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OP-ED: The Last Riot

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“Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God.” Matthew 5:9

 

Peace is hard to find during this so-called season of peace. A suicide bomber killed nine in Afghanistan this week. Suicide bombers killed 70 last week in Nigeria and rioting still continues all across this nation in response to the St. Louis Grand Gury’s decision to not indict Darren Wilson for killing Michael Brown.

 

Thousands have been arrested. Looters and rioters continue to terrorize the streets. On Sunday November 30th, Zemir Begic a Bosnian man who recently moved to St Louis was brutally attacked after he confronted some of the protesters.

Police said, “Begic was in his vehicle about 1:15 a.m. in the 4200 block of Itaska when several juveniles approached and began damaging his car. Begic got out to confront the juveniles, who began yelling at him and hitting him with hammers.” Begic, 32, suffered injuries to his head, abdomen, face and mouth, died at St Louis Hospital.

Natalie Dubose, an African-American small business owner of Natalie’s Cakes was in tears when she realized her store was one of the ones damaged during the riots.

 

Robert Chabot, president of the local school board and small business owner in downtown Ferguson said, “There are going to be a lot of businesses that don’t reopen, I’m sure of that.”

 

History has already validated the concerns of Mr. Chabot. Thomas Sowell stated in his recent National Review article “If the history of other communities ravaged by riots in years past is any indication, there are blacks yet unborn who will be paying the price of these riots for years to come.

 

Sometimes it is a particular neighborhood that never recovers, and sometimes it is a whole city. Detroit is a classic example. It had the worst riot of the 1960s, with 43 deaths — 33 of them black people. Businesses left Detroit, taking with them jobs and taxes that were very much needed to keep the city viable. Middle class people — both black and white — also fled.

 

Two economic historians, Robert Margo and William Collins, studied owner-occupied housing data to see how much of those cities’ economic declines could be attributed specifically to riots.

 

In places where severe rioting occurred, property values fell, Collins says, “by about 10 percent relative to where we think they would have been in absence of a riot, or in comparison to places with that had much less severe or no riots. Property owned by blacks saw values drop by as much as 15 percent. But what was most surprising was that these losses lasted through the 20 years they studied. Some cities still haven’t recovered.”

 

We must choose a different way. Nothing of value has ever been gained from these riots. The losses are more than just life and property lost in the fires of the riots. We also lose a part of our soul. Join me next week as we continue the discussion to ensure that the riots of Ferguson are the last American riots.

 

 

 

 

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Activism

Oakland Post: Week of November 13 – 19, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of November 13 – 19, 2024

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Activism

Oakland Post: Week of November 6 – 12, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of November 6 – 12, 2024

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Bay Area

Alameda County Judge Blasts Defendants Over Delay in West Oakland Fire Trial

Judge Kimberly Lowell excoriated the RadiusRecycling/SchnitzerSteel defendants in court for causing delays in prosecuting this case. Since the defendants first appeared in court on July 23, they have obtained three extensions of the arraignment date.

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Criminal charges announced this week are related to the August 2023 scrap metal fire at Radius Recycling Inc., formerly Schnitzer Steel. Photo courtesy of Oaklandside.
Criminal charges announced this week are related to the August 2023 scrap metal fire at Radius Recycling Inc., formerly Schnitzer Steel. Photo courtesy of Oaklandside.

Special to The Post

District Attorney Pamela Price announced that a hearing was held on October 30 in the criminal prosecution of the Radius Recycling/Schnitzer Steel involving a fire at the West Oakland facility on Aug. 9-10, 2023.

The Alameda County criminal Grand Jury indicted radius Recycling and two of its corporate managers in June 2024.

Judge Kimberly Lowell excoriated the RadiusRecycling/SchnitzerSteel defendants in court for causing delays in prosecuting this case. Since the defendants first appeared in court on July 23, they have obtained three extensions of the arraignment date.

The court clarified that the defendants will not receive more extensions on their arraignment and plea.

Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price agreed with the court that defendants should not get preferential treatment. Price and her team appreciated the court for clarifying that future delays by Radius will not be tolerated.

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District’s (BAAQMD) public data shows that during and after the fire, the smoke plume traveled across Alameda County with high levels of PM 2.5 (Particulate Matter less than 2.5 microns in diameter) detected around Laney College in Oakland, Livermore, Pleasanton, and West Oakland.

PM2.5 is particularly harmful to infants and children, the elderly, and people with asthma or heart disease.

“This fire posed a great health hazard to the people of Alameda County,” said Price. “High, short-term exposures to a toxic smoke plume have been shown to cause significant danger to human health.

“Additionally, in this case, Oakland firefighters battled the blaze under extremely dangerous conditions for 15 hours with assistance from a San Francisco Fire Department fireboat and a fireboat from the City of Alameda Fire Department,” Price observed.

The team prosecuting the case from the DA’s Consumer Justice Bureau looks forward to resolving any future motions and having the defendants arraigned in court on Dec. 9.

The media relations office of the Alameda County District Attorney’s office is the source of this report.

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