The Advocate

(Addie Kitchen, grandmother of Steven Taylor, says she wants the case to go to trial. Credit: Emilie Raguso/The Berkeley Scanner) Alameda County District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson is moving to dismiss the charges against former San Leandro Police Department officer Jason Fletcher for the murder of Steven Taylor. The decision follows years of delay and negligence around this case as members of local and state law enforcement rallied to prevent Fletcher from facing trial by a jury of his peers. Even as judges repeatedly   rejected  attempts to toss the case. Notably, there's also evidence of illegal collusion between current and former members of the DA's office to help Fletcher's defense, headed up by infamous attorney Michael Rains, who regularly defends police officers found to have engaged in misconduct and brutality . Whether there will ever be justice for Steven Taylor and the Taylor family is now deeply uncertain. But we do know that it's likely Fletcher wi...

It has been 18 months since Steven Taylor was murdered by former San Leandro Police Officer Jason Fletcher in less than 40 seconds from when he arrived on scene. It has been 18 months since still active SLPD Officer Stefan Overton was an accessory to the crime, tasing Steven even after he had already been shot. It has been 18 months since the ongoing racism and inequity within San Leandro was laid bare in a way that was impossible to ignore or deny. A judge in the proceedings recently denied Fletcher's motion to dismiss the case.  However, Fletcher didn't bother to appear in court, letting his attorney, Michael Rains of the Oakland Riders police corruption scandal , to bloviate on his behalf. Among the notable remarks were these:  "Alameda County Superior Court Judge Thomas Reardon asked why Fletcher did not wait for his backup since Taylor allegedly posed no immediate threat to anyone when Fletcher arrived at the Walmart at 15555 Hesperian Blvd. on April 18, 2020." ...

The San Leandro City Council is having their next regular meeting this Monday, July 19, beginning at 6:30 PM PDT. What’s on the agenda? Climate action, racial justice, police brutality, mental health crisis response, menthol cigarettes, community health, reimagining public safety, affordable housing, and more besides! The Zoom link is here . Alternatively, you can call in at 1-888-788-0099 or 1-877-853-5247. If you are unable to join in real-time, you can still submit your comments to clerk@sanleandro.org. If you do, make sure to CC citycouncil@sanleandro.org to make sure every elected official gets to read what your voice wants them to hear. That said, let’s start in order of appearance! Agenda Item 1.A, Pledge of Allegiance It’s past time we acknowledge that American was founded on stolen land and slave labor. Without accepting the truth of our history, we are doomed to repeat it. Or, at the very least, commit the same sins in rhyme. Including a land acknowledgment helps ground our c...

(Image credit: APTP) This past Tuesday, spectators to the ongoing trial of former SLPD Officer Jason Fletcher were met with harassment, aggression, and corruption of technology to prevent the people from effectively exercising their First Amendment Rights. As you may be aware, many social media platforms and streaming sites include automatic algorithms to delete copyrighted content. Well, law enforcement across California are using that to disrupt legal filming of their activities by playing pop music that will prevent the public from posting those videos to social media and/or streaming sites like YouTube. It also just makes it harder for people to hear what’s happening when cops are attempting to intimidate residents and civilians. In this case, an Alameda County Sheriff’s Deputy explicitly admitted to this on video and the story has been picked up by multiple media outlets. You can read more about it at Gizmodo and The Verge . Here’s a particularly illuminating quote: “You can reco...

I waited to post until now. I wanted to sit with my feelings about the first official Steven Taylor Day this past April 18, 2021. The day commemorated not his murder by SLPD, but rather his life as a father, a son, a grandson, an artist, an SLHS alumnus, and so much more. He was a human being. His life mattered. It was self-evident, inherent. His worth was more than 40 seconds or $40 dollars of generic retail items. However, because he was a Black man, mentally ill, and homeless, he was discarded, disregarded, callously calculated as less than and less deserving than. Sadly, his story is not unique or even rare. It's why Steven Taylor Day was also made into a memorial for every life, every victim, every survivor, every family touched by police violence. It’s a reminder that racism is not a bygone era or fringe feeling. It was built into the foundations of our nation, intertwined within our institutions, our values, our way of life. So, yes, I wanted to sit with it, because so much ...