Analysis: Council District 1 candidate Tamisha Walker proposes most radical agenda ever – for Antioch to become a sanctuary city, ultimately abolish police
Speaks of the need to “tear down” most of these systems of policing and “start over or maybe not start over, at all”.
Campaign slogan, “The Right Choice for Change” should instead read “The Far Left Choice for Change Antioch Doesn’t Want”
Tamisha Walker. Photo from her campaign Facebook page.
By Allen Payton, Publisher & Editor
As part of her platform in her campaign for the City Council in District 1, Tamisha Walker is proposing Antioch become a sanctuary city for illegal aliens, the first and only candidate to ever do so. She also proposes “Reimagining Public Safety”, which is code words for defunding and reallocating funds intended for more police to social programs, and ultimately abolishing policing. She also claims that Antioch Police are frightening to people, and that “There is so much disfunction, harm, trauma and toxicity in the relationship between police and people.”
Most of what Walker writes in her platform are general statements without specifics, leaving a lot of room for interpretation and for the voters to unfortunately wait to find out what’s in it until after she’s elected.
One specific she does offer is that she wants “to make sure we do not cooperate with agencies associated with separating families such as I.C.E.” Then she better not have the Antioch Police cooperate with the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s and Sheriff’s offices, because they separate even American families every day, since they don’t put the spouses or children in jail with the spouse or parents who commit crimes. Walker must not realize that Antioch Police don’t and can’t do that, anyway since California became a SANCTUARY STATE and state law prevents state and local law enforcement agencies from using their resources on behalf of federal immigration enforcement agencies.
Frankly, reading her platform it appears she’s running in the wrong city or for the wrong office, and shows just how out of touch she is with regards to the issues facing our city and is a bunch of Leftist rhetoric that might sell in Berkeley, but not here.
She mentions nothing about the major issues affecting most everyone in Antioch, which are bringing well-paying jobs to our city, cleaning up blight, solving the homeless problem, and continuing to hire additional police, as we the people voted twice to do by increasing our sales tax, to fight and decrease crime in our city.
Nevertheless, here is Walker’s platform as it appears verbatim on her website with a variety of questions that arise from the various planks:
Invest in Antioch
“We are in an unprecedented moment unlike we have never faced before. I know how important fiscal responsibility is.
I have a proven track record of being able to analyze complex public government financing and organize a base of community supporters and academics to develop research and policies to identify and fix harmful and wasteful spending.
With the economy and restructuring of budgets I want to make sure our community is going to have a representative in Antioch City council that is going to make sure Antioch will not be forgotten but invested in.”
What does that mean? With what money? Invest how? Where has she been since she’s been out of jail and lived in Antioch to analyze the city’s budget and make recommendations? She could have been doing that every year during the council’s budget sessions. I don’t recall ever hearing her speak up and offer proposals for the city budget and how our tax dollars can be spent differently.
School
“School is different this year, I know as a parent I am concerned about my child’s education and balancing school amidst a pandemic has already proven to be challenging. I want to let you now that I want to be open and able to find collaborative solutions towards making sure everyone’s needs are met. I know this is going to take hard work and I am ready to take that on.”
Question: Does she not understand that the city council doesn’t oversee the school district and has very little to no impact on the education in Antioch? That’s for the AUSD school board. Walker’s running for the wrong office if she’s looking for solutions to the current education situation.
Sanctuary Antioch
“‘Know our Rights’
I want to work as hard as I can to make Antioch a Sanctuary City. I want to make sure we do not cooperate with agencies associated with separating families such as I.C.E. I believe our city and if elected as city councilmember I will make sure we take a stance on protecting families not separating them.”
Had she merely picked up the phone and called Antioch Police Chief T Brooks – which she has yet to do – Walker would have learned, as he said to the Herald, “We have not, nor will not assist any federal immigration enforcement efforts. SB54, which went into effect in 2018, makes clear our responsibilities with respect to these matters, significantly limiting our cooperation with federal immigration authorities. We cooperate with all our local, state and federal partners when responding to criminal cases, which is completely different than immigration enforcement.”
Candidates need to do their homework before proposing a plank in their platform that sounds good to some voters and tickles the ears of Antioch residents, but does nothing and will actually have no effect, such as with this issue.
