithering. With reports that Price could “drastically reduce the sentences” for the three killers, An Wu, Jasper’s mom, said, through tears, “If that happens, if the new DA, that's the direction she goes lowering the sentencing, what kind of message are we sending to the public?"
What kind of message? If you’re a victim of crime by Black people in Alameda County, don’t expect justice while Pamela Price is in charge.
Price, who’s been ducking interviews all week, is going to have to go public soon. She won’t be able to pull her stunts in the dark, which is where she prefers to burrow, nor will the public be satisfied with her self-serving videos. The whole world, in effect, is watching. If she charges the three killers with anything less than a heinous murder, she will be revealed, once and for all, for what she is: a racist who lets Black men off, while persecuting cops and firing dedicated veteran prosecutors.
For additional reporting on this situation, watch this short video from NBC Bay Area News.
And please try to attend this very important rally later today:
JUSTICE FOR JASPER WU RALLY
Monday April 10
Noon
Alameda Courthouse
1225 Fallon Street Oakland
(near the Lake Merritt BART station)
Steve Heimoff