News

On Thursday, September 12, over 70 journalists and community members gathered to discuss covering crime and safety in Oakland, and news media’s responsibility in engaging with communities facing violence.

Bay Area Journalists Convening: Covering Crime and Safety in Oakland – co-presented by the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, Baywell Health and Change Consulting – featured panels on Comparative Community Survey Research, a Community Panel moderated by Bilen Mesfin Packwood of Change Consulting, and a Journalists Panel moderated by Professor Lisa Armstrong of UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.

Martin G. Reynolds, who emceed the event, thanked the co-sponsors at Baywell Health and Change Consulting for their partnership. He praised the event for being both information-rich and an opportunity for journalists to gather in fellowship.

“It is rare to not only have a tremendous event with outstanding information, presentations and moderation, but for the process to be so enjoyable and collaborative,” Reynolds said.

Comparative Community Survey Research: Primary Questions and Core Themes

Presented by Robert Phillips, President and CEO of Baywell Health, and Thu Quach, President of Asian Health Services, research on Asian and Black Oaklanders’ views on violence and safety focused on two primary questions:

• What are the attitudes, perceptions, and experiences regarding violence among our Black and Asian communities?
• What factors influence how our communities perceive, react to, and heal from violence?

A secondary question arose from these initial questions directed at understanding violence and safety through a community health lens:

• What community-based interventions will promote safety within our Black and Asian communities?

The six core themes this research explored included:

• The health impacts of violence.
• How public narratives drive tensions.
• Racialized stereotypes and stigma.
• Historical trauma and experiences.
• Shared Humanity.
• Social proximity as a mediator.

Comparative Community Survey Research: Findings

Qualitative interviews and quantitative survey research conducted by Baywell Health and Asian Health Services revealed that 94% of respondents felt that violence in general was a “very serious problem” in Oakland, with 83% reporting they felt violence against Black people was a serious problem and 74% indicating that both sex trafficking and violence against Asian Americans are a severely concerning issue in Oakland. Sixty-nine percent also had the perception that anti-Asian hate was a concerning issue in Oakland.

When asked “Have you, or has anyone close to you, been a victim of violence in Oakland?” 20% of respondents said they had personally been a victim of violence. A total of 65% of respondents stated that they or someone close to them had been a victim of violence.

Demographic data gathered from respondents also revealed that certain subgroups were more likely to report being personally affected by violence in Oakland:

• 47% of people with income less than $30,000 per year.
• 44% of respondents with no college education.
• 42% of residents of West Oakland.
• 36% of respondents aged 18-44.

Findings also revealed that community tensions were driven by media, history, COVID-19, former President Donald Trump, and weak social ties.

One respondent, listed as a 49-year-old Korean female who responded to query with Asian Health Services, was quoted as saying “I think we have preconceived notions through how media portrays or how sterotypes are perpetuated by our netowrk or what we hear around us.”

Another respondent, listed as “Black, 18 to 24-year-old female” answered a query from Baywell Health, said she felt that media portrayal of Black-on-Asian crime was inflated and not representative of reality, saying “It feels like it’s pushing that narrative of Black versus Asians when I feel it doesn’t really have to be that way.”

When asked what they felt was to blame behind the increase in violence against Asian residents of Oakland, 56% said Asians being blamed for the COVID-19 virus, as well as anti-Asian rhetoric from former President Donald Trump (55%), drove violence against Asian community members in the city.

Further findings indicated that stereotypes - disseminated through subgroups in the community, perpetuated in media and entrenched in institutions - drove racial tensions between Black and Asian communities in Oakland.

Over half of all survey respondents felt that violence against Asian Americans received more attention than violence against Black residents, and panelists discussed that this perception may be two stereotypes working in conjunction: the “model minority” myth, and the myth of inherent Black criminality.

Seventy-four percent of respondents felt that public officials had taken more action in response to hate crimes against Asian residents, while giving less attention to violence committed against Black Oaklanders.

Comparative Community Survey Research: Possible solutions

While having difficulty processing trauma and trying to understand how to interact with other communities within Oakland, residents responding to the survey recognized four elements in health services and social support as the pillars for achieving public safety:

• Expanding mental health services.
• Providing youth job training and counseling programs.
• Increasing non-police staff trained to respond to non-violent emergencies.
• Increasing investments in helping residents meet basic needs, such as stable, supportive housing and food assistance.

Although many felt social distance had driven a wedge between Asian and Black communities in Oakland, forcing people to rely on news media, social media, and stereotypes in the absence of community knowledge of people of different racial or ethnic backgrounds, respondents also saw the problem of social distance as revealing a solution: increased social proximitiy.

A 49-year-old Korean female respondent said “…continuously learning and making myself aware of their history makes me more open and accepting. Media also has an influence, and it’s not always good.”

Community panel, moderated by Bilen Mesfin Packwood, Founder and Principal of Change Consulting

Bilen Mesfin Packwood moderated a community panel with Tinisch Hollins of Californians for Safety and Justice, Nicole Lee of the Urban Peace Movement, and Thu Quach of Asian Health Services.

