City Government

OP-ED: Don’t Stop Window Smashing by Targeting Peaceful Demonstrators

Published

10 years ago

June 9, 2015

By Rebecca Kaplan

In recent years, we have suffered from the cyclical epidemic of responding to problems by aiming at the wrong targets.

Some people, expressing (or pretending to express) anger about police misconduct, have broken windows and vandalized Oakland businesses. Being angry about police misconduct is legitimate, but the target — local Oakland businesses — is the wrong place to put that anger.

Many people have responded by pointing out that “having your windows smashed is not as bad as being killed,” but that does not solve the problem that the people whose windows are being smashed are not the people who did the killing.

Smashing windows and causing economic hardship to Oakland businesses and workers does nothing to stop the nationwide crisis involving the shooting of unarmed Black men.

The vandalism undermines efforts to build real solutions, diverting effort and public attention away from the need to end these wrongful deaths, and causing the public to associate the movement with the destruction of property of those who have done nothing wrong.

But just as window smashing misses the target, so too has the Oakland city administrations’ response to it — repeatedly — over the years. Those who engage in vandalism have often gotten away with it, while peaceful demonstrators are surrounded and arrested.

The window smashing is illegal and destructive, and it is important to hold people who do it accountable. However, mass arrests of nonviolent protesters who had nothing to do with the window smashing is missing the target — just like the window smashing itself.

This is not a question of having enforcement versus no enforcement; it’s a question of enforcement against the people who committed the harm versus enforcement targeted against those who did not commit the harm.

Because police resources are stretched thin, focusing efforts on strategies that don’t improve public safety means that other important work isn’t happening — such as catching illegal gun dealers, armed robbers, and the window-smashers.

Regardless of whether someone believes it is appropriate to devote substantial police resources to move demonstrators from streets to sidewalks, (and whether or not it turns out to be legal, which we do not yet know), surely we can all realize that it does not target the vandals who got away with their acts of destruction.

The people being cited and arrested are not believed to have engaged in vandalism — and meanwhile, those who committed the vandalism are not being held accountable.

To effectively respond to and redress the vandalism, we should directly target, and hold accountable the people who have engaged in acts of vandalism.

Therefore, I am asking that Oakland specifically:

Make a real effort to identify and hold accountable those who have engaged in vandalism.

For those who did not get caught, continue efforts after-the-fact to identify and find them. Collect and review video and photo footage and work to find the identity of the vandals.

Ask the public for help in identifying people in photos. Initiate significant litigation against those who engaged in vandalism and destruction to seek payment for the harm they caused, including compensating the businesses for their impact, and requiring a commitment that they refrain from such acts in the future.

Help the businesses that were harmed, including with tenant improvement and façade improvement funds.

Make city funds available, in a timely way, to support needed repairs, including allowing funds to be used for strengthening measures to make businesses less vulnerable in the future. (Such as helping install metal roll-down doors and unbreakable windows).

Those who vandalize Oakland businesses not only create blight in our community, but they also endanger the jobs of working people who rely on their jobs at these businesses to feed their families and put roofs over their heads. Those who vandalize Oakland businesses are not only creating harm to our business owners, but also are putting the economic security of working people and our broader community at risk.

Rebecca Kaplan is vice mayor of Oakland. This column was originally published in the East Bay Express.

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Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025

Published

7 hours ago

May 25, 2025

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IN MEMORIAM: Nate Holden, State Senator and Longtime Los Angeles Councilmember, Dies at 95

Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn described Holden as “a lion” in the State Senate and a force to be reckoned with on the Los Angeles City Council.” Hahn added that she learned a lot working with Holden when she was a new councilmember.

Published

6 days ago

May 19, 2025

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Former Los Angeles Councilmember and California State Sen. Nate Holden. File photo.

By Bo Tefu, California Black Media

Former Los Angeles City Councilmember Nathaniel “Nate” Holden, a prominent figure in the city’s politics, passed away at the age of 95, his family confirmed on May 7.

Holden, who represented South Los Angeles for 16 years on the City Council and served one term in the California State Senate, was widely regarded as a forceful advocate for his community.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn described Holden as “a lion” in the State Senate and a force to be reckoned with on the Los Angeles City Council.”

Hahn added that she learned a lot working with Holden when she was a new councilmember.

Holden’s journey to political prominence began in the segregated South, where he was born in Macon, Georgia, in 1929. He often recalled the childhood moment when he first heard the governor of Georgia vowing to continue suppressing Black people.

“Doing the best you can for the people. Law and order. Make sure that people’s communities are safe. I did it all,” said Holden, reflecting on his legacy.

Holden is survived by his sons, including former California Assemblymember Chris Holden, who represented a district in Southern California that includes Pasadena and Altadena in Los Angeles County and cities in San Bernardino County.

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Oakland Hosts Town Hall Addressing Lead Hazards in City Housing

According to the city, there are 22,000 households in need of services for lead issues, most in predominantly low-income or Black and Latino neighborhoods, but only 550 to 600 homes are addressed every year. The city is hoping to use part of the multimillion-dollar settlement to increase the number of households served each year.

Published

7 days ago

May 18, 2025

Oakland Post

iStock.

By Magaly Muñoz

The City of Oakland’s Housing and Community Development Department hosted a town hall in the Fruitvale to discuss the efforts being undertaken to remove lead primarily found in housing in East and West Oakland.

In 2021, the city was awarded $14 million out of a $24 million legal settlement from a lawsuit against paint distributors for selling lead-based paint that has affected hundreds of families in Oakland and Alameda County. The funding is intended to be used for lead poisoning reduction and prevention services in paint only, not water or other sources as has been found recently in schools across the city.

The settlement can be used for developing or enhancing programs that abate lead-based paint, providing services to individuals, particularly exposed children, educating the public about hazards caused by lead paint, and covering attorney’s fees incurred in pursuing litigation.

Most of the homes affected were built prior to 1978, and 12,000 of these homes are considered to be at high risk for lead poisoning.

City councilmember Noel Gallo, who represents a few of the lead-affected Census tracts, said the majority of the poisoned kids and families are coming directly from neighborhoods like the Fruitvale.

“When you look at the [kids being admitted] at the children’s hospital, they’re coming from this community,” Gallo said at the town hall.

In order to eventually rid the highest impacted homes of lead poisoning, the city intends to create programs and activities such as lead-based paint inspections and assessments, full abatement designed to permanently eliminate lead-based paint, or partial abatement for repairs, painting, and specialized cleaning meant for temporary reduction of hazards.

In feedback for what the city could implement in their programming, residents in attendance of the event said they want more accessibility to resources, like blood testing, and information from officials about lead poisoning symptoms, hotlines for assistance, and updates on the reduction of lead in their communities.

Attendees also asked how they’d know where they are on the prioritization list and what would be done to address lead in the water found at several school sites in Oakland last year.

City staff said there will be a follow-up event to gather more community input for programming in August, with finalizations happening in the fall and a pilot launch in early 2026.