by Micha Yip

The AAPI community in Oakland, Calif., is divided over recall efforts targeting Mayor Sheng Thao and District Attorney Pamela Price, reflecting broader disagreements within the community on how to tackle long-standing issues of crime and public safety. 

The recalls are fueled by public dissatisfaction with Thao and Price’s progressive approaches to addressing crime and safety. These recall efforts began almost immediately after they assumed office, signaling deep-seated frustrations among constituents seeking urgent solutions to the city’s persistent challenges. 

Those fighting for the recalls argue that both Thao and Price’s policies are too lenient on crime, saying they have failed to address major issues and have made Oakland less safe. 

Carl Chan, a prominent Asian community leader in the efforts to recall the mayor and district attorney, opposes Price’s policies for public safety reform, saying she is “releasing serious criminals” for resentencing.

“You’re supposed to uphold the law and support victims and their families but she’s actually doing it the opposite way,” Chan said. “Her main focus is actually helping the criminals and…not [having them face] the charges that they’re supposed to.” 

AAPI supporters of Thao and Price see the recalls as undermining needed reform, arguing that neither Thao nor Price has been in office long enough to see the desired outcomes of their policies. 

The Asian Pacific Environmental Network Action (APEN Action) and AAPIs for Civic Empowerment (AAPI FORCE) are two groups who believe in Thao and Price’s reform policies. 

“When we think about community safety issues, it’s not a one-person job,” APEN Action Oakland Organizing Director Kenneth Tang said. “It’s about a community, a collective effort [to] improve safety in a more holistic way, rather than funding police, [which has] always been the traditional thinking.”

Timmy Lu, AAPI FORCE’s executive director, also believes Thao and Price’s policies will produce better outcomes for Oakland. 

“When we talk about concerns about crime and safety and other things too, [we need to] also think comprehensively about what are the things that could give people more opportunity and increase safety within our community,” Lu said.

The recall efforts underscore a significant ideological split within Oakland’s AAPI community, challenging the common perception that racial groups are generally unified in their political views.

Political consultant Bill Wong said that it’s somewhat of a myth that minority groups have a “static standard” of being on “one side or the other, united or not,” on any particular issue.

“I think the public narrative is that they assume that because some people support some things, that that represents the entire Asian American community, or that represents the entire Black community,” Wong said. “There are a lot of nuances with regard to where people stand on things and it’s not ever been accurately represented or covered or understood, and it’s just now that because of the intensity of the issues, you’re seeing just the different places people are at, and what their positions are because these issues are so very specific and so very salient to both communities right now.”

Wong said that the recalls, aside from aspects of race, highlight a broader issue within governance as a whole and the public’s perception of how it’s supposed to be done. He said voters see elections as their only way to make  change in government, yet there are other avenues for them to do so.

“We wait until things get bad and then we go to the polls,” Wong said. “We don’t go to city council meetings typically…we don’t write to the mayor or the governor on a regular basis. We don’t engage in those types of things that are intermediaries of fixing our community. We just want it fixed and then we want to be left alone.”

Wong said that the long term political consequences, should the recalls go through, could result in a continued cycle that isn’t productive. 

“It’s just chaos,” Wong said. “I mean, you do this and then the next person gets [elected], and then somebody doesn’t like them, and then they raise money and start a recall, and off to the races we go. “We’re going to be campaigning 24/7, and then who’s actually solving problems?”

AsAmNews is published by the non-profit, Asian American Media Inc.

We are supported through donations and such charitable organizations as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. All donations are tax deductible and can be made here.

Please purchase your tickets to our fundraiser Up Close with Connie Chung, America’s first Asian American to anchor a nightly network newscast. The in-depth conversation with Connie will be held November 14 at 7:30 at Columbia University’s Milbank Chapel in the Teacher’s College. All proceeds benefit AsAmNews.

Related