First in a three-part series.
Looking To Garner Club’s Nomination In Advance Of March 2024 Primary Election
The field of five Democratic Party candidates vying to win Barbara Lee’s U.S. Congressional district 12 seat amply represented their party’s ideal of diversity when they made their case to gain the endorsement of The City Of Alameda Democratic Club and prospective voters in advance of the March 5th 2024 top two primary election.
In an online, virtual question and answer forum hosted by the club and moderated by its President, Zac Bowling, on Sept. 13, the mix of two African Americans, two Asians and a Latino aligned closely with District 12’s past history of including peoples of color spanning back over a half century.
The deep blue District 12 seat has been home for two famed African Americans, Ron Dellums from 1971-1998 and then Barbara Lee from 1998 through the present, powerful politicians whom the current candidates referenced in their presentations as those with “big shoes to fill.”
Each one of the candidates, in opening statements, emphasized their reverence for family and their personal success stories in overcoming the hurdles that often face the children of immigrants or those whose predecessors fought through the barriers of Jim Crow and other forms of racial marginalization and discrimination in America.
Their collective stories were largely those of generational aspiration and achievement, a portrait of the ethos of the traditional American value of the self made person who chose the path of public service and rose through hard work, family values, education, and commitment to implement their version of the common good.
Another thread that ran through their presentations was an emphasis on the importance of dedication, experience and competence, elements that have not always been a mainstay component of the electoral calculus in recent times.
First to appear, Alameda Vice Mayor Tony Daysog began his two-minute opening statement emphasizing pride over “helping Alameda to convert Alameda’s former military base to peaceful, civilian uses,” a role which for him has broader meaning as a self-proclaimed “peace candidate.”
The transition provides a powerful link between what he terms the “imperative” of cutting the U.S. Military budget and his mother’s standing as a survivor of the American atomic bombing of Nagasaki near the end of World War II.
That horrific and controversial event shaped his anti-war views from early childhood on. His family’s experience with the nuclear attack “is what distinguishes me from most other Democrats,” he said.
Daysog stressed that military spending cuts need to be redirected to address the perils of “sea level rise and ground water rise,” especially for Alameda and Oakland, the growing burden of college costs and student loan debt and towards universal health care.
Denard Ingram, next to go, focused primarily on his “career identify” as a “proud union man” from West Oakland whose commitment to ten years as a City Of Oakland Social Services worker stem from the hardships of his personal life and from “first hand experience” with those who “struggle to have basic needs” met..
Those include “food costs, housing costs, and job insecurity” as too many Americans see “the few rights we have achieved stripped away.”
His tenure as Chair of the Oakland Housing and Rent Board inspires his call to “move away from career politicians” in favor of those who will enact laws based on representation with “us in the room.”
He accompanied that notion with the slogan, “nothing about us without us,” a phrase that originated as part of the South African disability rights movement in the 1990’s.
“We cannot continue to use the same blueprint” when it shows that too many elected officials are “unable or unwilling to prioritize the needs of the people over profits,” he said.
Third to present, Tim Sanchez, focused first on his Oakland roots as a public school student and the Latino son and grandson of two pastors. He said his struggles and rise involved being the first in his family to go to college only to have his plans disrupted by the burdens of being a teenage parent who attended Community College night school.
Persevering, he eventually earned an MBA from U.C. Berkeley Haas Business School and a second from Columbia University.
Still stressing his resume, he pointed to his work in aerospace, finance and owning a “small business” through 2022, following his decision to enlist after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and become an officer in The U.S. Navy Reserves, which deployed him three times, once on a tour of duty to Afghanistan.
He closed with a brief policy mention saying that, “I think we have gotten away from addressing the issues that matter most to working class families. Economic opportunity is shrinking, that path to the middle class is shrinking everyday, and with the new technology that is rising. We need somebody who can address these issues,” he said after acknowledging his appreciation for “a community that has afforded me so much.”
Lateefah Simon, fourth in line in the random ordering, began with an energetic, impassioned account of “my lived experience that has taught me so much” and how her professional experience of over 30 years “on the ground, leading institutions ” in both the private and public sector, and as an elected official now serving on The BART Board Of Directors has guided her engagement. She enthused that “as a single mother and as a widow that really understands that when the times get rough” solutions must be implemented.
“We ourselves” must represent “our communities” when taking action “outside with a bullhorn to make our voices heard” as “the cavalry is not coming to save any of us,” she said.
She noted her roots as a sixteen year old teenage organizer “with a baby on my hip” who led The Young Women’s Freedom Center, “run for a by young women of color” to help them find employment and opportunities.
She stated that she “brought three billion dollars home during Covid…to insure that our trains could continue to run,” in what might be a reference to funding from The Federal Transit Administration Discretionary Grant Program, The American Rescue Plan or other sources in 2020-21. ANN is seeking clarification from The Simon campaign.
She ended her time with a beaming smile, saying that she “really can’t wait” for further opportunities to “talk about our struggles” as a part of “this community.”
Bearing a wide smile of her own, Dr. Jennifer Tran praised all on “this panel of really qualified public servants ” before calling for “sensible solutions to our most pressing issues” grounded in her experience as an Ethnic Studies Professor, small business leader and community organizer. What she called her “deep roots” in the community involved growing up in The East Bay living in a two room “cramped apartment” with eleven others as the child of refugees. She honored her parents “toil” of fifteen hours a day, seven days a week, adding that it taught her to weather conflict, sometimes violent, and “propelled” her to “dedicate my life to serving others,” and to attain an Urban Planning degree from UCSD followed by a PHD from USD.
She beamed with pride and vigor when she mentioned her teaching and mentoring of “first generation, working class students of color” at Cal State East Bay, coaching them to put theory into practice. As time ran short, and glitches in sound clarity occurred, she mentioned her work as President Of The Oakland Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce to build collaboration in that circle to insure “language access” and “culturally competent technical assistance for our communities.”
Tran parted by invoking her “proven” track record in handling “moments of crisis” and how to “navigate and leverage” complex power structures and institutions at the hands of a leader with “full and realistic plans to fix our broken system.”
Two other persons who declared District 12 candidacy, Andre Todd and John Marks, did not participate in the event.
COMING SOON: PART 2 OF THIS STORY FOCUSING ON Q & A HIGHLIGHTS