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Okay this is the thing about famous Asian Americans offering private rewards. It completely takes agency away from the community. Asian American community orgs have been working on police alternatives here for ages.
What’s more, one of our local electeds — in fact the person who represents Chinatown on city council — has put forward a proposal to redirect some of the police budget elsewhere.
Famous rich Asian Americans offering $ for tips reinforces the mayor’s low-blow attack on @nikki4oakland by suggesting the solution is 1. more money and 2. more cops (by asking ordinary citizens to become the cops)
By reinforcing the mayor’s position, it also reinforces the mayor’s attempts to bypass a city council interested in imagining the road from a corrupt, violent police department to community safety by using the city administrator to change the police department budget.
To me this is the epitome of parachuting. It feels like the worst kind of “philanthropy,” one that assumes simple solutions to complex problems and, perhaps without meaning to, supplants the work of democratic governance.
We can and must do better. If you have the means, support community based orgs like @APEN4EJ who are working to create safety and access for Chinatown seniors
And if you aren’t in the Town learn about what’s happening in your city. Who are the people who are willing to *try*, to fumble toward solutions that don’t create more, worse problems in their wake
Yes, an influx of money helps sometimes. But it’s also not the only resource we have. Relationships, trust, inclusive processes — these are resources too. I see people all over Oakland using these resources to address violence in our community.
Also, the political landscape matters. Our mayor used a press conference about addressing violence in Chinatown to lie and attack our city council president. Yeah, that information is hard to find if you weren’t already tuned in. But actions have consequences.
Finally, if you are working on something here in Oakland and want it amplified, drop a link!
The Vietnamese American Community Center of the East Bay burned down recently as well, you can chip in to their rebuilding costs here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/vaccebs-mission-to-continue-the-efforts?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_campaign=p_cf+share-flow-1
