Residents of Oakland, California, ripped into officials during a Tuesday night meeting on crime and violence prevention over recent assaults against women and local crime.
According to the Berkeley Scanner, hundreds of people attended the meeting where many women told stories about being raped and assaulted in Oakland by teenagers. According to independent journalist Leighton woodhouse, one woman received cheers for her fiery speech where she criticized city leaders’ policies on crime and demanded that the police crack down low-level crimes.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Oakland has experienced a rise in crime in the last year. In May alone, there were more than 100 robberies, some of which ended in violence or gunfire. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that many of the alleged perpetrators involved children.
“Oakland has a crime problem that is out of hand.” I’m tired. I’m completely fed up. You and your policies have made us all angry, and now you are coddling these criminals. According to Woodhouse’s footage, she said: “They’re coddled.”
She said, “I ask you to let the police start by issuing tickets for low-level offenses such as license plates.” Let the cops pull over these people, without license plates or tinted window you are not supposed to be having. This is why you are doing all of this, to begin with citing people who commit these minor crimes. Don’t tell my it’s profiling because you can’t see anyone in the car anymore.”
According to The Berkeley Scanner, a woman in her fifties was attacked by teens outside her Oakland house this month.
She said, “It is all women.” Two kids slapped me in the face last Monday night. The pavement was a mess. I’m nearly 60 years old. They were kicking, punching, and dragging me down the street. I am one of those old women who just got beaten up. “It’s happening all over.”
A woman bragged about her progressive credentials, before complaining that the violence in the area was putting women at risk. She said, “I have been at the extreme of community organizing activism for two decades. “I don’t think that it is as simple as being progressive here. The devil is in details. It’s women of all types who are being targeted. “This is also systemic violence.”
She also complained that city leaders let individuals commit crimes repeatedly.
She said, “You’re more likely to get messed up if you keep attacking people.” “You cannot let children just go out there.”
According to Best Places, Oakland is a blue-dominated city. 79.8% voters in Alameda County voted Democrat during the 2020 elections.