I just can't seem to stop thinking about the cops that lost their lives in Oakland this weekend. The suffering of the family members of these officers has got to be beyond anything imaginable. The fellow officers of these brave men- I can't even find the words to describe how difficult it would be to put on the uniform and go back out on those streets. I live 4 1/2 hours away from Oakland now- and can feel the tensions and dividing lines that are being drawn all the way up here in my small mountain town. My parents live in the same East Oakland house I lived in for 18 years, a home that holds so many of my wonderful childhood memories. Everytime I hear about the break-ins, the violent crimes, the murder rates, I think about my parents- who taught for a combined 55 years in the often-times hostile Oakland Public School environment- and are trying to enjoy their retirement years in a city that they have given so much to. I think about them, and I am grateful to those brave officers who go into Oakland everyday and do what they can to protect the people of this city. I always worry about my parents safety, but I always rest assured that they are going to be ok. As I sat and watched the pictures flash on TV, my jaw dropped and the tears flowed. These are the streets that I called home for so many years. These are the streets my family members and friends still walk everyday. I can't imagine walking down the street and seeing a man stand up and open fire on two officers in the middle of a busy Saturday afternoon. I can't imagine the terror for those hours as the cops went on a manhunt, and eventually engaged in this horrific gun battle in an apartment complex where so many people live. I saw a picture of an elderly woman walking with a young child, and SWAT and OPD officers running and darting around her with assault rifles drawn. It looked like a scary war zone. Like any tragic event, it is so unthinkable that something like this really happened. It's like some terrible nightmare that real people are trying to muster up the energy to get through. I guess it is sitting so heavily on me because it hits so close to home, literally. No matter where I have lived in my life, Oakland has always been home- because it's where I was born and raised. It's what formed me into who I am, and after I moved away, it's the place where we have always gathered when we get to be with all of my family. Lately, with all the hostilities increasing amongst the people of Oakland and the police force, I have been thinking the city is really starting to get bad- worse than I ever remember it being through all the years I lived there. I even talked to Wes about it one night and said, "I'm beginning to think Oakland is a great place to be FROM," I'm finally coming to the realization that the violence that permeates the streets of the O- can reach anyone. That scares the heck out of me. I have never given up on the city before. Not when the man with the gun robbed the bank with my mom in it. Not when the man with the gun attacked, assaulted, and robbed my dad after school in his own classroom on his last day as a teacher in Oakland. But now- I feel a strong sense of fear that there is no end in sight and my parents and brothers could really become the worst kind of victims. I am going to do my best to have faith "this too, shall pass..." but I don't know how much more of this fear my heart will hold. For now, all I can do is pray for those who have lost loved ones, and hope that somehow Oakland will rise again.
4 comments:
I feel really terrible for the Officers and their families. This violence has to stop. Its scary to just think that I don't live too far from a "war zone". All we can do is pray for the families and do our part in being responsible members of our communities.
All it takes is for the good people in Oakland to stand up and say, no more!
Thugs and evil people will always try to reign supreme, and because people are too scared to stand up and say enough is enough, they get away with it.
This whole story makes me sick. right down to where the community has memorialized the shooter!?? the SHOOTER??!?! He was a thug criminal who didn't want to do another 6 months in jail so he killed FOUR hard-working Oakland Police officers just to get out of a half a year of jail time?? Now four officers are dead. The coward shooter is dead and people are MEMORIALIZING him??!?!?
Sickening.
I'm just so fricking pissed off at people for not caring enough about their communities to rise up and say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
We don't need drug czars and task forces and committees to get rid of our problems. All we really need is for good and decent and hard working people to say NO MORE! and toss that rogue criminal element of society OUT of society. I mean, it's a fundamental set of rules that allow us to function as a society, and murdering police officers and dealing drugs and assaulting women and robbing people are all clearly outside of those rules.....
why doesn't anyone say ENOUGH! the mothers and brothers and sisters and fathers and aunts of these criminals?? Why don't they just say no more for you! No more hustling and slinging and killing and raping and hurting people!
Noone takes any responsibility anymore! I know if I found out that God forbid my nephew or niece or cousin or uncle or whoever was being a thug-ass criminal....I wouldn't just wait around for the cops to end up shooting him or her down in a hail of gunfire in my house...
Wow....I'm so fired up about this....
Sorry! :)
You guys are so right. We all need to do our part; to continue to be good, positive contributors to our communities and hopefully one day, good will prevail. The whole situation is so sickening, it still sits heavy on me- I think the story has brought a lot of people to the same breaking point. Enough is enough, we are tired of the senseless murders, the RIDICULOUS MEMORIALIZING of these cold-blooded killers. I was proud when I heard my parents went down to the scene of the murders, and attended the memorial for the officers. I feared that they would be targeted for supporting the cops, but I quickly got that out of my head. My mom's words ran through my mind "What if no one shows up? Someone has to stand up and remember these men." She was right, and she and my dad were not alone. Oakland's citizens have been coming out by the thousands in support of the police officers. There are a few that are trying to portray the murderer as a victim, but most think it is a terrible crime what happened to these four heros. And my parents attended the funeral at the colliseum, and said their were well over 20,000 people there paying their respects. The said they shut down the main freeways to escort each man home to his families for burial- and had fire engines with flags raised high, saluting them for the sacrafice they gave. The city is standing up, and hopefully, we will start to see more and more people get those fundamental life rules forged back into our society. I'm totally with you, Jessey, I don't understand how it has become ok in our world for people to live lifes of crime and walk our streets and kill cops and whoever else they want. It's just not right. Urgg... I'm still fired up too, this could go on for days :)
I was listening to talk radio on the way home and one of the shows was all about this. I seriously cried, while driving. Not safe!
It just makes me so angry!
I'm sick of the courts letting dangerous criminals out of prison. Lock up all the thugs, the miscreants the ne'er do wells. The career criminals who are NEVER going to rehabilitate!
We do we parole hardened psychotic criminals to the streets. Genius.
And what happened to three strikes? This creep should have been locked up for the duration.
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