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HERE'S WHAT IS DRIVING ME OUT OF VALLEJO

I have been a resident of Vallejo for more than a decade.  My formative years were spent here, and under the protection of a name that has followed me everywhere my entire life.  I have a cousin who was an assistant district attorney here, who is married to a man who was a police officer here, who is the brother in law of my cousin Erin, whom I am certain most of you are familiar with.

I always felt as though Vallejo police were well prioritized.  I may not have always felt safe, but I was certain that efforts of police in my town were well directed.  I was present and accounted for during the third ( June 22 ) raid of Better Health Group by the police.  Following this experience, I have decided that I no longer feel the same way that I felt growing up.

My confidence in our local government, elected officials, and executive arm of those groups ( the police ) is decimated, if not eliminated.  I loved Vallejo -- I volunteered with a few different nonprofits in town, and when the MMDs or collectives ( pay attention to that vernacular ) started opening in town, I quickly caught on to the notion that they had an excellent ability to help our community.  They have a strong community that has been repressed for a long period of time.  This always leads to radical and revolutionary efforts -- look at Malcolm X, MLK, Frederick Douglas, Harriet Tubman, Albert Hoffman, and Cesar Chavez.

They were also nonprofits, with an interest in partnering and making donations to other nonprofits.  Advertisement I attended a meeting held by Fighting Back Partnership, where I first met Jorge Espinoza, Matt Shotwell, and a few other operators, whom I exchanged numbers with quickly, thanked for their honesty and willingness to attend the meeting, and left.  The next week, over a discussion of dire financial straits at one of the nonprofits I was volunteering with, the idea dawned on me that these collectives would be willing to help.

I promptly made appointments with all the collectives I could, and asked for donations to help.  The list of people who had made those donations bears a striking resemblance to the collectives that have been raided.  In fact, BHG, Greenwell, Red Dog, LES, and Nature's Love make up that entire list.  These collectives were also proponents of Vallejo's Measure C, which has brought far more money than the city anticipated, despite efforts to close collectives and despite certain collectives' unwillingness to pay taxes, or get politically involved.  That collective has remained untouched -- and when I had sought out donations, then too, they were unwilling to make a donation.  I wonder if Vallejo might have looked to the collectives in town to purchase fireworks for the Fourth of July show.

After going to virtually every city council meeting that touched on the issue of medical cannabis, I am left with a feeling that my suggestions fell on deaf ears, or were shot down.  I honestly felt as though some on the dais at the last meeting were snickering at my fear.  My efforts now are nearly entirely devoted to moving out of Vallejo, because I don't want to be shot down like my suggestions, for good.  In a town that has had a recent rash of police officer-involved shootings, ending in death, a recent rash of medical cannabis collective raids might be overlooked.  I believe the shootings that have occurred only exemplify the fear felt by the public at the hands of the police.

I urge our new police chief to attempt to open a dialogue with the community, rather than continue the old tactic of not letting the left hand know what the right hand is doing.  I, for one, will not wait around to see if this will be the case.  What I perceive to be the rampant corruption -- and brutality -- of the police will be the reason I give when my new neighbors ask why I have brought my vitality, volunteerism, activism, and involvement to my new community.  I don't feel as though change will come quick enough, or as thoroughly as need be, to Vallejo.  I feel as though the good old boys' network, as it has been referred to, will run this town into the ground, at their own benefit -- for as long as there is a town to run.

Bankruptcy will not solve our problems -- dissolution might be the only means to the end.

Wait, I mean YOUR problems.

Morgan Hannigan

Vallejo