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Alameda council candidate Jennifer Roloff
placed this ad in the local weekly last week.
(CLICK TO ENLARGE)
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ALAMEDA CITY COUNCIL |
ELECTION 2016 |
Last summer, Republican Speaker Paul Ryan triumphantly tweeted a selfie celebrating the outgoing class of House interns. Rows and rows of white faces smiled back in photo later widely derided for its lack of diversity.
Readers of the Alameda Sun last week were greeted by a similarly telling photo. This time, an newspaper advertisement for Alameda City Council candidate Jennifer Roloff featuring dozens of her supporters, but save for possibly one person, entirely older, white Alamedans. The half-page ad includes the tagline, “Progress+Preservation.”
But the ad might not even be the most alarming moment in Roloff’s first-time campaign. In August, Roloff raised many eyebrows when she told members of the Alameda Democratic Club that she supported militarizing Alameda’s police force.
In response to the question “Do you know what military equipment we’ve purchase?” she portrayed the atmosphere outside of Alameda in dangerous terms.
“I think it’s very relevant to what is going on in neighboring cities. I think we’re fortunate enough to not have an exacerbated, similar situation, but I do think that we need to partner with out neighboring communities to make sure that we’re cognizant of the risks that could come to the city and being prepared for such issues. I think that Alamedans don’t have to feel the protection of the police yet, but what’s going on out there, I think we need to start getting prepared. We should work with our public safety to get better prepared for what could happen,” said Roloff.
“As far as the equipment, I do know that Alameda has its own equipment and we do end up lending it out to nearby cities. But I do think we should work with those nearby cities so we can capitalize on the equipment they have to have as much preparedness as possible.”
Roloff later backtracked from the statement in an letter to a local newspaper.
ebcitizen.com 
How many in the photo are Catholic?
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Kudos to Mr. Foreman for coming forward publicly to take responsibility for the photo; that said, it's the candidate's responsibility to get photos that reflect their campaign and then make the decision whether or not to use them. I appreciate Mr. Foreman's sense of personal responsibility, but ultimately the meaning of the mailer is all about Roloff.
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Steven Tavars:”In August, Roloff raised many eyebrows when she told members of the Alameda Democratic Club that she supported militarizing Alameda's police force.” This scares me more than anything.
The police do NOT need to be militarized unless you want the Black Lives Matter Groups marching in your city. If there is an emergency problem, the US still has a military or National Guard. Roloff sounds like she supports a Jade Helm movement. Militarizing the police is a little extreme. You tube: Microwave weaponry use on the people by Dr. Barrie Trower … Our government can do this to ALL of us, in a heartbeat.
Other races of people can run for office. They chose not to. Don’t make this election racist.
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Since when does Tavares care about people of color? http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2014-10-31/article/42643?headline=COUNTERPOINTS-Niggas-Bitches-Hoes-and-Steven-Tavares
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I am here to say “let's make Alameda great again”
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And since almost all of the police and fire officials live outside of Alameda, the headline should be:
White Men From Outside of Alameda Dominate Police and Fire Departments.
Now, that is journalism!
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excellent point, since police and fire make up the vast majority of Alameda spending, I hope there is a call for diversification immediately! Steven can write a follow up article “whites powering police and fire departments in Alameda”.
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A group photo of the Alameda Fire Department will show that it is dominated by White Men.
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wow news to me I am a racist! I always discarded claims of false racism as spurious, until now! Congrats to Steven Tavares for showing me how it can be used as a cheap trick to discredit someone.
As to the police force question, I have never heard one candidate in Alameda take on the Alameda police dept and confront them on their sometimes racist troubles, publicly or in an election. In fact they all trip over themselves to increase their sizable portion of the city budget, and they are considered sacrosanct. Please let me know where the approved acceptable candidates are that publicly take on the Alameda Police department on any issue, budget or race.
As to the photo issue that is to silly to bother commenting on. As is attempting to tie a candidate from 20 years ago to someone running today!
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Racial profiling.
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Great job of race baiting Tavares!
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“I have a dream that my four little children will one day
live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color
of their skin but by the content of their character.”
That dream is a lost cause. We're back to judging the color of skin. For shame.
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If you look at the photo, it appears that white people are having white babies. What's up with that?
