By Tony Hicks –
The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors meeting took a sharp turn Tuesday when a discussion about a report on the county’s first Office of Racial Equity and Social Justice (ORESJ) became a debate about defining “white supremacy.”
The term was used in the report to describe the “entrenched culture” of Contra Costa County.
At one point, in defending the people contributing to the report and their choice of words, District 5 supervisor Federal Glover – who is African American – said the board must respect people feeling that way, even if it is uncomfortable.
“Uncomfort; I have lived in it for 66 years,” Glover said. “You talk about words matter; just the other day I was told by a police officer that ‘You’re not on the board of supervisors at this moment, so you’re just a n—–.'”
The report was presented to supervisors Tuesday by a commission convened in Feb. 2021 to “develop and facilitate a community listening campaign to inform the priorities and structure of the ORESJ.”
Once the recommendations – which included hiring two co-directors for the department, among others – were presented, District 2 supervisor Candace Andersen immediately took issue with term “white supremacy,” which was used in the report’s introduction.
“I think many of us were surprised by that statement,” Andersen said. “It’s something where I’m hoping it was an ill choice of words.”
Andersen said she looked the term up in the dictionary and it doesn’t apply to Contra Costa.
“I see white supremist as somebody who is an extremist, who wants to harm other people,” Andersen said.
“To me, having that statement is something that is a divisive statement and I just want to make sure that the product that is produced, and that we accept as a board, avoids language such as that, where I’m hopeful that the intent is we’re talking about disparities and balances of services.”
The report’s introduction says:
“Contra Costa County is in the unceded Me-wok and Karkin territories. It is home to many social justice movement leaders, activists, and organizations. There is a rich history of organizing across multiple movements and generations. Contra Costa County is also home to an entrenched culture of white supremacy, including – surveillance, under-resourcing, and exploitation of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities.
This culture is too often felt, expressed, and allowed within and by County governance and departments.”
The next paragraph says: “The pandemic and racial reckoning of 2020 have exposed and amplified the insidiousness of white supremacy and racial inequity within our county’s health, mental health, education, criminal legal, social service, child welfare, and other systems. These events have amplified both the resistance to and demand for radical transformation in our County systems.”
District 3 supervisor Diane Burgis and board chairperson Karen Mitchoff also took exception to the term. Burgis said she didn’t want it to obstruct people from understanding why the BIPOC is necessary.
Mitchoff initially said she wouldn’t vote to receive the report if it included the term “entrenched culture of white supremacy.” She said she feared people would take it out of context.
Mitchoff was also agitated with District 1 Supervisor John Gioia, who helped present the report, saying she wasn’t aware the term was being used until Monday, which she then raised with Gioia the same day.
She pointed out the term wasn’t in the PowerPoint presentation made earlier in the meeting, which she said was “highly suspicious.” Gioia denied having the term taken out of the presentation.
Dozens of public speakers spoke for the next two hours, including members of the commission, most defending the inclusion of “white supremists.” Mitchoff admitted after a lunch break she’d softened her stance on accepting a report with the term and wanted compromise.
Burgis said she found two distinct definitions of “white supremacy.” The first mentioned those believing the white race is inherently superior to other races as a movement. The other defined it as social, economic and political conditions giving white people advantage.
The board unanimously voted to accept the report with the latter definition inserted parenthetically after the term “white supremacy.”
“A lot of people talked about this being uncomfortable, and I think that’s healthy” Burgis said.
“Because we’re talking but things that have made some people really uncomfortable for way too long. I think the board has taken action in the past that reflects that we acknowledge harm. We want to take action.”
Because discussion of the ORESJ report took so long, the board pushed discussion on closing the Orin Allen Youth Rehabilitation Facility to next Tuesday.
They can’t define what doesn’t exist.
Glover is a liar.
Mitchoff’s a (explitive deleted)
The supervisors waste more time doing nothing.
If Glover refuses to identify the department or provide a reference to an IA report, then he’s lying.
And if he’s lying, then it’s time for a recall.
