The Advocate

Before October 7, 2023, I was a proud progressive Jew here in San Leandro. Before October 7, I was a friend of our local Social Justice Academy and our resident Democratic Socialists of America chapter. Before October 7, I never would have believed that Jews were endangered by leftist antisemitism . After October 7, I learned how very wrong I was. In the wake of the Hamas massacre, fallen friends and alleged allies turned their backs. People I've stood with for police reform, housing, healthcare, and social justice here in San Leandro now embrace antisemitism, tokenization, and conspiracy theories, promoting the very same bigotry they claim to oppose. Just as we have seen in Oakland, Richmond, Berkeley, and San Francisco , the cause of Palestinian liberation has been hijacked for divisive attacks on Jewish people rather than advocating for peace and the sanctity of human life. I write publicly now because as Rabbi Abraham Kook taught, "I don't speak because I have the pow...

It's the unofficial slogan of San Leandro. Successive generations of local leaders have repeated it over and over in coffee shops, libraries, and city hall. We print it on banners and campaign mailers. It adorns our meeting rooms and street lights. It's seen as self-evident, a truth we hold without ever asking why, "a city where kindness matters." But does it? Whether we're looking at those sundown town times of the suburban wall, where crosses were burnt on Black family lawns and the police arrested gay men through entrapment, or the murder of Steven Taylor and citywide upheaval that followed during the pandemic years, San Leandro has continued to show that kindness is often the last thing on our minds. There are over 400 homeless people who live here. They're our neighbors, friends, and even family members. Yet, our Chamber of Commerce would have us send them to Oakland and Hayward or, better yet, book them a permanent stay at John George up the hill, if it ...

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 ...