I am no longer surprised that people drive 80mph down 98th Avenue. Nor am I surprised by the reckless lunatics doing repeated donuts at 106th and MacArthur at 9 a.m. In East Oakland, and more and more all over Oakland, lawless driving can happen any time, any day, and has become so normal that we are numb to it.
Where once it seemed that we would call the police— or even that the neighborhood itself would not allow such behavior in its presence, we are now silent, repeat victims of the same crime, day after day, week after week, year after year. The lawlessness has spilled into the Fruitvale, up above Highway 13, even as high up as Skyline and Keller. We live in a world where stop signs are mere suggestions and red lights are optional. But almost never in Piedmont or Alameda? Maybe they got booster shots and are immune to the terror?
On the 580 freeway, the driving is another story entirely: here he comes in my rear view— streaking through the slow lane. Damn! He’s got to be doing more than 100. He’s not gonna do that? Oh snap, he really did. From the slow lane to the fast he goes, flying by my right, front fender with about five feet to spare. I wasn’t special though. In front of me now, I can see him zigzagging in and out of traffic while other drivers play defense; he was followed by two cars whose operators were equally committed to the cause. Not a cop in site.
Just the other day, a pedestrian was killed and three others were injured on E14th and 54th Ave when a driver— who’d just left a sideshow— was speeding in a ‘buses only’ lane and collided with a vehicle turning on onto E14th. He then struck several parked cars and motorcycles. The impact sent one of the cars into a group of pedestrians, leaving an unsuspecting man from Hayward dead.
Days before that a man rode his bike for the last time in Downtown Oakland. He was crushed and killed by an unidentified driver who blew through a red light in the ‘right turn only’ lane. The deaf biker’s children were right behind him and bore witness to the murder.
Here, lawlessness has not confined itself to driving. Don’t leave your car unattended in Downtown Oakland or near Jack London Square, or on Telegraph or in Jingle Town— hell, be cautious any where you park in Oakland. You might just return to a broken rear window, even if you leave nothing visible on the seat of your car. Nefarious passers-by will break your rear quarter panel window and flip down your backseat just to take a look and see what’s in the trunk. I have experienced this phenomenon personally at least five times in the last few years. It is such a regular occurrence for rental cars, that the Avis worker that checked me in one time said she gets about 40 reports of vandalism each day as drivers return their cars.
I cannot forget about the strong arm crimes that I’ve witnessed on the news or at local stores. Large groups of people enter stores, grab what they want, and walk right out the door. The crime and theft was so electric that the former Walmart on Hegenberger had to close permanently, suffering the same fate as many retailers that came before. The major stores that remain in Oakland seem to do so at their own peril. Walgreens and other drug stores, even Safeway and Lucky, lock up the liquor, condoms, and beauty products to keep them out of the pockets of pretending customers. It feels like the Wild West, where everybody is for themself, and the rest can get fucked.
People keep telling me that we are just all bound up from the pandemic— that the masks and the restrictions have done us all in. They say this lawlessness is a sign of frustration with all that the pandemic has laid at our feet and that things will return to normal soon. I think the pandemic has indeed changed us in ways that we won’t fully recognize for years to come, but I don’t buy that the way we are acting now is fully the result of COVID-19.
Rather, I think our community values are breaking down before our eyes. Many Oakland communities that once thrived on human connection and actual togetherness, have been slowly erased and replaced by neighbors that rarely speak and citizens that more often than not turn a blind eye to behaviors that once broke our moral code. We are too tied up in our own lives and cell phones to really take notice.
You’d better pick your head up and look around: one in three Latinos live at the poverty line in Oakland and 28 percent of Oakland Blacks suffer the same plight. The average home price is $800,000 for a two bedroom with one bath. Gas is five bucks a gallon and taxes are higher here than any place in the country. How can the common woman (or man) self-actualize when basic needs of food, safety, and shelter are not met? It is the perfect setting for chaos: the gap between the haves and the have nots has not been this wide since the 1940’s. Defund the police they yelled on Broadway when George Floyd was murdered. And now, here we are, left in the blowback. Needing the law, but not wanting the kind of law we had. It seems neo-feudalism is knocking on our door.
A Reflection:
But they never do donuts in Alameda? Will it always be that way? Will crime and crazy driving never find its way to the neighborhoods that uphold and protect community or is it coming soon to a neighborhood you once considered safe? While in Beverly Hills recently, I learned that the residents, patrons, and shop owners of Rodeo are on high alert. Muggings and robberies and even murder happens with such frequency that they are scrambling to figure it out.
Could the same happen here? Could the invisible crime walls that we’ve erected around cities like Piedmont and Alameda soon be torn down, leaving their residents helpless, unable to buy their way out of this mess we’ve created? Only time will tell. For now, I guess we’ll continue to live in divided worlds: on one end, Oakland is the place where crime, homelessness, and chaos have found a comfortable place to dwell; on the other end— on most days— tucked away, above the 580, you can still hear the birds singing, neighbors laughing together, and the sounds of excited students riding their bikes to school. Perhaps, that’s just the way it is?
One final question though: if this is our current state, what will it be like in twenty years?
I was raised in Oakland. I remember when the Black Panthers were housed on the corner of 85th and Allen Temple Church was a small framed building. I remember when fruit trees were everywhere and we could eat from them while playing in the neighborhood. I remember when there was no glass on the streets and no wandering dogs. I remember when most people walked everywhere or took the bus because few had cars, certainly, young people walked. And at night, it was safe to be outside and play near your home or even in the streets. Running, racing to see who was the fastest. The media kept a message in the atmosphere that reflected what was in our homes. That of how to conduct yourselves in public, not throwing paper on the ground, dressing decently and respecting your elders! At school we ate "real food" prepared by the employees.
I remember when the only "fast food" was Doggie Diners and 1/4 Pound Burgers... Then, Kentucky Fried Chicken popped up on 98th and other fast food spots. Liquors stores that use to be closed on Sundays, along with other stores remained open. I remember Elmhurst Park, that use to serve as a place where local evolving leaders would come to spread words of empowerment. You could hear everyone addressing one another as "brothers and sisters" " ma'm and sir" or Mrs and Mr... Essentially , titles were use to address whomever you were speaking to....
While I would like to continue with a timeline of memories, I will end with these thoughts; I remember when crack came into our community-everything changed immediately....
We have been rolling down hill every since - in our local leadership, educational system and social frameworks. Our children have been lost in the cracks of foster care, homelessness, drugs, prostitution, trafficking and lack of education. Our children are exposed to everything that our family and the community use to protect us from... They see and hear everything that soils and corrupt. The music no longer carries a message of hope and community activism. They are listening to sounds of self destruction. They see images of violence with sound tracks that affect the physiological dispositions of the brain and heart waves, so they are reacting to environmental cues.... The nervous system is triggered for havoc!
Let me end this way so that I wont continue; when we think about our past great leaders, we should realized that the society and circumstances give birth to those great leaders.
So, what we see today is what the community and families are birthing. I know its a sad reality. But we need to begin to take care of our families again. Feed our families healthier foods, educate ourselves with a sense of urgency and maybe we can turn this ship around!!!
Telling it like it is. We are in the midst of paying the price of an often heartless and racist unbridled capitalistic system which needs replacing. Deep respect for James Harris