Reporter witnesses 'surreal' moment when 'mostly black families' rally to support police while Antifa protests
Talk about narrative-busting.
Just weeks after Oakland lawmakers voted to slash funding from the Oakland police department, a reporter witnessed what he called a "surreal" moment in Oakland on Saturday — black families rallying to support police while "mostly white" Antifa protesters demonstrated against police.
What are the details?
Led by Oakland police chief LeRonne Armstrong and other community leaders, city residents angry over violent crime gathered Saturday for the "Stand Up for a Safe Oakland" rally.
Journalist Lee Fang of The Intercept reported on the "surreal" scene of the rally.
"Surreal moment in Oakland. About 200 mostly black families rally with police to call for an end to the epidemic of gun violence. Mothers at the stage mourning recently murdered children. In the back, less than a dozen mostly white antifa protesters assembled to jeer them," Fang reported.
Surreal moment in Oakland. About 200 mostly black families rally with police to call for an end to the epidemic of… https://t.co/W6Tdg7O8UN
— Lee Fang (@lhfang) 1625949707.0
One video from the rally captured older black residents confront the protesters. When the Antifa protesters claimed police are responsible for the deaths in Oakland, the black rally-goers erupted.
"No!!!" one woman screamed.
"That's a lie, that's a lie," a nearby black man said.
(Content Warning:Strong language):
In #Oakland today there was a "Stand up for a Safe Oakland" rally against gun violenceSeveral #Antifa, who appear… https://t.co/XkDLIHKPHL
— AntifaWatch (@AntifaWatch2) 1625950805.0
"Dramatic confrontation before I got there," Fang explained of the confrontation. "A lot of the anti-violence activists from East Oakland said they were disappointed in the white anti-police antifa protesters, said they seemed close minded and disconnected from the actual violence in the city."
Armstrong also addressed the Antifa protesters in his remarks at the rally.
"You can shout from wherever you come from," he said, KPIX-TV reported. "It don't matter to me because I've lost people as a result of gun violence. So you can't tell me what this day is about."
"The fact of the matter is, far too many people are afraid to come outside," Armstrong said. "Our seniors can't walk to the store. Young people are dying at an alarming rate. If you can't stand up for safe Oakland, what do you stand up for?"
Why did city leaders they slash funding?
Oakland — which is run by a Democratic mayor and an all-Democratic city council — voted to "strip $17.4 million in funding from the Oakland Police Department and direct the money toward other programs," according to KPIX.
Councilmember Dan Kalb said that, despite increased violent crime, the city should "focus on our violence prevention, affordable housing, our homeless populations and that's what this budget helps us move forward and do."
Surprisingly, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf opposed the budget cuts.
"I believe that until we have proven alternatives, we cannot destroy Oakland's current public safety system at a time when we are losing so many to gun violence," she said.
Los Angeles County votes for $36 million increase in funding for police after major surge in crime
Progressives have made calls to "defund the police" and "abolish the police" in cities across the United States for months, including in Los Angeles. However, cities have been forced to provide additional funding for their police departments after violent crimes have spiked, including Los Angeles.
In the first two months of 2021, Los Angeles Police Department officers have fielded 88% more reports of shots fired than the same time period in 2020. Gunshot victims in L.A. are up 141% versus last year, and homicides are up 39%, according to Crosstown, a nonprofit news organization based out of the USC Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism. There were 15 hate crimes reported in Los Angeles in 2020, up from seven reported in 2019, according to the Los Angeles Police Commission.
To combat the wave of violent crime, the California city has voted on Thursday to increase police funding. The Los Angeles County Metro, the area's public transportation agency, voted to increase police funding by $36 million. The additional funding will go to the Los Angeles Police Department, Long Beach Police Department, and Los Angeles Sherriff's Department. Law enforcement had originally asked for $111 million in more funding.
The extra funding passed with a unanimous 12-0 vote from the Metro Board of Directors, including a "yea" from Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, according to the New York Post.
In June, Garcetti said he was committed to not increasing the police budget. "We will not be increasing our police budget," the Democratic mayor proclaimed, adding that the city would be "reinvesting in black communities and communities of color."
The Los Angeles City Council voted last July to slash $150 million from the LAPD budget.
If this sounds familiar, it is because Minneapolis and Portland were also forced to increase funding in police after pledging to defund the police.
In June, Minneapolis City Council vowed to "dismantle" the city's police department. After crime skyrocketed in Minneapolis, the City Council voted unanimously to approve $6.4 million in additional funding to the Minneapolis Police Department.
Portland reduced its police budget by nearly $16 million in 2020, but then crime surged. Earlier this month, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler (D) called for more than $2 million in funding for the Portland Police Department.
There were so many shootings and gun violence that Portland was forced to reinstate the city's gun violence task force in March after disbanding the Gun Violence Reduction Team (GVRT) only months earlier.
"More people died of gunfire last year in Portland — 40 — than the entire tally of homicides the previous year. The number of shootings — 900 — was nearly 2 1/2 times higher than the year before," the Associated Press reported.
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