Secondly, who developed that report? I’d like to see who’s going to be the beneficiary of the results. I’ll bet someone is greasing the politicians’ pockets.
In the spirit of our country’s past as a melting pot I think they should have named it the Office of Racial Equity and Opportunity (OREO).
Did they all have cookies and Kool-Aid after the meeting?
They all need to be replaced – These people are crazy as heck.
More Jussie Smollet / Bubba Wallace RACE HUSTLING BS!!!
I’m waiting for the new Diversity Tax. This is IDIOCRACY coming to life.
“entrenched culture of white supremacy.”
Oh Really – Can you say REPRATIONS!
REPRATIONS. I can say it but it isn’t a word.
I don’t think anyone should be surprised by the content of this report. Consider the source. Also, I believe Federal Glover is trying to validate the report and his agenda by lying about what was said to him by a Police Officer. More woke nonsense.
If an officer said that to FG the he should make a complaint to the IA dept where that officer is employed. Seems like there is more to that story.
Will Rev. Al Sharpton will be named the new department director?
.
Another do-nothing government department that will not produce any measurable results.
.
This new department is simply institutionalized racism run by people of color. Btw, few whites will be hired because “they won’t understand”.
.
There is so much wrong with this paragraph. Where to begin?
“The pandemic and racial reckoning of 2020 have exposed and amplified the insidiousness of white supremacy and racial inequity within our county’s health, mental health, education, criminal legal, social service, child welfare, and other systems. These events have amplified both the resistance to and demand for radical transformation in our County systems.”
What happened during the summer of 2020 was far from a “racial reckoning.” Is that the woke revisionist term that’s been settled on? Far from a reckoning, it was a widespread temper tantrum during which mobs went around shrieking about oppression while burning, looting, and murdering innocent members of their own communities. During its short existence the CHAZ (Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone) in Seattle, from which police were explicitly excluded, had the highest murder rate in the country.
And what about “radical transformation”? Based on this track record of vandalism, destruction, and division, shouldn’t there be “resistance”? If the shoe were on the other foot, with calls for “radical” anything to defend any other way of life, it would surely meet with widespread and emphatic condemnation. So how can an official body call for anything “radical” for a society just barely holding together?
Lastly, what about the burning, looting and murder of the summer of 2020 exposed “the insidiousness of white supremacy,” when opposing voices to the madness were shouted down, banned, and branded hatred, and outright riots were termed “mostly peaceful protests”? Just how did these behaviors help to identify and address problems?
And since we’re looking at problems, what happened to the $90+ million dollars donated to the exclusive leadership of this movement? Instead of going to help the community it claims to represent, it has been demonstrated to have gone into the pockets of those leaders and their cronies. What is enriching a few token POC if not more exploitation of the communities they claim to stand for?
We don’t need the radicals of the ORESJ to whip up more division and find “supremacism” where it doesn’t exist. Disband this absurd waste of time and money and let’s talk as a community.
Hard to believe a LEO would call him that!….”Heavens to Murgatroyd”-Snagglepuss (Yogi Bear’s buddy)
He probably forgot to mention that the officer who said it was black….and a relative 😜
MartinezMike, I was thinking the same. The person was either black but he is probably lying. Some people just want to be victims.
I remember calling Glover to discuss the county worker vaccine mandate that he signed for. His assistant gave me his cell number and Federal answered his phone with the greeting “This is the Boss”.
I explained to him that the FDA had not actually approved a vaccine yet and that Comirnaty was not legally the same as the currently available vaccine. He said he was deferring to Dr Farnitano and then hung up on me.
Never understimate how stupid and narcissistic these people are.
You can now see why things will not get better in the near future. We are lead by idiots. It is so discouraging. I think what they are doing is turning people into White Supremacist because we see how dumb the alternative is.
Good to see our taxes are going to fund “hiring two co-directors for the department,”. Need to get the ‘white supremist’ bit in their so when they ask for more funding nobody can deny it without being called a white supremist. Glad to hear someone ask for a definition of that term in the conversation.
White guilt has a limit. At some point white people will get sick of the constant complaining, and stop supporting the causes that constantly trash talk them.
