Ron Dellums
48th Mayor of Oakland
In office January 8, 2007 – January 3, 2011
Preceded by	Jerry Brown
Succeeded by	Jean Quan
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California's 9th district
In office January 3, 1993 – February 6, 1998
Preceded by	Pete Stark
Succeeded by	Barbara Lee
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California's 8th district
In office January 3, 1975 – January 3, 1993
Preceded by	Pete Stark
Succeeded by	Nancy Pelosi
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California's 7th district
In office January 3, 1971 – January 3, 1975
Preceded by	Jeffery Cohelan
Succeeded by	George Miller
Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee
In office 1993–1995
Preceded by	Les Aspin
Succeeded by	Floyd Spence
Chairman of the House District of Columbia Committee
In office 1979–1993
Preceded by	Charles Diggs
Succeeded by	Pete Stark
Personal details
Born	Ronald Vernie Dellums (1935-11-24) November 24, 1935 (age 76) Oakland, California
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Athurine (div.) Leola "Roscoe" Higgs (1962–div 1999) Cynthia Lewis (m. 2000)
Children	Erik, Piper, Brandy, Pam and Michael
Alma mater	San Francisco State University, B.A. 1960 University of California, Berkeley School of Social Welfare, M.S.W. 1962
Religion	Baptist
Military service
Service/branch	United States Marine Corps
Years of service	1954–1956
Rank	Private First Class
[1]

Ronald Vernie "Ron" Dellums (born November 24, 1935) served as Oakland's forty-fifth (and third African-American) mayor. From 1971 to 1998, he was elected to thirteen terms as a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Northern California's 9th Congressional District, after which he worked as a lobbyist in Washington D.C..

Dellums was born into a family of labor organizers, and enlisted in the United States Marine Corps before serving on the Berkeley, California, City Council. Dellums was the first African American elected to Congress from Northern California and the first openly Socialist Congressman since World War II.^[2] His politics earned him a place on President Nixon's enemies list.

During his career in Congress, he fought the MX Missile project and opposed expansion of the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber program. When President Ronald Reagan vetoed Dellums' Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986, a Democratic-controlled House and a Republican-controlled Senate overrode Reagan's veto, the first override of a presidential foreign policy veto in the 20th century.^[3]

Early years and family life[link]

Dellums was born in Oakland to Verney and Willa (née Terry) Dellums. His father Verney was a longshoreman. His uncle, C. L. Dellums, was one of the organizers and leaders of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. He has a younger sister Theresa. His mother Willa died on August 17, 2008, at the age of 89.^[4]

He attended Oakland Technical High School and McClymonds High School.^[5]

He served in the United States Marine Corps from 1954 to 1956. Dellums later received his A.A. degree from the Oakland City College in 1958, his B.A. from San Francisco State University in 1960, and his M.S.W. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1962.^[6] He became a psychiatric social worker and political activist in the African American community beginning in the 1960s.^[6] He also taught at the San Francisco State University and the University of California, Berkeley.^[7]

Dellums is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.^[8] He is a member of the fraternity's World Policy Council, a think tank whose purpose is to expand the fraternity's involvement in politics, and social and current policy to encompass international concerns.^[9]

Dellums has been married three times. He married his second wife, attorney Leola "Roscoe" Higgs, in 1961. The two divorced in 1998.^[10] He married his third wife, Cynthia Lewis, in 2000.

Dellums has eight children and stepchildren. One son, Michael, was convicted of a drug-related homicide in 1979, and remains in prison, being repeatedly denied parole due to bad behaviour.^[11] Dellums has four other children: professional actor Erik, Piper, Brandon and Pam; five grandchildren: Danielle Henderson, Jacob Holmes, Sydney Ross, Dylan Ross, and Olivia Dellums; and two great-grandchildren: Jared Henderson and Charli Henderson.

Political career[link]

Dellums has been in politics for over forty years. He has held positions on the Berkeley City Council, in the US House of Representatives, and was the mayor of Oakland from 2007 to 2011.

