Not dealing with this one bit, I don’t care who it’s from. Oakland City Councilmember Sheng Thao is someone I considered a friend, but this video she put out makes me think twice about that. It’s the video for her run to be Mayor of Oakland, and in its rush to have people talk about her, it shows she forgets what Oakland’s about: inclusion. Especially for black men. Have a look:
This is not something to be swept under the rug; image matters. The video shows Asian representation, white guy talking, California’s first Filipino Attorney General Rob Bonta, and black women in the background, but no black men obviously in the video, and the one guy who might fill the bill is one that’s got a hat on and a mask, and is light-skinned. If I have to work to see a black man in the video, that’s an issue for me. A giant one.
Stop Disrespecting Black Men In Oakland
It comes at a time when a number of people of all backgrounds are just plain sick and tired of media pushing negative images of black men. It comes at a time when two Asian Oakland politicians, Oakland City Council President Nikki Fortunado Bas and the same Sheng Thao had no problem giving the look of shutting down Oakland’s only black male Councilmember Loren Taylor at last week’s Oakland City Council Rules Committee Meeting. Now I have my issues with Loren, but they don’t rise to the point of wanting to see him disrespected. Black men are mistreated way too much and its time for it to stop. Period.
All of this comes roughly 60 years after 15-year-old Emmitt Till was killed for something that he did not do: flirt with a white woman. And if he did, so freaking what? Only a sick, evil, mentally-ill person would think it’s OK to end the life of a kid because he’s black and likes women. But that’s what kind of society the segregated South was. And lest we think it is “all good” today, I present George Floyd, Ahmaud Aubrey, and the countless names of black men jailed for something they did not do. Racism is a mental illness that causes criminal behavior, and it’s time we called it out for that. So, for Sheng to even allow herself to be seen as anti-black male at this time is plainly wrong.
Oh, and on the matter of Sheng’s union backing: it’s white union members, some of the same people who failed to back Oakland black elected officials. The moves to push blacks, and black men in particular, out of the way in Oakland and East Bay Politics are obvious to me. They must be countered. Unions must step up and stop any appearance of racism.
Sheng Thao Must Do Better For Oakland’s Sake
So, I’m not cool with how Sheng’s handling her first run for Mayor of Oakland, right now. The commercial sends the message that it’s about her and not about Oakland. She does not talk about Oakland’s problems, solutions, or promise. And then her commercial sends the other message that she really doesn’t like black men enough to make sure we’re obviously part of her campaign.
And what’s disappointing is she called me to ask for my support for her running for Oakland City Council re-election, and I gave that. But then she turned around, pivoted toward the mayoral election, and did not even ask for my backing, nor return my request for an interview, or contact me to be interviewed. But she had no problem seeking out the white mainstream media, even though its overall footprint is a fraction of what it was 10 years ago. It’s not that Sheng’s so bad at all (I hope), so this is an attempt at a course correction.
But someone’s giving her bad advice and it shows.
Sheng, if you want to be Mayor of Oakland, you gotta include everyone, and especially brothers. In other words, black men. Otherwise, it’s not happening. Regardless of what anyone tells you, that’s not right. God does not like ugly.
Stay tuned.