That limit is zero, Raul.
As a white person, I have NOTHING to be ashamed of. I have not and will never contribute to these causes.
Good Gravy!!! Since when did it become part of the BoS charter to stir up racial animosity in the county?
AD
About that alleged Glover incident, it is possible this is just his opportunistic spin on something. The actual quote is pretty much the way friends would talk to each other. He knows cops because he is on the gang task force something, so over two or five beers, definitely. I’ve listened to loud conversations on BART where blacks were using that name in almost every sentence. This just shows how far the Left and their racist agenda has pushed the field where even such an idiotic example has everyone in a frenzy, even here. They got to you. You have been suckered. Congrats.
(my first post on the new site, this feels weird)
What a bunch of nonsense.
Mr. Glover is just another agitating troublemaker, trying to stir up the cherish race war that (((( they)))) Desire, so that all of us races keep fighting each other, and don’t joy Kanye and rise up against who’s really in charge of America, and for the ignorant types, it’s not white people. White people do not own the federal reserve, and are incapable of printing out hundreds of trillions of dollars.
And if Mr. Glover understood basic math, he’d understand that white supremacy is a fairytale that nobody with common sense thinks is a remote problem. When 6% of America is comprised of black males, and they are responsible for 60 to 75% of all the murders and violent crime in America, Mr. Glover would be well advised to adjust his views of what’s really a problem in America. Any issue is not slavery and pass aggregation, it’s that the bankers have deliberately fed illiteracy and illegitimacy in the black community, with 75% of black babies being born out of wedlock, and 75% of black boys being functionally illiterate, into the black community. No matter what your race, if you are unable To read, and you were raised without a married father in the home, your chances of getting into a life of crime are vastly higher than those who are not raised with those circumstances.
Just curious where you’re getting your statistics. Please provide link.
@itsme, It really isn’t that difficult to find this information using the internet.
Ryan is off a bit with his numbers but his point is valid. “Black or African American” constitute approximately 13% of the US population but commit approximately 45% of violent crimes.
Federal Bureau of InvestigationCrime Data Explorer
tinyurl.com/9b49fzd4
United States Census Bureau
tinyurl.com/55tpdfvd
It’s not hard to find. You look at consensus number in the county, state or country depending on your search, that will give you numbers for population based on ethnicity. You then look up crime numbers the same way. That gives you the statistics your looking for.
You can also watch the local news.
C Mo: Thank you!!! Your timing was perfect. If anyone questions a person of color about racism, we are racist. Circle right back to my comment above about the Left’s manipulation of the conversation. You deserve a bunch of thumbs up. Wish I could send you a gift card to Lululemon’s.
Everyone on this thread is making so many claims based in nothing but thin air and prejudice, including your assumptions about me.
Denying racism exists is the prime sign that it does.
Pretending the comments here aren’t racist belongs in that category.
There are not “many claims,” just that it might not have happened or he is exaggerating, like that female black Duke volleyball player who the school and police decided had lied about being verbally abused by Utah fans a couple of months ago. The school even apologized to the student she accused. What a horrible person she is. For me, Glover’s story does not meet the smell test. Why would a random cop even know who Glover is or be in any way making comments about or care about his politics. Can you generate a scene in your mind where a random cop knows this Glover guy is up for political office and wants to taunt him? This does not pass the smell test.
Do you not see that the fact you dismiss my entire message and all the points I make as B.S. is exactly what I’m writing about in my comment?
You are PROVING that you’d rather be part of the problem than find a solution that requires spending time to find where we can agree, so we can see our concerns intersect and that we’re looking for the same things.
Makes me endlessly sad to see how many people in our community are not interested in building a cohesive community through calm dialogue.
Sorry you’re one of those, because otherwise, you sound smart.
“Everyone who I disagree with is a racist!
Blah blah blah”
That’s not dialogue, it’s just another lecture from another intolerant divider.
“Denying racism exists is the prime sign that it does.”
The recursive and contradictory nature of this sentence make my head hurt. That is a statement so stupid, I’m guessing you got it from race hustler Ibrim Kendi.
