Violence and Peace in Our City

This has been a very disturbing week in Oakland, the city I have lived in for over 30 years and have come to love. Four police officers were gunned down and killed by a black man in East Oakland over what seemed like a routine traffic stop. This man himself was killed as well. The face of this man if familiar to me...he is the face of so many of the children who I taught and tried to steer to the right course during the whole of my career as a teacher and school principal. Some - many, actually, of these kids turned out great. Others have never found their way out of the abyss of poverty and hopelessness to which they were born. It makes me incredibly sad. Today, I felt compelled to drive to the crime scene and take photos. Afterwards, I joined some YMCA friends for a tour of the new Roman Catholic Cathedral by Lake Merritt. There was so much irony in this day. A black minister on the street praying for the murdered officers, and across town, a beacon of light - glass and steel - against the sky. Can we have peace in our time in this wonderful city by the bay?