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Rally Calls for Removal of Two Oakland Police Commissioners

Several current police commissioners and police accountability activists held a rally this week calling for removal or resignation of two members of the Oakland’s appointed Police Commission, accusing them of attacking fellow commissioners and members of the public, and creating chaos that has kept the commission from fulfilling its duties to the community.

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According to speakers at the rally Tuesday at noon on the steps of Oakland City Hall, Commission Chair Tyfahra Milele and Commissioner Brenda Harbin-Forte should be removed because they have created dysfunction on the commission that for months stalled the search for a new police chief.
According to speakers at the rally Tuesday at noon on the steps of Oakland City Hall, Commission Chair Tyfahra Milele and Commissioner Brenda Harbin-Forte should be removed because they have created dysfunction on the commission that for months stalled the search for a new police chief.

By Ken Epstein

 

Several current police commissioners and police accountability activists held a rally this week calling for removal or resignation of two members of the Oakland’s appointed Police Commission, accusing them of attacking fellow commissioners and members of the public, and creating chaos that has kept the commission from fulfilling its duties to the community.

 

“We are calling for a new leadership on the Police Commission.…In the last year, we have seen disunity, disrespectful proceedings, and a lack of attention to pressing police oversight matters,” said Mariano Contreras of the Oakland Latino Taskforce and the Coalition for Police Accountability.

 

According to speakers at the rally Tuesday at noon on the steps of Oakland City Hall, Commission Chair Tyfahra Milele and Commissioner Brenda Harbin-Forte should be removed because they have created dysfunction on the commission that for months stalled the search for a new police chief.

 

Speakers  also charged that the commission was unable to weigh in on a crucial issue, the firing of Oakland Police Department Chief LeRonne Armstrong, because Milele failed to subpoena records related to  the handling and mishandling of an internal OPD case against Sgt. Michael Chung, which was connected to the chief’s firing.

 

Speakers said they are calling for the removal of the commissioners after internal attempts to settle the conflicts were ignored or attacked.

 

Milele was appointed to the commission by the official selection panel, and Harbin-Forte was appointed by former Mayor Libby Schaaf. Milele’s term expires on October 16, while Harbin-Forte’s expired several months ago; she is serving until Mayor Sheng Thao names a replacement.

 

Contreras, who chaired the rally, said that rather than investigating the case that resulted in the firing of the police chief, the two commissioners have spent their time “looking for dirt” on community members, Oakland City Council members and the commission’s inspector general.

 

Police Commissioner Marsha Peterson, an attorney and Oakland native, said, “What we are up against (is) a lack of leadership,” adding that she has not been able to have conversations with Milele that don’t result in “threats, complaints, and chaos.”

 

At deadline, the Oakland Post has not received comments from Milele. However, in a press statement on June 7, Milele denounced the KTVU Channel 2 coverage of complaints against her and characterized the disputes as “an attempted power grab by a small band of political extremists with a personal agenda.”

 

“The extremist attack by an unelected, unaccountable, small group of politically ambitious zealots counters the will of the Oakland electorate and makes flagrantly false allegations,” she wrote.

In an email, Harbin-Forte told the Post:

“Yesterday’s pathetic rally totally vindicated Chair Tyfahra Milele and me.  The Coalition for Police Accountability and Commissioners Regina Jackson and Marsha Peterson invited more than 2,000 people to their party and ended up with more picture-takers than participants.”

She added: “Regina and Marsha suffered an embarrassing loss in January when Regina’s candidate, Marsha, who was then vice chair, ran to become chair of the commission. We not only overwhelmingly voted in Dr. Milele for a second term, but we also voted out Marsha as vice chair.”

Defending those criticized by Milele, Vice Mayor of Emeryville Courtney Welch, a former Oakland resident, said she stood in solidarity with “great leaders … who have been on the receiving end of vicious attacks, retaliation and character assassination” and that “it has to stop.”

 

Among those under attack, said Welch, have been Regina Jackson, currently a police commissioner and three-time past police commission chair; Police Commissioner Peterson; District 6 Oakland Councilmember Kevin Jenkins; and Cathy Leonard, a longtime police accountability activist, Oakland native, and president of the Coalition for Police Accountability.

 

The Coalition for Police Accountability was instrumental in putting Measure LL on the ballot, which created the police commission in 2016 with the support of 83% of voters.

 

In her remarks Leonard said, “We are raising a critical issue with the police commission,” only deciding to ask for the removal of the two commissioners after numerous attempts to meet with them failed to resolve the issues.

 

“We want the commission to work as a commission of all of the commissioners, not a police commission of two people,” she said.  “(But) it’s been attack after attack after attack.”

 

Jackson has served for six years on the Police Commission – its longest serving member – and for 30 years as a community leader. She said of Harbin-Forte, a retired judge, “We have seen ridiculous harassment and bullying, not just of community members, not just of city employees … but also of fellow commissioners.”

 

Jackson said Harbin-Forte has attacked those who are willing to stand up to her. “She called for three resignations in 72 hours: Councilmember Kevin Jenkins, myself, and Commissioner Marsha Peterson.”

 

She said she has requested five times but still has not seen an accounting of how the commission is spending its money.  “We have received no budget updates,” she said.

 

Jackson ended the rally with a chant, joined by other rally participants: “Remove, remove, remove!”

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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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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.

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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)
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.

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Oakland Post: Week of May 28 – June 30, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 28 – June 3, 2025

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