“Denying my point proved my point.” I’m guessing the corollary of that is that agreeing with you also proves your point.
Heads you win, tails we lose!
The saddest part is, you probably think this is actually about race and helping non-white people. This is about power, and a neo Marxist takeover of institutions. You think this is going to end with the land being given back to the Miwoks? You think this will end with a rainbow police force and everyone singing kumbaya in the streets? All this claptrap is designed to undermine and delegitimize the current sociopolitical order so they can replace it with their new Marxist inspired religion: diversity, equity, inclusion. Everything run by the revolutionaries, taking the power to create equal outcomes. From each according to their oppression, to each according to their race. White supremacy to them is any part of the American order that created this country. Rule of law, impartial justice, property rights, gun rights, federalism and limited government. Every one of those things has been attacked as WS already.
This is a war. People need to see it for what it is.
Just because you think it’s a war doesn’t make it one. But that attitude will.
It’s about people learning to listen to each other and accept that their personal view of the world is not the only valid one.
Harms have been done because of racist attitudes that are so deeply ingrained in our culture that it’s hard for many people to see them, let alone admit they exist.
Harm has been done to the Black community for generations after the formal ending of slavery, for example. Slavery ended but the attitudes that kept Black people from voting, for example, well into the 20th Century, remained – and they are alive and well in the US still today, if you’re willing to see clearly how the laws put in place under the guise of eliminating (non-existent) voter fraud are designed to limit the ability of people in predominantly Black neighborhoods to cast ballots. Same with gerrymandering – breaking up predominantly Black neighborhoods into several different districts so that they cannot affect election by the strength of their numbers.
This isn’t about Marxism.
The GOP calls everything they don’t like “socialism” when it’s about money being put to use to benefit anyone but themselves. In the mean time, their hands are grasping at every possible dollar they can get for their personal business (PPP loans come to mind) and projects of all sorts that they claim are to promote ‘better lives’ for certain segments of their constituencies. But for people in need, for the elderly, the sick, the disabled? Hell no! THAT is an *unacceptable* form of socialism.
Folks need to admit they’re uncomfortable with the shift in our demographics, with the rising tide of humanistic philosophy that teaches *every* life has value and every living, breathing person should have autonomy over their own bodies, and with the idea that past wounds need to be healed in some way if we can all come to the table in the spirit of understanding, rather than fear and antagonism.
We are capable of that, if we want to be.
No one in their right mind is against property rights, rule of law, impartial justice, etc.
But our justice system, for example, is not impartial. If you won’t admit that, it’s deliberate blindness to how justice is meted out in this country. We have to admit to a problem in order to fix it.
People who deny that they have any racism in them are blind to their own unconscious attitudes and don’t *want* to uncover them.
I have to think about Kanye West denying his statement are anti-Semitic, saying they can’t be because there are Black Jews. He even said, “Some of my close friends are Jewish” as if that were a valid proof he couldn’t be anti-Semitic. I remember when Black people mocked anyone saying they had Black friends, so they couldn’t possibly be racist. But all his other statements underscore just how prejudiced he is against Jewish people.
We have to look at how our thoughts and behaviors reveal our attitudes. It’s there, if we’re *willing* to look. And I don’t point fingers at anyone, I just know that even growing up in the circumstances I did, the social and cultural attitudes found their way into my own mind because they’re all around us.
So many of our mental habits are so ingrained as to be automatic because our society has taught and reinforced them. Comments on Claycord are full of assumptions people make – that any crime was committed by someone Black, for example. If you deny that’s the case, I suggest you read the comment section on any article about crime here. But that is blatant.
It’s so much deeper than that.
Wealthy Black people who drive expensive cars get stopped when they’re in a wealthy neighborhood on suspicion that the car is stolen and they’re up to no good. They can get frisked and treated like criminals for no reason. How often does anyone white experience that?
Black people shopping in expensive stores get followed around on suspicion they’ll shoplift.
There are so many examples of these kinds of attitudes that we white folks never see and never question when we do.
