How progressive politics turned Kamala Harris’ birthplace into a post-apocalyptic nightmare

Oakland, birthplace of Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and the city where he launched his ill-fated 2019 presidential campaign now resembles a post-apocalyptic nightmare, its streets littered with trash, burned-out vehicles and homeless encampments.

Driving through its streets is a surreal thing and potentially dangerous experience. Many businesses have closed and are closed. Those still operating are covered in graffiti, even on the windows, and many refuse to let customers in for fear of being robbed.

Critics of Ms. Harris, who began her legal career as a prosecutor in Oakland, across the Bay Bridge from San Francisco, say the city is a stark example of the results of far-left policies, some of which he embraced it when he ran in the 2020 presidential race.

This time, Ms. Harris moved away from the moves such as “police defunding” which he praised four years ago.

Former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, branded Ms. Harris a “communist,” rejecting her claims that she was tough on crime as a prosecutor and as California’s attorney general.

Meanwhile, Oakland’s criminals are becoming more reckless by the day, emboldened by the knowledge that the average police response time to a 911 call is 48 minutes. The latest method of burglary is the “ram and rob” – smashing a car through a shop window before jumping on the loot.

“It’s pretty common, I’d say several times a year,” said Mitchell Lauford, manager of Stiiizy cannabis store in Oakland. “We recently put up barriers around the building so, you know, nobody can try to drive a vehicle through the walls.”

An armed security guard checks each customer before entering the store, where the youths drove a stolen car at around 3am in late September. “This is always after hours,” Mr Lauford, 27, said. “These guys never look for danger. They don’t want to get into a fight. People are resorting to worse and more desperate means to sell something to make money.”

All three of Oakland’s major professional sports teams — football’s Raiders, basketball’s Golden State Warriors and baseball’s A’s — have left town. This year, In-N-Out closed its Oakland location, the first time the burger chain has closed a store in three-quarters of a century. The Denny’s restaurant closed after 54 years, and the Hilton hotel after 56 years.

Ms. Harris was born to an Indian mother and a Jamaican father at Kaiser Permanente Health Center in Oakland in 1964. In December, Kaiser Permanente, Oakland’s largest employer, sent a memo to workers advising them not to go out to noon due to crime in the area.

Last year, one car was stolen for every 30 Oakland residents. The police chief recently revealed that only 35 officers were on patrol at any one time in the city of 435,000. Oakland’s crime rate in 2023 was higher than at any time in the past two decades, up 65% from 2020.

Statistics, however, only tell part of the story. Human stories are just as hard. “We have to go to our community churches to get potatoes, rice, eggs, juices, things like that to help feed our family,” said Armando Mayorga, 44. , I went to prison. Then I pulled myself together. I work at the community hospital now.

“I don’t think Oakland is a bad place, but the situation is a mess. Kamala Harris — I don’t think it’s really for us. I don’t trust politicians, but as far as Trump goes, at least he’s trying to make it a little easier for people. He’s the lesser of two evils right now.”

Seneca Scott, a black former union organizer who founded the group Neighbors Together Oakland, is pushing to unseat the city’s Democratic mayor Sheng Thao, who faces a recall election in November that she looks set to lose. Her home was raided by the FBI in June amid allegations of corruption.

As he was driven through Oakland, Mr. Scott, 45, described the city as an advertisement for the kinds of left-wing policies that Harris once championed. “We are left with the consequences of these failed progressive policies,” he said.

“Defunding the police movement began in Oakland, California, with the formation of the Anti-Police-Terror Project.” Let that name sink in.

“So we have people flirting with abolishing the police. It is a political game. Some of them were useful idiots. Some of them just have no morals at all. And some of them were bleeding hearts.”

Mr. Scott pointed out the areas that were recently cleaned up by Mr. Thao, who insisted that Oakland was finally “turning the corner.” “Oakland is a big dump,” he said.

“You have people stealing cars and leaving them here. You have people littering everywhere. Then people who are homeless are often mentally ill or hoarding or looking for valuables that people have thrown away.”

Many of the homeless live in abandoned vehicles, shelters made of cardboard boxes or tents. “There is drug tourism here,” Mr Scott said. “Fentanyl is significantly cheaper in Oakland and San Francisco than anywhere else in the country. The cartels subsidize it.

“There is one more thing. What better place to go if you have a felony charge or are on the loose for some serious criminal charges than a place where there are no police, 911 is not picking up the phone, no help is coming?”

As he spoke, Mr Scott warned the driver of the dangers around him. “You’ll want to go faster,” he said nervously. “I wouldn’t drive there. I can’t guarantee your safety there – I don’t have a firearm on me.”

Some in Oakland, however, stand with Ms. Harris and the Democratic Party. “It might change things for the better,” said Will Nelson, 63, a retired merchant mariner who had a new “History.” Kamala For President 2024 T-shirt”.

“I hope it will be good for the economy because we are very hurt here. He was a prosecutor and did a good job in crime. So I have hope.”

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