In dissecting the research of Baywell Health and Asian Health Services, the panelists also discussed their personal experiences living in racialized communities and experiencing systemic and individual instances of violence.

Panelist Tinisch Hollins discussed not only the violence and loss she and her family had experienced, but the violence and racism entrenched in mass incarceration, and the pitfalls of relying upon policing and mass incarceration to curb crime and violence and further public health.

“(California) became the model for the rest of the country on a mass incarceration, and so our work is to undo that. Our work is to show the state that there are not only smarter and more strategic ways for us to do public safety and to hold systems responsible for where they’re not working on behalf of our community. But let’s take it a step deeper. How do we actually create safety? And you have to bring the people who have been least safe into the middle of the conversation about how we create policy,” Hollins said. “Our work is very important at not only changing laws, but changing narratives.”

Panelist Nicole Lee spoke about the perceptions versus realities of creating community safety through investment in communities, referencing a ballot initiative that was passed in 2014 called Prop 47, or the “Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act,” which reclassified certain nonviolent felonies as misdemeanor crimes. A new ballot initiative, Prop 36, would increase punishment for low-level drug offenses and nonviolent crimes.

“One of the issues that Tinisch is working on right now is Prop 36 throughout the state, which is this Republican effort to repeal a hard-fought and won criminal justice reform that many of us worked on almost 10 years ago called Prop 47. Real community safety is about investment, and Prop 47, over nine years, saved $817 million that was then reinvested into schools, drug treatment programs and other programs all over the state of California, the things that actually create community safety.” This part of this story is not being told, and it leads us to these very narrow, individualistic kinds of supposed fixes that really are about creating a false sense of safety for a small group of people at the expense of most people.”

Journalists panel, moderated by Professor Lisa Armstrong, UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism

Professor Lisa Armstrong moderated a panel of journalists including David DeBolt of the East Bay Times, Julian Glover, an anchor with ABC7 News Bay Area, Marisa Lagos, journalist for KQED, and Roselyn Romero, reporter for The Oaklandside.

The panel built upon the previous panel discussions on community as well as the research from Baywell Health and Asian Health Services.

“One of the things that came out of the study that we heard about at the beginning of the session was Black Oakland residents said that they found that the media played a key role in perpetuating the stereotype that Black people in general are violent and to be feared,” Professor Lisa Armstrong said in moderating the panel. “They said this perception impacts racial relationships in the city and feeds into persistent anti-Black racism. So my question is, what would you say has been the media’s role in perpetuating these stereotypes, and what do you think could be done to repair the damage that has been caused?”

Journalists dicsussed news media’s role in perpetuating stereotypes, responsibly covering communities and mitigating harm, covering violence as a spectrum of systemic and individual harms, and engaging in trauma-informed and historically-accurate reporting.

The panel discussion echoed new survey research from the Pew Research Center that found “a clear relationship between how much local crime news Americans consume and how concerned they are about their safety.” Analysis of survey data from 1993 to 2022 shows that the majority of Americans have perceived a rise in crime every year. However, official statistics show a dramatic decrease in crime. This impact of local news crime coverage varies across groups, stoking higher rates of fear among with women, racial and ethnic minority groups and Americans who have lower incomes.

Resources and next steps

• Review the slide deck: Download your PDF copy of the slides that contain a breakdown of Baywell Health and Asian Health Services’ Comparative Community Survey Research.

• For potential sources: Contact Stephanie Ong, Vice President of Communications and Engagement at Change Consulting at stephanie@change-llc.com.

• Share your story: Are you reporting on a story involving public health and safety, crime, violence, or justice in Oakland that was informed by this research? Contact Community Engagement Coordinator Amani Hamed at ahamed@mije.org to share your story.

• Subscribe and join to stay informed. Don’t miss out on future trainings! Subscribe to the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education.

About Baywell Health

In the midst of the Black Power and Civil Rights movements, four Black mothers saw a need in West Oakland and delivered. Their endeavor became The West Oakland Health Council. The predecessor to Baywell Health, the West Oakland Health Council became the neighnborhood’s anchor for healthcare, health education, food and housing programs, and voter registration.

Fifty years later and under the name Baywell Health, the organization continues to be the Bay’s home for top-notch healthcare, health education, and other services intended to care for people and families.

About Change Consulting

Founded in 2008, Change Consulting is a Black-owned social communucations agency based in Oakland. Change Consulting provides a continuum of services with the goal of helping racial and social justice advocates, organizers, and visionaries win racial and social justice including communications strategies, content development, and 1-on-1 and group coaching and training.

About the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education

Since 1977, the Maynard Institute has fought to push back against the systemic lack of diversity in the news industry through training, collaborations and convenings. The Institute promotes diversity and antiracism in the news media through improved coverage, hiring and business practices. We are creating better representation in U.S. newsrooms through our programs , which gives media professionals of color and those of diverse backgrounds the tools to become skilled storytellers, empowered executives and inspired entrepreneurs.