But even worse, generations of Black people have been prevented from buying homes through secret real estate agreements to not allow them into certain communities, to jack up mortgage rates beyond their ability to pay, and to force them into cheaper areas and ghettos. That has meant that for hundreds of years, white families who have been here have been able to buy homes and build equity, and pass inheritances along to their heirs, while Black families have not. It was a very deliberate campaign to keep them down. All of this has been well documented.
So how can anyone claim that racism is over?
How can anyone claim that racist attitudes don’t exist in this country or this community?
For people to deny it, when it’s in the ways they talk about the topic, really is proof it exists.
There may be people on the fringes of political ideology – all the edges – who are more interested in being right, getting over on everyone else, shouting, proving something, demeaning and bullying, rather than finding common ground. But they’re the ones who will PREVENT anything being done to move us forward as a community and a nation.
Do we want to stay on the fringes and congratulate ourselves on how loud and forceful we’ve been while everything burns down around us?
Do we want to encourage and support the shouters and bullyers and self-righteous idiots to light the flames and pour on the fuel?
Or are we interested in working together, accepting the points of view of other people and communities within our own, and be a true democracy that is for and by ALL the people?
That’s the choice we face.
C MO: There is so much wrong with what you said, it is hopeless to even start. I will however address your beginning and conclusion where in both places you stress listening to others as if conservatives don’t. Go to the news today and look for how 100 protestors and counter protestors showed up and fought to prevent a conservative speaker at UC David from talking to about 30 or so students. The protestors were very violent throwing chairs against the glass windows. The videos are available on YouTube. You are really shoveling the BS here.
President Biden just delivered his remarks on new actions to provide families with more breathing room.
While talking about “junk fees” from airlines and banks, he said, “Look folks, these are junk fees, they’re unfair and they hit marginalized Americans the hardest, especially low-income folks and people of color.” Why does he always associate and group those who he calls “people of color” with “low income folks” as a blanket statement? Are there no exceptions to this rule (beyond the millions of visible examples)? Such a racist thing to say.
From the White House to the Main Street Media, the so called “Whites” are ALL doing just fine, have all the money and power, and are the enemy and, the so called “Blacks” and “people of color” are ALL struggling, are oppressed, and need the government’s help.
Until we stop segregating and classifying everybody by their race or the amount of pigment is their skin, we will never come together as a united group of people. We are all simply humans. Period.
Well said.
It’s noted you are very charitable, and polite in referring to Joe as “President Biden”. However it’s also noted as per his recent comments, he thinks Kamala Harris is the President.
I don’t believe at all that a police officer called Glover the n word.He is just stirring the pot.
Why don’t you believe him? What makes you so certain?
Sounds very “Jussie Smolett.”
The woke race-baiters are always making up fake racial attacks and blaming nonexistent white supremacists.
“always?” Not sure about that.
The story as recited by Glover would be grounds for dismissal from any PD in the Bay Area. If racism is so prevalent, let’s produce a copy of Glover’s complaint made to the appropriate agency, then we can all join together with poor Federal and make sure this vile racist no longer has a job in law enforcement. Victimhood has become the new currency – now we need receipts.
Well it would be grounds for dismissal… if you could get white people to care about or believe it.
Sorry Chuq – It would be if it actually happened, but it didn’t.
In my opinion, the county supes are suffering from their own feeling of supremacy. They seem to have a false sense of self, and believe they are accomplishing something that in reality is destructive. Calling a group of people superior is a reflection of their own inferiority complex.
The biggest racists are the White Saviors of the leftist Democrat party, of which most if not all of CoCO County leaders ascribe to. The above quoted passages clerarly show how these blanketed racists actually attempt to spread their racist mindset, under a cloak of rhetoric. Shameful and disgusting.
It’s also worth noting that the people who complain they can’t say what’s on their mind anymore get all bent out of shape when people bring up the term “white supremacy.”
