Governor Newsom Advises Oakland to AppeaseTrump

While Oakland & East Bay Residents Gear Up to Fight Back

Neville Chamberlin declares,“Peace in our time.”

I've been hearing disturbing comments from our local politicians, including progressives, about the status of our city and county sanctuary measures.

As I reminded you in my column of Jan 23rd, we in Oakland passed a resolution in strong support of sanctuary by which we mean not assisting the federal government in detaining our residents-before trump was even inaugurated in 2017. A few months later this sentiment was memorialized in an ordinance, that is, a local law. It's still on the books.

During that same period our state senators, inspired by Oakland's organizing against the first trump admin's attack against immigrants [we pushed state legislators hard & were acknowledged as effective], passed SB54.

Ultimately SB54 was the not vehicle we hoped it would be, but it still drove the GOP a little crazy. And it demonstrated to the trumpers that California would stand up to their depredations-at least to some extent. It was dubbed “the California Values Act” and was finally signed by Gov Jerry Brown.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/10/05/555920658/california-governor-signs-sanctuary-state-bill

But the rumors I'm hearing now are that our current governor, a presidential hopeful and the guy who got famous for supporting gay marriage-at a time when it was still illegal-is warning Oakland leaders against reaffirming their values.

Newsom has told (so I'm hearing) our city reps to NOT publicly reaffirm our existing ordinance establishing a version of sanctuary in our city. He is telling everyone that this will make us targets of this vicious administrationton and therefore, “mum's the word.”

In my post of exactly one month ago, Jan 26th, Oakland Still Home to the World, I noted that that fear-it’s a realistic fear-of making ourselves a “target.” Here's what I wrote:

“Let's not confuse the issue, we are a target. We are a target of both federal and local right wingers. We are a city composed of so-called minorities whose heritage was established by Black freedom fighters and has been carried on by immigrant communities from all over the world-particularly those seeking freedom to experience and share their cultures with us. It's what makes us a great city.

The choice now is to abandon our own folks to a watered down resistance or stand for all of us with all the strength we can find. We already know we can expect nothing from the GOP-led regime and not much more from our “defending” party. We gain nothing by not responding in solidarity with the 90% of us who trump and his base fear and hate.”

We have been hearing a lot from experts on authoritarianism telling us how dangerous it is to appease a would-be dictator, “to not obey in advance.” Granted trump has already warned our cities, counties and states not to object or in any way oppose their plans to detain large numbers of “illegal immigrants” including those with no criminal records-hard working families who enhance our communities-and send them to camps. But our sanctuary measures do not violate any federal laws and do not protect criminals regardless of legal status.

And I want to acknowledge here that Oakland is in a desperate budget situation. As a result of years of divestment and bad state tax law combined with years of pandemic shutdowns and the increasing cost of policing, we find ourselves in terrible deficits. There is no good way out of these deficits, and it's unlikely the city will get much infusion from the state and none from the Feds.

The governor is understandably freaked out by the need for huge sums of federal dollars to rebuild LA after the firestorm. He has grown mute since trump threatened LA with federal abandonment. It's understandable but California is one of the states which pays more into federal coffers than it receives in benefits. That fact makes trump's threats look a little silly.

The governor of Maine was recently backed into a corner at a White House press conference by the Orange Bully during which he publicly threatened to defund their state. His threats were based on one of his executive orders rather than law.

Governor Janet Mills told him in response to his demand about removing transgender youth from sports that she, a former attorney general, would follow the law. And they both responded, “see you in court.” She has since then brought up the idea of refusing to send their tax dollars to DC.

So here I'm going to acknowledge that I'm just a private citizen with a substack. I have a voice that some people hear and I understand the seriousness if the budget challenges we face. I don't have to take the hard votes - it's true. But I do sense danger in this approach.

I am not angry at the Oakland City Council but I am dismayed and disappointed. Surprisingly one of the most hesitant council members, Noel Gallo who generally sides with the most cautious of his cohort, is the standout on this issue. He is bringing forth an item to reaffirm our position to protect our most vulnerable residents next month. Some CMs are opposing this action or just “urging caution.”

I am hearing through the grapevine that extreme caution has been repeatedly reminded by the governor who strongly warns against public declarations of our desire to protect these families.

As Governor Janet Mills stated, “Today, the President of the United States has targeted one particular group on one particular issue which Maine law has addressed. But you must ask yourself: who and what will he target next, and what will he do? Will it be you? Will it be because of your race or your religion? Will it be because you look different or think differently? Where does it end? In America, the President is neither a King nor a dictator, as much as this one tries to act like it – and it is the rule of law that prevents him from being so.”

https://www.pressherald.com/2025/02/21/read-gov-mills-full-statement-on-trump-investigation/

Please remember that this governor recently threatened our city with withdrawal of law enforcement resources over his mistaken belief that Oakland police were prevented from giving chase to dangerous criminals. That was an untrue charge. Oakland police have a policy of being cautious about high speed chases for rational reasons.

Now he seems to be warning Oaklanders off resisting this very dangerous regime and showing us his true colors when threatened by a bully.

We could you know, back down on sanctuary, on DEI, cancel Black History events, close our Oakland LGBTQ Community Center, ban Ceasefire resolutions, etc in hopes we'll get rescued by trump, musk or newsom.

This is our Sudetenland folks. Seize the moment. Oakland and East Bay residents who rallied at the Hakeem Jeffries event at a moment's notice, who are planning demonstrations at Tesla and who knows what else, are prepared to follow-or if need be-lead.

Wellstone and Indivisible Rally at Jeffries talk

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