3/2 - Job March on Oakland City Hall

Jerry Brown and his allies continued to make it clear on Wednesday that they are not trully interested in solving the problems of former prisoners or violence in the city of Oakland, as their response to Critical Resistance and All of Us or None's rally was more about publicity than real solutions. In fact Gil Duran, the Mayor's press secretary, even admitted in the SF Chronicle that the job fair that was held in Oakland City Hall on Wednesday was put together in response to the protest. The job fair was in fact two card tables, one with a little food and coffee, and another with some photocopied literature on it. Mayor Brown also had his head of outreach programs for parolees in the city, Ron Owens, standing by at the job fair for a confrontation with protestors. Owens, as a former prisoner and current Brown crony, did his best to defend his boss in his nice suit and shiny shoes. In the end though, it was clear that the City of Oakland's efforts to provide jobs for former prisoners were about as substantive as their attempt to curb violence in Oakland. For Jerry it's obviously more about the politics, and his bid for Attorney General, than about achieving any real changes for Oakland residents.