CHUQ: In my opinion, it is not the phrase white supremacy that is upsetting, it is the dishonesty with how it is used. The Left has these dog whistle expressions like white supremacy, BLM, CRT, and others where it will mean very different things depending on the tactics employed. Many object to the violent Marxist movement called BLM while if you argue against them, you are dishonestly accused of not caring about black people being killed. With CRT, its supporters continually claim its critics do not understand what it is and yet refuse to define it and show how it is implemented in the schools. With white supremacy you would think it is about the KKK but the Glover types would redefine it to be statistics like black computer programmers don’t make as much as others to prove white supremacy exists. It really is remarkable that the Right has willingly granted the Left the power of redefining things at will to fit their narratives.
I just wanted to comment on your remark about black men not being able to vote and or being surpressed. You do know that the black man was given the vote before woman were given the right to vote.
I suspect Glover neglected to tell the group what he said to provoke the police officer’s alleged comment. “You can’t give me a ticket, I’m a County supervisor!”
The officer did not say that no matter what Glover said. He is flat out lying. However if the officer was Black there is a possibility because they use that word.
Of course he’s lying, this is not 1960 Mississippi.
Because so much time was spent discussing nothing of any importance, history will one day call this “The Age Of Do Nothing.”
This comment is a lie. Who ever this Glover guy is should have no voice in anything.
“Uncomfort; I have lived in it for 66 years,” Glover said. “You talk about words matter; just the other day I was told by a police officer that ‘You’re not on the board of supervisors at this moment, so you’re just a n—–.’”
The term racism/racist is used so often these days, it really has diminished its meaning. Don’t agree with me you’re racist, if u don’t like something its rooted in racism, if you want to shut down the conversation call them racist. Books are racist, history is racist, statues are racist, math is racist.!
What a bunch of nonsense.
Mr. Glover is just another agitating troublemaker, trying to stir up the cherished race war that (((( they)))) desire , so that all of us races keep fighting each other, and don’t join Kanye and rise up against who’s really in charge of America, and for the ignorant types, it’s not white people. White people do not own the Federal Reserve, and are incapable of printing out hundreds of trillions of dollars.
And if Mr. Glover understood basic math, he’d understand that white supremacy is a fairytale that nobody with common sense thinks is a remote problem. When 6% of America is comprised of black males, and they are responsible for 60 to 75% of all the murders and violent crime in America, Mr. Glover would be well advised to adjust his views of what’s really a problem in America. And the issue is not slavery and past segregation, it’s that the bankers have deliberately fed illiteracy and illegitimacy in the black community, with 75% of black babies being born out of wedlock, and 75% of black boys being functionally illiterate, into the black community. No matter what your race, if you are unable To read, and you were raised without a married father in the home, your chances of getting into a life of crime are vastly higher than those who are not raised with those circumstances.
These folks will make a dandy Disinformation Board also. Sign them up!
We’ll all be better for it, especially all the people of color they constantly claim can’t fend for themselves. It’s pretty clear who the racists are.
Has anyone spoken about what happened to District 5 supervisor Mr. Glover regarding the horrible way he was spoken to by a police officer? And has anything been done about it in regards to punishment of the police officer? No police officer should ever behave in such a way and they should not bring their own personal and racist beliefs to work if they are going to still hold a position in the police force. This is completely unacceptable behavior of someone whose job it is to protect its citizens.
Sound like Jussie Smollet. Disappointed on Glover did not know he has become a race hustler. Morgan Freeman is 85 and he would call BS.
This is how genocide starts. One group will feel like victims and rise up against who they think are oppressing them.
The nazis in Germany , WW2
Rwandan genocide.
No one is OPPRESSED in this country.
Also equity is equality.
What a bunch of spineless politicians! They are willing to throw the vast majority of their fellow citizens under the bus in order to satisfy a group of extremists.
I would be uncomfortable as a white person serving on a jury for any BIPOC on trial, as I’m sure my white supremacist views would influence my judgement. Therefore, I propose that all jurors should be the same race as the accused.
Co-directors? Bull$hit!
Glover hasn’t names the department/officer for whatever BS reason? Then he’s lying – more BS from the BOS.
Time to effing clean house of these morons!