Unreported Shooting at 25 Families Gathering

The west Oakland 25 Families group comes together for regular evenings of dinner followed by art and music activities for the children. Attitudinal Healing Connection (AHC) and Hoover Elementary school join with the YMCA to host the events in the YMCA building at Market and Brockhurst Streets.

The families were arriving just after 5 p.m., Feb. 27, 2008 when, as reported by Aeeshah Clottey, board president of AHC:

Young men in a white car drove down Brockhurst to Market Street. As they turned right onto Market Street, they opened fire and shot directly at some of the youth standing in front of M. Robinson Baker YMCA.

People ran. Many fell to the concrete to avoid the bullets.

Phyllis Hall – a Hoover after-school staff aide, parent and community leader – sprang into action and began herding children and families toward me. We led everyone into the gymnasium. Chris Chatmon, the Executive Director of the YMCA, quickly put the facility on lock down. A collective effort made sure that everyone was safe and secure.

Apparently, those who live by the culture of disrespect did not like it that peace-loving people were coming together right in the middle of what the thugs regard as their turf.

Ms. Clottey's report continues:

After we were all grounded and centered we talked about what happened. The families expressed how they would not let "the little thugs" stop them from doing their art and building community. Many spoke of being tired of all the violence and they were glad that they were together. After the circle they continued on to their scheduled family art sessions and manifested the power of healing through art and being in community. The fear produced by that incident of gun violence did not stop the community gathering or hamper why these families had come together.

Less than two months earlier, all of Oakland heard about the robber's gunshots that paralyzed ten-year-old Chris Rodriguez while he was practicing piano in a store on Pleasant Valley Road.

If there were any news reports of the shooting at the 25 Families group, we did not see them.

Meanwhile, on March 4 city councilmembers and the mayor finished haggling over a crash police recruiting program, calling it a drive to achieve "full staffing." In current budget terms, getting from today's 730 officers to 803 would be full staffing, but it is an inadequate target in this city with half a police department.

Oakland is one city with one government and one police force. We must have peaceful neighborhoods throughout Oakland, not just parts of it. We need at least 1,100 police officers to deter, respond, investigate, and apprehend for our entire city, not just parts of it.

AHC plans a follow-up community meeting to turn the thugs' vicious attack into a trigger for positive work on eliminating violence.