“Crime is really out of control in Oakland. ... We’ve always had crime in Oakland, but crime was just a little bit different. ... You don’t kill kids and you don’t kill women. Now they’re killing everybody,” says Brenda Grisham, a homicide victim advocate.
Siyamak sits down with Grisham, an Oakland resident, and Leighton Woodhouse, an independent journalist and documentary filmmaker who has been covering the situation in the city. We also spoke with Ken Houston, founder of Oakland’s Beautification Council and a third-generation Oakland resident, who has been affected by the city’s high crime and vandalism.
“This is my home. So whoever’s doing this out here, they’re interfering with my neighborhood. This is not their neighborhood. We’ve got to take back our streets. The criminals don’t run our city. ... This is our city,” Houston says.
*Views expressed in this video/article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of California Insider.