Youth
“I believe that resourcing our youth is investing in our future. I want to make sure our city is doing what they can to make sure there are youth services and programs and resources so our youth have options and choices for their present and future. This is such an important strategy to violence prevention and curbing the school to prison pipeline. I have experience doing it when my family lived in Richmond and I want to do it here in Antioch for generations.”
So, she wants Antioch to become like Richmond, huh?. Didn’t many of our residents move from that city and come here because they didn’t like it there? This is also code for her opposition to School Resource Officers – police on Antioch campuses, that were approved earlier this year by both the city council and school board.
Housing
“I want Antioch to be a place anybody can make a home. I know we are in a double crisis for renters and homeowners. I believe the solution is going to come with immense collaboration with people from all levels to coordinate aid from the federal government and the state. As your representative I want to make sure all of our voices and concerns are being heard and do everything with the City Councilmember’s power to leverage solutions that are inclusive for everyone.”
Who can’t “make a home” in Antioch? Who isn’t welcome, here? This is code that she wants more low- to moderate-income, government subsidized housing in town even though Antioch has met its state requirements for years to come and already has more than its fair share. Where was she when the recent apartment complex on Delta Fair Blvd. was voted on by the council. Did she speak out in favor of that market-rate, multi-family housing project?
Covid-19
“As we continue toward a possibility of 2021, Covid -19 is still a responsibility that requires us to make sure we are active and ready to respond in ways that preserve life.”
What does that even mean? It’s so general that it says nothing. Besides, the City really doesn’t have anything to do with COVID-19 as it’s a County Health Services issue.
Environment
“I do not want to make Antioch an environmental sacrifice zone. We all deserve clean healthy air, water, land and that sense of safety and sustainability. I want to be a good steward of the environment. That makes sure preserving our natural resources and ensuring our investment goes towards communities that have been underserved and underrepresented.”
What does that mean? Does she oppose bringing industrial and manufacturing jobs to Antioch? Does she oppose more housing development? What “investment” is she referring to and what “communities that have been underserved and underrepresented”? We have had Hispanic and African American elected officials on our city council and school board for years. What “communities” haven’t been represented in Antioch?
Reimagining Public Safety
“Too often our communities’ stories and experiences are not heard on mainstream television. Safety means feeling safe, not under threat and terror. There is so much disfunction, harm, trauma and toxicity in the relationship between police and people that the only sensible conclusion is to re-imagine this relationship with the value of feeling truly safe in our communities. This has been a big part of my life’s work to re-imagine public safety. With several communities undergoing this right now, I believe my combination of experience, compassion and hard work can help Antioch make the right choices and become a leader in transforming our community.”
What city is she referring to? It sounds like Walker is projecting the problems in other cities onto Antioch. How is there “so much disfunction, harm, trauma, and toxicity in the relationship between people and police” in Antioch? Maybe there’s harm and trauma for those who are committing crimes, as should be expected. Perhaps that’s her perspective if that’s with whom Walker spends much of her time.
It’s interesting she doesn’t want Antioch residents to actually enjoy safety, only that we are feeling safe “in our communities”. Why the use of the plural? What communities? She should be focused on the Antioch community. Or is she saying Antioch is made up of multiple communities, thus serving to divide us.
The most radical thing she mentioned about police was during an interview on EastCountyToday.net when Walker said, “I definitely have my ideas around, you know abolition and you know the root of all of these systems and how most of them we need to tear down and start over or maybe not start over at all.” That right there is reason enough to reject her candidacy.
But, Walker needs to be much more specific as to what she does and doesn’t like that the current council member she’s running against, Joy Motts, has done and what she would do differently.
Except for a few things like abolishing police and unnecessarily making Antioch a sanctuary city, all of Walker’s general statements in her so-called platform have no real meaning. It’s like when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said about Obamacare, “we need to pass the bill to find out what’s in it.” Antioch can’t take the risk to find out what are the details in Walker’s platform until after she’s elected. She should tell the voters, now. But, frankly, there’s enough there, already to reject her radical, Leftist agenda and not vote for her for city council in District 1.
While I applaud her work as co-founder and executive director of the Safe Return Project which has the goal of helping those coming out of prison to get jobs, etc., Walker should remain focused on that, instead and leave the governing of Antioch to people with more common sense views and values.
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