The Advocate

(Costanoan by Pastel @  Highway 880 Marina West Exit ) I remember the exact day that the Left in San Leandro died. It was actually a Monday evening downtown at City Hall. There was a city council meeting that night and it was packed. A group of fellow local activists, and even more from outside the community, had organized a protest against the then-recent war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. The protest erupted into civil disobedience that shut down the city council meeting, before ultimately descending into bigotry and violence. I know because I was there. This post has been a long time coming. Some have repeatedly asked me to share what happened. Just as many would like to pretend nothing happened that night. A few have even threatened me against ever writing about it. But I'd bet that there are also a lot of people who have absolutely no idea what happened. This isn't about spreading salacious stories for social media clout. It's about holding ourselves accountable as...

San Leandro isn't ready to resist the arrival of American fascism. We're now over 8 months into the Trump Regime 2.0, and our democracy is crumbling faster than a sandcastle in the sea. ICE is snatching innocent people off the streets like the Gestapo in 1930s Germany, sending them to concentration camps in Florida or foreign gulags in El Salvador. The White House is openly defying court orders, from ending birthright citizenship to firing federal workers en masse. Trump himself has monetized the presidency with billion-dollar jets from Qatar and literal gold statues from Apple's CEO. The tariffs are spiking inflation, and the job market is tanking as ordinary folks and working families struggle to survive. But the richest people continue to rake in profits. Now the military is being deployed against American cities, with soldiers on the streets and threats to send more across the country. It's so bad I don't even have the space to type it all out. *** So what's...

Now that we are fully immersed in the horrors of the Trump Regime, I might as well wax aspirational about what the political roadmap for rebuilding the country should be (in my humble opinion). My plan is based on over a decade as an advocate and community organizer, working with marginalized groups across the country and sitting in rooms with the powerful where it happens; as well as another decade as a public servant, doing the people's business from the inside out and the bottom up to repair broken systems amongst crumbling institutions. It's not a perfect plan or a final plan. It's just a roadmap, but I think it's a pretty good one, all things considered. Here we go! *** Organizing motto: Building a better world for everyone Organizing strategy: Do everything everywhere all at once and all the time Organizing principles: Fundamental fairness through social and economic justice Civil rights and responsibilities for all Growth and abundance for shared prosperity Organ...