City Government

Sokhom Mao Runs for Council District 2

Published

11 years ago

March 5, 2014

Sokhom Mao, 26, a commissioner on the Citizens’ Police Review Board and a former foster youth, has entered the race for Oakland’s City Council District 2 seat.

Based on his experience in advocating for foster care reform and working with the County of Alameda’s Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention program, he has attracted supporters to his grassroots campaign, which says will knock on every door in the district.

“It’s really about engaging the community,” said Mao. “People look at me and say he’s too young, but they don’t my background.”

Mao has already opened a bank account for fundraising and has begun gathering volunteers and campaign staff. His platform focuses on reforming public education, addressing public safety concerns and attracting more businesses to increase employment opportunities for minorities.

As a foster youth, he experienced the challenges of the foster care system. At 14, he became an advisory board member of California Youth Connection, a policy advocacy organization that works with legislators on programs that deal with the importance of resources in higher education.

As a student at Oakland High School, Mao felt the school did not place enough emphasis on college preparation and had a curriculum that did not engage students.

When he graduated, he went on to work at the California Social Work Education Center, which creates curriculum for public child welfare workers.

He also testified before the San Francisco Planning Commission, advocating for students to have equal access to learning materials, which led to City and County of San Francisco to approve a new Chinatown-North Beach City College Campus.

Mao’s education initiatives involved creating an apprenticeship program to serve as a pipeline to full-time employment for Oakland students.

As a commissioner of the Citizens’ Police Review Board, Mao says public safety is one of his key concerns.

“We need OPD to be treated as a department we call for services instead of them just responding to a crime scene,” said Mao. “When a crime happens, people are afraid to report it because they feel it won’t help. I was a victim of attempted robbery in my district, and that’s why I believe there should be a community policing plan that is customized to the serve the needs of the neighborhood.”

Mao will kick off his campaign on March 28.

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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 day 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.