The Oakland NAACP joined local religious leaders in demanding that the California city reject calls to defund the police, as well as enact a state of emergency over crime.
In a letter sent late last month to city leaders, Oakland NAACP President Cynthia Adams and Bishop Bob Jackson of Acts Full Gospel Church argued that crime had become a serious issue in the city, and that drastic action had to be taken.
“Oakland residents are sick and tired of our intolerable public safety crisis that overwhelmingly impacts minority communities. Murders, shootings, violent armed robberies, home invasions, car break-ins, sideshows, and highway shootouts have become a pervasive fixture of life in Oakland,” the letter said. “Failed leadership, including the movement to defund the police, our District Attorney’s unwillingness to charge and prosecute people who murder and commit life threatening serious crimes, and the proliferation of anti-police rhetoric have created a heyday for Oakland criminals.”
California has been hit particularly hard by rising crime in recent years. Violent crime has increased by 6.1% in 2022 alone while property crime and robberies increased by 6.2% and 10.2% respectively, according to California’s most recent annual crime report.
The nearly 500 homicides in Oakland between 2018 and 2022 meant that it was the most dangerous city in the Bay Area. The letter concluded with a demand for city leaders to take the crime wave seriously.
“We need our elected officials to take responsible action to ensure public safety. The best way to start is to declare that we are in a public safety emergency,” the letter said. “Then marshall resources to address crime and create economic opportunities, training, and youth mentoring so people can work and lead productive lives.”
When asked why her group wrote the letter, Adams said that the organization had been “too quiet” on the issue of criminality. “As you know, the old saying says a ‘closed mouth never gets fed.’ We had to open our mouth,” she added. “We had to say something,”
The day after the initial letter was released, NAACP California Hawaii State Conference President Rick Callender reinforced the Oakland chapter, stating in a press release that “community members are in danger” and “we cannot sit around and do nothing when people are in danger doing daily activities, trying to survive.”
Following the death of George Floyd in May 2020, several cities across the country began defunding or dismantling their police departments. In Oakland, a vote by the city council in June 2021 saw a cut of almost $20 million to the police budget.
Responding to the NAACP’s letter, city officials denied there was an issue with crime in Oakland and claimed the idea of rampant crime in the city was a “false narrative.”
A spokesperson for the Alameda County District Attorney said in a statement that officials were “disappointed that a great African-American pastor and a great African-American organization would take a false narrative on such an important matter.”
