Oakland NAACP leaders have called for a state of emergency over soaring crime in the area, as they blame the defund the police movement and the George Soros- backed district attorney for the rising violence.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People branch president Cynthia Adams called on local officials to come together with local and federal resources to tackle the mounting public safety issues in the district.
She wrote a letter alongside Bishop Bob Jackson of the Acts Full Gospel Church to ring the alarm about the shootings, robberies and murders that have become a common occurrence in the district.
‘There is nothing compassionate or progressive about allowing criminal behavior to fester and rob Oakland residents of their basic rights to public safety,’ they wrote.
‘It is not racist or unkind to want to be safe from crime. No one should live in fear in our city.’
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Oakland branch president Cynthia Adams has called for a state of emergency over soaring crime in the area
The community leaders singled out George Soros-backed district attorney Pamela Price for the rising violence
The letter by the Black advocacy group takes aim at Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price and anti-police rhetoric like the defund the police movement, which they wrote has ‘created a heyday for Oakland criminals’ and created a ‘doom-loop’ as the city ‘continues to spiral downward.’
The NAACP wrote: ‘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.
‘If there are no consequences for committing crime in Oakland, crime will continue to soar.’
Price’s office responded to the accusations saying the DA is ‘disappointed that a great African-American pastor and a great African-American organization would take a false narrative on such an important matter.
‘We would expect more from Bishop Bob Jackson and the Oakland Chapter of the NAACP,’ Price’s office said.
Adams told the San Francisco Chronicle ‘everyone was being quiet’ about Oakland’s escalating crisis and said NAACP leaders were frustrated by officials’ claims that crime would ‘get better.’
‘Everything broke the camel’s back,’ she claimed. ‘Lifetime members — seniors — were saying, “Why is no one saying anything?” They are afraid.’
The NAACP letter comes as North Oakland has seen a a 22 percent increase in robberies and 18 percent increase in violent crime this year.
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Last month, Oakland cops urged residents to secure their homes – including by trimming hedges and shrubs so thieves have nowhere to hide – amid a rise in brazen burglaries while residents are inside their homes.
Police warned about an ‘uptick in home invasion robberies’ including cases of robbers armed with guns kicking down doors before threatening homeowners and stealing their belongings.
Oakland Police Department (OPD) said some of the worst-hit areas have been Laurel, North Hills, Joaquin Miller, and the Greater San Antonio area.
Last week, a British maritime security guard, 49, was shot dead near an Oakland park as he returned to his ship after a night out.
Satyan Dave, from London, had only hours earlier arrived in the city aboard a container ship that had travelled close to Somalia.
Police in the violence plagued city said he was shot dead at 5.15am close to International Boulevard, one of East Oakland’s main thoroughfares.
Last month, Oakland cops urged residents to secure their homes amid a rise in brazen burglaries while residents are inside their homes
Satyan Dave was shot dead near a park as he returned to his ship after a night out
The Oakland PD was sued over claims they let an abusive squatter inflict a campaign of terror on his neighbor, which culminated in the victim being shot dead. Jamal Thomas pictured
Meanwhile, the department has been sued over claims they let an abusive squatter inflict a campaign of terror on his neighbor, which culminated in the victim being shot dead as he fled his home with his pregnant wife and three children.
The wrongful death lawsuit was filed in federal court on behalf of the family of slain Miles Armstead, who had been moving his family out of their Ney Avenue home in May 2020 when he was shot in the back of the head by now-jailed Jamal Thomas.
On the day of his murder, Amstead and his wife Melina had decided to cut their losses on the home they’d saved hard to buy, only for Thomas to ambush them and kill Amstead as they tried to flee.
They’d previously called Oakland Police Department 23 times begging for help, only for cops there to turn a blind eye. Officers also allegedly mocked Amstead’s plight by dismissing him and Thomas as being ‘like two twelve year-old girls.’
The fatal act of aggression, cops said at time, served as the culmination of a monthlong faceoff between the two men, which allegedly began after 46-year-old Thomas illegally occupied the house next door after being evicted months earlier
