City Government

“Enough is Enough” – Oakland Clergy React to Killing of 8-year-old Girl

Published

12 years ago

July 22, 2013

Twenty members of Oakland’s clergy held a press conference Thursday in response to violence in the city and the recent shooting of 8-year old Alaysha Carradine, who was killed while at a friend’s sleepover on Wednesday.

Two other children and their grandmother were also injured in the shooting.

Faith leaders – including Bishop Frank Pinkard, Pastor Marty Peters, Pastor Brondon Reems, and others – joined in solidarity to express their outrage and concerns for safety in the community.

“We demand protection for our community,” said Pastor Zac Carey. “This is a state of emergency. You have grandmothers being shot, 8-year olds being murdered, and other kids being shot, where they’re not even safe in their own homes.”

“Clergy just can’t stand by silent; we need our voices to be heard and we need the community to come and stand with us to address this violence, “ he said. “Every community member has to be outraged and say enough is enough.”

With constant protests in response to the Zimmerman verdict, clergy were disappointed that the community did not show the same outrage with the tragedy of Wednesday’s shooting.

“I would like to see the same outrage for what happened [that night] as well…Where’s the outrage, where’s the protest?” Asked Pastor George Matthews.

As a sacred place for people seeking comfort and answers, the church is going to put its arms around the community, Bishop Bob Jackson said.

“We plan to be more visible than what we’ve been, reach out more to the community and do everything to support and to comfort the community, but also to provide some type of leadership,” Jackson said.

“We have been guilty of being in our churches; but the Lord is blessing us now to open up the doors of the church and begin to work in the community like we’ve never done before.”

“That’s going to be a part of the abatement process for the violence that you see in front of you.”

Alaysha Carradine was at the sleepover with the other children and their grandmother in the Dimond District neighborhood when gunfire struck the apartment’s front security screen door, killing Carradine and wounding everyone else in the room.

No suspects have been arrested, and police don not have a motive for the attack. The child’s death is Oakland’s 54th homicide of the year.

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Oakland Post: Week of June 4 – 10, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of June 4-10, 2025

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4 days ago

June 7, 2025

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Remembering George Floyd

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing.

Published

1 week ago

June 2, 2025

Oakland Post

Mural showing the portrait of George Floyd in Mauerpark in Berlin. To the left of the portrait the lettering "I can't Breathe" was added, on the right side the three hashtags #GeorgeFloyd, #Icantbreathe and #Sayhisname. The mural was completed by Eme Street Art (facebook name) / Eme Free Thinker (signature) on 29 May 2020. (Wikimedia Commons)

By April Ryan
BlackPressUSA Newswire

“The president’s been very clear he has no intentions of pardoning Derek Chauvin, and it’s not a request that we’re looking at,” confirms a senior staffer at the Trump White House. That White House response results from public hope, including from a close Trump ally, Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. The timing of Greene’s hopes coincides with the Justice Department’s recent decision to end oversight of local police accused of abuse. It also falls on the fifth anniversary of the police-involved death of George Floyd on May 25th. The death sparked national and worldwide outrage and became a transitional moment politically and culturally, although the outcry for laws on police accountability failed.

The death forced then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden to focus on deadly police force and accountability. His efforts while president to pass the George Floyd Justice in policing act failed. The death of George Floyd also put a spotlight on the Black community, forcing then-candidate Biden to choose a Black woman running mate. Kamala Harris ultimately became vice president of the United States alongside Joe Biden. Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison prosecuted the cases against the officers involved in the death of Floyd. He remembers,” Trump was in office when George Floyd was killed, and I would blame Trump for creating a negative environment for police-community relations. Remember, it was him who said when the looting starts, the shooting starts, it was him who got rid of all the consent decrees that were in place by the Obama administration.”

In 2025, Police-involved civilian deaths are up by “about 100 to about 11 hundred,” according to Ellison. Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African-American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing. During those minutes on the ground, Floyd cried out for his late mother several times. Police subdued Floyd for an alleged counterfeit $20 bill.