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...

( Illustration: Maxime Mouysset) Well, looks like we made the papers! (Again.) Check out this investigative piece from Bloomberg / CityLab by Sarah Holder and Fola Akinnibi,  Nextdoor’s Quest to Beat Toxic Content and Make Money It still only scratches the surface. On Nextdoor in San Leandro, racial profiling, antisemitism, harassment, and abuse are rampant to the point that they've become core features of the platform. Users on Nextdoor in our city spread false kidnapping claims and call the police on innocent people, advocate for gun violence, share COVID-19 conspiracy theories, as well as attack anyone who doesn't subscribe to their brand of bigotry. People in San Leandro have been hurt because of the toxicity that congeals on Nextdoor, spilling over into real life again and again. In less than two years, we've seen the results from assaults on BIPOC participating in our local Buy Nothing group to attacks on our unhoused population just trying to find a safe place to ...

(Photo by San Diego Union-Tribune ) Content Warning: this post contains graphic discussions of bigotry and violence. Last month, a Woman of Color participating in our local Buy Nothing group was attacked in a textbook case of how social media fearmongering leads to real-world consequences. For those who don't know, Buy Nothing is a national organization made up of individual community chapters that serve as a place to share goods and services, from clothes to books, and yard work to housework, as well as almost anything else. I have included links to the full statements from the administrators of North San Leandro Buy Nothing below, but I want to directly share the series of events as reported by the victim: "On a porch pickup today (12/23) at 10:50am (to a house I have already been to) I was physically assaulted. My body is in pain and I can still feel burning where the man’s hands were wringing my arm. I was accused of stealing from the gifter’s porch which I explained to th...

(Artist and title unknown) "There is no real difference for users between a platform that has no policies against hate speech, incitement, and disinformation, and one which has such policies but does not enforce them." —V. Judah Khaykin. Take note and take care.

I am pleased to share the recent presentation from the San Leandro White Antiracism Initiative! (SWAI) This month we look into the racist history of San Leandro, how it affected us then, and how it still impacts us today. Even more importantly, it serves as a step towards how we can repair the harm that was done, honor the history that has been ignored, and move forward towards a just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive future. For more background, you can watch:  The Suburban Wall (1971)  and  The Invisible Wall (1981) Please reach out to SWAI@googlegroups.com to get involved! Take note and take care.

I've come to realize that I end up repeating myself a lot when engaging with other people in my work. The hard part is that the topic that most frequently rears itself repeatedly is about my background. How dare I. Who am I. What do I know. What gives me the right. At this point, I'm just tired and bored of having to bare my soul every single time someone with a chip on their shoulder wants to try throwing it at my face. Like with most things in my life, I've chosen to write it down somewhere that people can read at their leisure and convenience. And, also, where I can finally get a little leisure and convenience. So, if you have questions about me then here are some answers. I do mean some. Not all. There will always be things I refuse to share except with my loved ones. Now... prepare for a Very Long Post! *** As a legal advocate, community organizer, civil servant, and experienced public administrator, I believe I possess a unique combination of education, experience, an...

(Source: N4RJ) Whew! It has been a whirlwind of a year plus on Nextdoor as a user and as a lead. But regardless of the abuse, harassment, or barriers put in place to prevent constructive community building and necessary uncomfortable conversations, I remain as dedicated as ever to building a better San Leandro for everyone. A place where we can continue to have real dialogue in the new public square that forums like this have become. While Nextdoor has summarily and improperly stripped me of my lead status for the moment, I will not give up the struggle to make platforms like theirs live up to the standards they say they are dedicated to and connections between neighbors they say they wish to foster. Indeed, this isn’t the first, second, third, or even the fourth time Nextdoor has failed to consider crucial context, incorrectly removed content, wrongly suspended users, as well as engaged in other inconsistent and inappropriate behavior. In fact, Nextdoor actually violates their own gui...

(Image credit: Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle .) The image above is of some random White goyishe dude spraying "Free Palestine" in graffiti, defacing a synagogue during Black Lives Matter protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The number of alleged progressives I've seen talking about this and missing the point about why defacing a synagogue is wrong is just fucking wild. But the number of my fellow Jews defending it!? Like, goyishe antisemitism is kinda expected, but the internalized antisemitism from antizionist Jews? Whew... Hard to tell if the perfect misunderstandings are intentional or genuinely ignorant. Like, there's disagreement about Israel's and Palestine's rights to exist - which are real problems! - and then there's a hate crime. Done by some random White dude gentile. We saw this same shit in May at Beth Israel in Los Angeles, where there were no flags. Indeed, that's exactly how we know its never been about the flags. Defacing synagogues for the ac...

(Image credit: Banksy) In the midst of all the discussions taking place about the problems facing San Leandro in the here and now regarding racism and policing, I think it's important we take a step back to look at part of how that happened. Well, it was on purpose. See, San Leandro was, as far back as the early 1900's, a sundown town. Look through the entry for our city by Bay Area historian, James W. Loewen. His holistic work is available here . What is a sundown town, you ask? Sundown towns, occasionally known as sunset towns or gray towns, is an all-White municipality or neighborhood in the United States that practices a form of racial segregation by excluding non-Whites. This is usually accomplished via some combination of discriminatory laws, intimidation, and violence. As a result, entire sundown counties and sundown suburbs were also created by the same process. The term originally came from signs posted that demanded Black people, and sometimes other racial minority g...

(Credit: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection ) I'm one of many community activists here in San Leandro and I just put together this post to help address a lot of questions, confusion, and even frustration or anger people may have regarding the recent push to defund the SLPD, or the police in general. To start with, I hear you. In my city, a slim majority of our elected officials defied the calls from activists to delay the budget vote and review where budget allocations originally marked for SLPD would go. Instead, the mayor and a few city council members felt it was more important to just pass a budget than to do the harder work of revising the budget to help prevent further police violence. If you listen to the meeting (link here ) you can hear for yourself that this decision was solely made by 4 city council (including the mayor) members against the wishes of community members that participated in public comment, wrote letters, and have been advocating for justice against pol...

(Source.) There are times when I feel as if I cannot trust myself. There are times when I feel as if my own judgement is insufficient to conquer my doubts, the internalized fear that has been with me since childhood. There are times when I fall into the trap poignantly stated by William Butler Yeats, Bertrand Russell, and even Charles goddamn Bukowski. These times are often no more feverish than when confronted with antisemitism... Here is paraphrased excerpt from Irena Klepfisz's "Anti-Semitism in the Lesbian/Feminist Movement" (pgs. 49-51), offering a series of questions that "both Jewish and non-Jewish women might consider asking in trying to identify in themselves sources of shame, conflict, doubt, and anti-Semitism." (H/t to The Debate Link for their summary and sourcing.) 1. Do I have to check with other Jewish people in order to verify whether something is antisemitic? 2. Do I distrust my own judgement on this issue? 3. When I am certa...

[***Author's Note: all links posted here are necessary to fully understand and comprehend this material. Please read each linked piece in full in the order which it appears. Also, the author is aware that this post cannot, by the very nature of its subject matter, stand as a timeless and completely comprehensive account, or for inadvertent omissions or developments that change the content contained herein.***] Israel and Palestine. Oppressor and oppressed. Colonizer and colonized. Settlers and refugees. Murders and protectors. Both and neither. Two nations. Two peoples. Two religions. Too much horror and tragedy. Neither can live while the other survives they say, but neither will live if the other dies too. It's that simple -- and yet, actually, it's also not that simple. Indeed, if there is ever a truism when it comes to the Middle East, especially Israel and Palestine, it's that everything is always really simple and really complicated. Forget shades of grey! We...