The Advocate

( 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 ...

(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.

(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...

I was pleased to see this recent CNBC piece about the systemic issues with racism and related bigotry on Nextdoor: https://youtu.be/mvL5HKyw0zs. I was even more proud to have been able to support and connected with the group, Neighbors for Racial Justice (N4RJ), which was formed in Oakland, but now encompasses several allied groups around the Bay Area, including San Leandro with yours truly! As we've seen here, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, Nextdoor's platform has become a public square where our community members, including local businesses, can connect with each other. However, as we've also seen, it has been used as a tool for racial profiling, toxicity, misinformation spread by public officials, and even illegal activity. This is going on against a backdrop of Nextdoor's attempts to rehabilitate its image and increase ad revenue in anticipation of an IPO (initial public offering) for the company that could see it become a real competitor for social medi...

Almost 30,000 people have contracted COVID-19 in Alameda County and over 500 people have died from it. In San Leandro alone, we've had over 1,600 cases. The positive test rates in the most populated areas of the county, including most of San Leandro, vary from 5% to greater than 8%. The pandemic's impacted has disproportionately affected Black and Hispanic/Latino communities, particularly when adjusted as a share of the total population. But even when not looking at specific demographics, the devastation is startling, especially as we haven't even begun to review community spread from Thanksgiving yet. You can see the numbers for yourself, in a simple, interactive format on the county's website at https://covid-19.acgov.org/data. I understand people are scared. I understand people are frustrated. I understand there's lots of conflicting information crowding your media sources. I understand that the economic struggles are getting worse, the social and emotional tolls...

(Photo credit: KTVU. Photo of Jason Fletcher, a killer.) On September 14, the San Leandro Police Officers Association sent out a new press release to local media outlets, including the San Leandro Times, which published it on September 17. Other outlets opted to cover it more generally in context of recent events around our city. Additionally, the SLPOA has recently paid for their their organization's page to become advertised content on Facebook, where they have been allocating a full-time staff member to delete almost all critical comments about SLPOA and SLPD's actions since the murder of Steven Taylor by Officer Jason Fletcher. So, here's my Socratic Dialogue in response to their copaganda spin attempts. You can see an original copy of their press release on their social media page , just in case you want to double-check anything. *** Them: San Leandro Police Officers’ Association Expresses Condolences to Family, Friends of Steven Taylor-- Me: No condolences to the fami...