Ron Dellums Setting the Record Straight!

 

The Mayor of Oakland put it Down. Tuesday night, January 14th 2008, around 9 or so p.m. i watched and listened to one of the most impassioned speeches by a mayor that i had ever seen in my own lifetime. Dellums addresses what he describes as ‘the elephant in the room,’ in public safety. It seems that the homicides that have stolen the lives of so many in Oakland this year are being blamed on the Mayor’s inefficiency. He clearly states what has been done in the past year and also what is still to come. He also addresses housing, economic development, health and education.

(Insert the anti-Dellums argument here):

I know that some people will inevitably say that, “Politicians are supposed to do that,” or maybe even, “That’s all he does, he gives inspirational speeches.” People also tend to say that he is out of touch due to his age. The brother is the ripe old age of 72. People like to say that he isn’t doing anything, and point to the lack of a sufficient number of police officers as proof of this. 

(Rebuttal):

Dellums, at 72 years young, has an incredibly deep understanding of what’s really goin’ in his city, state, and county. I haven’t seen that in a mayor of Oakland in like…EVER. I haven’t seen that in a politrickcian period, except for Barbara Lee, and brother Kucinich!

Question: Where is it that we develop, shape and create our interpretations of a politicians actions? If part of the answer to that question lies within the discourse of what corporate media tells us then sheeeeeit, let me just say that: I don’t place my trust in obtaining accurate accounts of the news in the Oakland Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury, KTVU, KRON, or any other local media outlets that are privately owned and controlled by huge companies that ain’t even located in the Yay (MediaNews Group, Cox Broadcasting).    

Many have commented on the fact that Ron Dellums has been a very ‘quiet’ mayor. He has seemingly played the background, and within the context of hyper-intensified media coverage he has. Dellums chooses to NOT use the media as a tool of community manipulation and image production, this can not be said about most politrickcians across this nation of ours. 

Some of the anti-Dellums hatin’ must be due to the fact that communication between governments and the communities in which they govern remains distant. The mainstream media outlets in the Bay Area (that ain’t even IN the Bay, did i already mention that?) remain the most popular form of manipulation today, and we cannot continue to look to them for honest coverage of what is important in our lives. This must be true of all cities. 

As we all should now by now, the problems that exist in Oakland did not come in one year and will not leave in one year. Shit, the problems of Oakland have been building ever since WWII and deindustrialization, but i guess i’ll save that for another post.

All that said, I respect Dellums and his work with people in the community as well as those who have supposedly been trained to govern a city, and i truly hope that they can turn Oakland into a model city in the Bay Area and in this country.  

Peace,

G-Mitch