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May 8 , 2006 • VOL. 44, NO. 9 • Oakland, CA
East Oakland
parishes fight violence
with prayer and community action
Oakland Community Organizations and three Catholic member parishes are claiming a victory in their efforts to curb the rising violence and murders in the city. After several meetings and a prayer vigil, they have received commitments from the police chief to assign more officers to patrol the streets in areas plagued by gangs, prostitution and drug dealers.
St. Bernard,
St. Elizabeth and St. Louis Bertrand parishes joined in several meetings
with members of the City Council and Police Chief Wayne Tucker to insure
that Measure Y, passed by voters last year, would be implemented. “We
are asking for 60 new police officers to make our neighborhoods safer,
” said Manuel Arias, a St. Elizabeth parishioner and OCO member.
As part of their effort, the parishes organized a vigil where more than
400 people took part, marching in the Fruitvale District to St. Elizabeth
Church asking for peace and an end to crime.
But Arias said safety is not only the responsibility of the authorities.
“All of us have to collaborate. The problem is that many people
do not want to report crimes for fear…but if we do not do that,
the police are not going to be aware of what is happening.”
Deacon Javier Fuentes of St. Bernard Parish agrees that more participation
from the community is necessary. “We have to take responsibility
to report to the police everything that we see in our neighborhoods because
that information is recorded and it will help us when we meet with the
police. The situation is not going to improve without our collaboration.”
Arias said the solution is not just to have more police officers. “There
are many parents who have two jobs and their kids are neglected. We have
to take responsibility as parents and as a community to educate our children.”
In addition to reassigning officers from administrative tasks to patrol
duty, Chief Tucker said he is overlapping police academies in order to
recruit, hire and train enough police officers to achieve Measure Y which
authorized 62 more police officers by spring of 2007.
Crosses honoring the victims of violence in Oakland
line the sanctuary of St. Elizabeth Church during a prayer service at
the culmination of a march through the Fruitvale district calling for
an end to murder on the city’s streets.
PHOTO COURTESY OF OCO