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Mr. F: You're right that Alameda has become diverse. Doesn't that make it all the odder that only white people showed up? There is an old guard in Alameda, and it's a state of mind more than being determined by years lived on island. It's a white and conservative. As someone pointed out above, it runs back to Pat Bail and DeHaan and their Reaction Slate a decade or so ago. If you randomly sampled the population of our diverse little island, it's very unlikely indeed you'd get a group that looked like the one in the ad. If, however, you randomly sampled old guard Alameda, it's less so.
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Anonymous, Alameda has become a very diverse community. Thus, preserving it maintains that diversity. What I want to preserve is the closely knit small town environment that we all enjoy here.
You have every right to favor a change in that environment, but your “dog whistle” argument is truly whistling in the dark!
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Amazing, all you folks attacking Paul Foreman for what you call his selective or selected photography subjects.
Of course NONE of you addressed the multiple mailers I get at my Oakland address..
How come you selectively attack this man and avert your eyes from mailers with no whites being sent to Oakland neighborhoods, where others are “eliminated”. I guess its a one way street.
You see what you want to see.
And the main thing you are keyed up to see is racism. Under every bush, behind every tree, and in selected mailers.
No doubt it is a subversive plot of “micro-aggressions”, born out of privilage.
You are so keyed up to spot injustice that you might as well be wearing blinders to any other explanations.
Of course EBCitizen thrives on such explosive charges. Kind of like Donald Trumps attempts to fire up the morons on the righ. Yes, there are morons on both the left and right and we can clearly see them here.
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Funny, You call me the institutional racist, yet it is you who hides behind a fictitious name, although it fits you perfectly. Talk about racial stereotyping! Your argument is all senior Caucasians who have lived here a long time are racists. What is the cutoff date? I moved here in 1990. What about a Caucasian who is only 6o and moved here in 2000?
Sorry to puncture your balloon, but I moved here from Central Pennsylvania, a much too homogeneous environment for my taste and love living in one of the most diverse areas in the country.
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Paul F: Trump supporters seem to be white and uneducated. That's revealing. It's also revealing that the people who showed up to your photo op happened all to be people of pallor. Maybe it's the dog whistle term “Preservation” that lures them in.
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Catchy title, Steve.
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Paul Foreman- You pretty much made the point that was made in the article. You are from the old guard in Alameda. The institutional racism that lives inside you and your supporters is so deep that you can't even see it. It's really disgusting and pathetic that you want to make excuses for it. As for Jennifer Roloff her values and message have attracted you and your supporters. No different than the old guard supporting Doug Dehaan, Pat Baily, Eugene Thomas etc etc. Sorry that Alameda isn't the Alameda of the 1950's. I for one live her now and enjoy it. I like diversity and having things different. I'm sure you and your supporters can migrate to the South and find a small town that fits your needs.
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I am the person who was responsible for setting up the photo to which you refer. I am a volunteer on Ms. Roloff's campaign team. We set this photo up by emailing as many active supporters as possible and asking them to show up. I did not make any attempt to make sure that there was a racial and ethic mix. Blame me for that. I am not sophisticated enough to realize that I needed to make sure that each ethnic group was represented. I am naïve enough to think of Alamedans as just people interested in good government, regardless of their ethnicity. Let me assure you that Ms. Roloff is supported by Alamedans of all races and religions. I would assume that the same is true of all five candidates.
I am truly amazed at your claimed ability to scan all or the faces in the picture and determine, not only their race, but their age. I was there and let me assure you that their are plenty of people in the photo who are a long way from collecting social security. Did you see the many children in the picture? They were there with their parents. I cannot attest to the racial mix and neither can you.
Full disclosure-I am a Caucasian, Jewish, Male, barely a month short of my 78th birthday.
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Reminds me of several mailers I get from Peralta College (Merritt, Alameda, Laney), local Oakland office holders, and various other “diverse” local organizations where the photo of a white male is almost unheard of.
So, are you also asserting that each of those organizations sets out to eliminate white people, specifically white males?
Just got a mailer from Larry Reid… 4 males, none white. (BTW, I'll be voting for Larry).
Mailer from James Harris for Oakland School Board.
Over a dozen people in the mailer… no white males or females..(BTW, I'll be voting for James Harris, a excellent school board member.
Just saying, this “spot the racist” is all over the campaign literature if you just want to start counting faces.
You can start to see racist intent behind every tree if that is your bent.
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