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California City Council meeting explodes after racist police texting scandal breaks [1]

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Date: 2023-04-14  

During the public comment portion of the city council meeting on Tuesday, Mayor Thorpe got into an intense back-and-forth with Sal Sbranti, a resident who decided to defend the Antioch Police and called for an investigation of Mayor Thorpe for “creating a hostile work environment,” whatever that means. Sal Sbranti’s comments included a moment where he attempted a whataboutism, saying, “Let’s get your text messages!” to Thorpe. Thorpe responded, “Let’s get it. Get it!” he said, calling Sbranti’s bluster out as the bluff it is.

After running through everyone not on the police force in Antioch’s city government and ending on some ramble about how the “culture change” in the police force was getting better but that the Mayor was ruining the “culture,” Mayor Thorpe stood up and called Sbranti’s comments a dog whistle for what is wrong in Antioch. “I am sick and tired of being attacked by these people in this community apologizing for the racism going on in this community. You're the problem! You're the problem!”

A furious Thorpe left the chambers and the council went into a recess.

Sbranti, who was defending the police officers while attacking Mayor Thorpe, is defending years of text threads that include sentiments such as:

“I was bummed that beast was so fat cuz he didn’t bruise up very fast,” written about a Black man who was arrested, and followed up by exchanges like, “It never looks good on black guys,” followed by “Just like jobs and responsibilities.”

One officer boasted how a police friend of his in another city can use the N-word “even in group messages with supervisors and IA [internal affairs] sergeants,” without getting in trouble.

Exchanges where officers say things like “I’ll bury that n—-- in my fields,” followed by, “And yes….it was a hard R on purpose.”

And other threadbare racist thoughts we wish were simply too hackneyed to continue on, like saying Black people “all look the same,” and, referring to being in the Black communities they patrolled and ticketed, “I feel like I’m at the zoo.”

This report’s exposure comes just a couple of weeks after Mayor Thorpe spoke at a news conference about reports that a grand jury was weighing evidence against multiple officers. After saying that he couldn’t go into details, it was very clear that the city would have to pay an “excessive amount of money” to manage the resulting litigation in the next weeks and months. At that press conference, Thorpe promised that his administration was “not going to sweep these matters under the rug as we've done in the past,” adding:

“To say that I am outraged is an understatement as it relates to this matter. I'm deeply disappointed because for a long time, those of us who have been elected to serve in this very room behind me have failed to ask tough questions about what's happening in our various city departments, including the police department.

There is a steady stream of examples disproving the egregious “bad apple” defense law enforcement apologists use to deny the need for meaningful reform. It is time to stop pretending we must be diplomatic with people’s feelings on the matter.

You can watch the exchange between Mayor Thorpe and the police apologist below.

x YouTube Video

On today’s episode, Markos and Kerry are joined by a friend of the podcast, Democratic political strategist Simon Rosenberg. Rosenberg was one of the few outsiders who, like Daily Kos, kept telling the world that nothing supported the idea of a red wave. Simon and the crew break down his strategy for Democratic candidates to achieve a 55% popular vote in all elections—a number that a few years ago would have seemed unattainable, but now feels within reach.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/14/2163760/-California-City-Council-meeting-explodes-after-racist-police-texting-scandal-breaks

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