OAKLAND — At a rally Sunday outside the Alameda County Superior Court, multiple speakers offered support for Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price, pushing back against what they described as unfair, slanted narratives about her four-month tenure as the county’s top law enforcement officer.
Behind an array of dozens of residents wearing shirts with names of victims of crime on a day marking the start of this year’s National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, a lineup of supporters spoke plainly about their belief in her efforts, her office’s accomplishments and the forces they see arrayed against her and themselves.
After gospel songs by Starlight Spiritual Temple’s Bishop L.E. Franklin and prayers by Oscar Grant’s mother Rev. Wanda Johnson opened the rally, civil rights activist and attorney Walter Riley led a moment of silence for “all the victims, in whatever capacity they became victims” before praising Price’s rise from foster-care and juvenile-justice systems in Ohio to graduations from Yale and UC Berkeley’s law school, the opening of her own law firm in 1991 and years of service representing crime victims.
“We were in the civil rights movement in the 60s, building civil rights organizations, hoping to get people in places,” Riley said. “We talked about getting people in the police departments, we talked about getting people into office: mayors, city council members. We talked particularly about having the need for people in the DA’s office. And for the first time, we have somebody right here that we can support and fight for.”
Pointing to polling statistics that he said showed a majority of Alameda County voters favor treatment and rehabilitation over imprisonment, Riley noted that Price “didn’t make any surprises to anybody when she came out after taking office in choosing to talk about enhancements, in choosing to talk about how we overcharge and who gets charged and what gets charged.”
Carol Jones, the mother of fatal 2018 Berkeley shooting victim Patrick Scott Jr., addressed Price directly, thanking her for reaching out after what she described as silence from former district attorney Nancy O’Malley’s office about her son’s case. “Thank you for what you have done, have not done yet and will do,” Scott said. “I’m standing by her. I’m gonna walk by faith, and not by sight.”
Oakland firefighter and paramedic Ron Curtis, who credited Price for stepping up for him when he had what he described as “racially traumatic things at work,” spoke plainly about what he thought Price’s opponents might want: “Whenever we hear that they’re attacking Pamela Price or to recall Pamela Price, what they’re really saying is they want to recall us. They’re attacking us.”
After several other speakers touted her credentials, Price addressed the crowd, opening with a verse from the civil-rights standard “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round,” linking her recent visit to historic sites in and around Montgomery, Alabama, with her reform efforts.
“The lesson is that when you show up for freedom and justice, you have to be ready for the backlash,” Price said in part. “We need you to talk to your neighbors. Tell people the story of why we needed this change. Tell them that change takes time and patience and courage and telling the truth. Use your voice.”
When a lone woman in the crowd holding a sign that challenged the prosecution of a case against suspects in the fatal Nov. 6, 2021 shooting of Fremont toddler Jasper Wu yelled out “Justice for Jasper,” Price responded: “Justice for Jasper, justice for everyone who has lost a loved one.”
The woman, who would only partially identify herself, said she believed the case against three suspects facing hearings for their role “should have gone into trial from the second it came into the office, instead of being prolonged for so long. Now the community I’m personally part of, the [Asian American and Pacific Islander] community, have lost faith in our government, in our, in our leadership because of the lack of transparency. … I just want to know that the killers of Jasper will be held accountable for their actions and what they’ve done and the pain that they’ve caused.”
When asked about that pain, Berkeley resident Paola Laverde said that the office’s requirements, rather than any Price’s reform efforts, were weightier factors to consider.
“She got an office where she didn’t have an organizational chart, she didn’t have a budget. She came in and, basically, you know, they threw the keys at her and said, ‘hey, good luck,’” Laverde said in part.
“She can’t be talking about cases that are ongoing. She can’t do that. People seem upset that she’s not talking about it. She can’t talk about it, you know. It has to go through the proper procedures, the proper process, through the legal system.”
Cris Moore, who stood in the crowd Sunday, said she drove down from Sacramento with her daughter Marisa Larson to hear Price speak. Moore held a sign depicting moments in her campaign to free her husband Kenneth from prison.
“For the last 22 years, we have been trying to get evidence that Alameda County has that convicted my husband when he was 18 years old, gave him a life-without-possibility sentence,” Moore said.
“The prior administration would not even hear, would not even consider it. […] My husband always has professed his innocence, and nobody would listen. This is the first administration that is considering listening and testing it. If Alameda County was so confident that he was guilty, there would have been no reason for them to withhold allowing us to have that evidence tested. […] It’s important to support her, because we need more people like her.”
Contact George Kelly at 408-859-5180
Source: www.mercurynews.com