Oakland mayor Libby Schaaf has Trump-like "both sides" reaction to Jogger Joe's anti-homeless attack

[Graphic: Libby Schaaf as BBQ Becky by @DankMemeOakland.]


Libby Schaaf empathizes with Henry Sintay and the so-called frustration that led to his anti-homeless attack. She feels it. She appears to be as bothered by littering in Lake Merritt as she is with the unprovoked destruction of an unhoused man's property.

“I feel the frustration of both sides, now I will say clearly that was not appropriate,” she said. “It’s not appropriate to take someone’s belongings, it’s not appropriate to trash our beautiful Lake Merritt.

"Not appropriate" is a mild critique of such blatantly offensive behavior. Would she say the same if someone broke into her Oakmore mansion and threw her property into Sausal Creek? Rather than going with her usual tough-on-crime rhetoric, it sounds like she would have preferred Oakland police and the Department of Public Works do the dirty deed — as the city regularly does during encampment evictions — instead of some anti-homeless vigilante.

The Trump-like "both sides" is a defense of her true constituents, people who viscerally hate low-income and homeless folks, not poverty and homelessness. They instantly recognize Henry Sintay's actions as a fulfillment of their pent-up loathing. Lest Schaaf offend the privileged haters, she couldn't come out too strongly in support of the victim in the attack, Greg Markson. Hence, the milquetoast statement about appropriateness and the "both sides" equivocation.

Sintay, whom Schaaf felt compelled to defend as one side of the supposed "frustration" equation, physically assaulted Matt Nelson a few hours later when Matt asked questions about the destruction of Greg Markson's property. Sintay now faces a charge of felony robbery for stealing Matt's phone.

Bay Area liberals aren't as different from Trumpers as they like to think, especially those in positions of power such as mayor Schaaf who don't clearly and loudly condemn mean-spirited anti-homeless attacks like this. The same goes for those who support capitalistic, pro-police policies that do what Sintay did, only on a larger scale.

A sense of white entitlement is growing in Oakland, and it mirrors the increasing confidence of openly-racist Trumpers. The "both sides" arguments put forward by Donald Trump and Libby Schaaf encourage these trends, their false equivalencies inevitably favoring privilege and cruelty.