On July 22, after a deadly three days with 8 shootings and 3 people killed, PICO affiliate Oakland Community Organizations (OCO) held a press conference on the steps of City Hall to draw attention to the fact that city officials had failed to act on a number of promises they made two months before to take immediate steps to reduce the violence.

As members of City Council prepared to go on a nine week break, OCO leaders carried silhouettes representing the 23 murders since the May 22 event. "Murder does not take a vacation", said Rev. George Cummings, OCO Co-Chair. "There have been 74 homicides so far this year: last year there were 65.  The beat goes on and the city government is not moving quickly enough for us." 

In May, before a crowd of more than 3,000 community members, city officials promised to pass a resolution in support of OCO's plan to reduce gun violence – called the Oakland Strategy – and to convene working groups at the neighborhood level to implement the strategy within 30 days.

At the press conference, OCO leader Liz Torres, parent coordinator at a Castlemont School, held a paper silhouette in memory of her 15-year-old student Derrick Mixon, whose funeral she attended earlier in the day. "I'm tired to see the kids suffering so much," Torres said. "And kids are being killed on a daily basis."  

Outraged by the senseless murders in Oakland, OCO leaders addressed the City Council Public Safety Committee after the press conference and presented a resolution for their adoption that outlined the Oakland Strategy. "People are expecting officials to follow through," said Pastor Lucy Kolin, OCO Co-Chair. "Every life lost is a life that didn't need to be and it brings pain and fear into the community."
 
For more information on OCO and the Oakland Strategy, visit www.oaklandcommunity.org.

Media Coverage
Oakland gun violence prompts rally
TV Coverage: Community leaders make demands in Oakland
TV Coverage: Oakland violence escalates: 75 homicides this year