“We needed to do something to stop the madness,” said Carl Chan, a local public safety advocate.
Chan had been watching his city of Oakland deteriorate since he was in high school many years ago. Exhausted from the impact of violent crime, he dedicated his free time to community organizing. Little did he know that one day, he would help lead Alameda County’s first ever recall election of a district attorney.
When D.A. Pamela Price was voted out by a sweeping majority on Nov. 5, it was a victory for the 4,000 volunteers who comprise Save Alameda for Everyone (SAFE). Led by Chan and violent crime victim advocate Brenda Grisham, SAFE formed in response to Price’s approach to prosecution, which many believed was too “soft.” In under a year, the organization collected more than 100,000 signatures on a petition to remove the D.A. Now, with recall election results in, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors prepares to appoint a replacement that will serve the two-year remainder of Price’s term.
The SAFE team now feels they are one step closer to a less violent Alameda County. A report published by CrimeGrade shows that the county is in the 21st percentile nationwide for safety, meaning 79% of U.S. counties are safer and only 21% are more dangerous. The chances of being a victim of violent crime here can be as high as one in six in the central neighborhoods.
Chan reflected on his history as a community organizer, sharing that he felt compelled to embark on this journey as someone who personally knew many victims of violent crime and their families. As an Asian American, Chan has also been on the front lines of local Stop Asian Hate efforts. In 2023, 1 in 3 Asian Americans faced racial abuse, a worrying trend that picked up steam a few years prior during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of the victims of anti-Asian hate crimes in the Bay Area have been elderly.
“I realized it was my responsibility to help stop this,” Chan said.
Price has made claims that the community opposed her appointment due to her identity as a Black woman, but SAFE organizers deny this by pointing to their diverse body of volunteers. They say people of all ethnicities are tired of living their lives in fear of violent crime, and that being anti-Price was a safety decision, not a racial one.
“I’m Black, how’s race the issue when I’m the same race as she is?” Grisham said.
But anti-recall groups vehemently disagree. Danielle Motley-Lewis, president of Black Women Organized for Political Action (BWOPA), doesn’t believe it’s a coincidence that the first and only Black woman elected to be Alameda County’s district attorney has been ousted. An eight-year resident of the Bay Area, Lewis said the issue of violent crime predates Price’s term, and that it was mainly prejudice that led to her recalling.
“As we saw with the recent presidential election as well, society just holds Black women to a different standard,” Lewis said. “If you dare buck the system as a Black woman, there will be efforts to silence you.”
Looking to the future, Lewis says BWOPA is preparing to recommend a new candidate to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors. The organization has already identified three potentials who they will be interviewing in the near future. Lewis says she hopes to recommend a candidate centered on reform like Price. She believes that finding a district attorney committed to both tackling crime and improving the criminal justice system is essential.
“Pamela Price was touching on something that needed to be finished.”