Berkeley City Council[link]

Dellums was elected to the Berkeley City Council, after prompting from Maudelle Shirek,^[12] and served from 1967 to 1970.^[13]

U.S. Congress[link]

From the Congressional Pictorial Directory

He was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1970 after being recruited by anti-Vietnam War activists to run against the incumbent, Jeffery Cohelan, a white liberal close to organized labor who had not opposed the war early enough to win reelection in the district. Dellums defeated Cohelan in the Democratic primary and won the general election, serving without interruption for 27 years.^[14]

His politics earned him a place on the so-called Nixon's Enemies List, where his notation stated Dellums "had extensive EMK-Tunney support in his election bid."^[15][16]

Vietnam war crimes hearings[link]

In January, 1971, just weeks into his first term, Dellums set up an exhibit of Vietnam war crimes in an annex to his Congressional office, coordinated with the Citizens Commission of Inquiry (CCI)^[17]. The exhibit featured four large posters depicting atrocities committed by American soldiers, embellished with red paint.

The My Lai massacre was followed shortly thereafter by a series of hearings on war crimes in Vietnam, which began April 25, 1971. Dellums had called for formal investigations into the allegations, but Congress chose not to endorse the proceedings. As such, the hearings were ad hoc and only informational in nature. As a condition of room use, press and camera presence were not permitted; however, the proceedings were transcribed.^[18] A small number of other anti-Vietnam War congressional representatives also took part in the hearings.

Anti-apartheid campaign[link]

In 1972, Dellums began his campaign to end the apartheid policies of South Africa. Fourteen years later, the U.S. House of Representatives passed Dellums' anti-apartheid legislation, calling for a trade restriction against South Africa and immediate divestment by American corporations. The bill, the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986, had broad bipartisan support. It called for sanctions against South Africa and stated preconditions for lifting the sanctions, including the release of all political prisoners. Ronald Reagan called for a policy of "constructive engagement" and vetoed the bill; however, his veto was overridden. It was the first override in the 20th century of a presidential foreign policy veto.^[3]

Dellums' fight against apartheid in South Africa was the subject of a Disney Channel made-for-TV film, The Color of Friendship, released in 2000. The role of Congressman Dellums was played by actor Carl Lumbly in the film.^[19]

Cold War conflicts in southern Africa[link]

As part of the Cold War struggle for influence in southern Africa, the United States joined with the apartheid government of South Africa in support of UNITA, led by Jonas Savimbi, against the ultimately victorious Angolan forces of the MPLA supported by the Soviet Union and Cuba. Dellums was criticized for his support of Fidel Castro's involvement with the MPLA in Angola and was called "the prototype of the Castroite congressman" by the conservative press.^[20] He also introduced legislation (which was unsuccessful) in September 1987 to prohibit economic and military assistance to Zaire, citing poor human rights, corruption, and alleged collaboration with South Africa.^[21]

Military budgets and arms control[link]

Throughout his career Dellums led campaigns against an array of military projects, arguing that the funds would be better spent on peaceful purposes, especially in American cities. Programs he opposed included the Pershing and MX missiles, and the B-2 bomber (popularly known as the "stealth bomber"). Because of his commitment to the closing of unneeded military bases, Dellums did not oppose the closing of the former Naval Air Station Alameda in his own district.^[22]

Opposition to the MX (Peacekeeper) missile[link]

The Peacekeeper missile was a "third-generation" inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM). One of its advantages over earlier missiles was its greater survivability. One early aspect of the design was for fifty missiles to be placed on trains that would be shuttled between numerous hiding sheds around a railroad loop located in remote Utah. Another advantage was that the Peacekeeper had a greater MIRV capacity than the Minuteman III — each missile had up to ten nuclear warheads, compared with the three aboard the Minuteman III.

Dellums argued that constructing the Peacekeeper would only propel the ongoing arms race and cause the Soviet Union to construct more weapons. He also argued that the issue of survivability of existing missiles was a red herring; the Soviet Union could not expect a first strike to go unpunished — U.S. nuclear-equipped submarines, bombers and cruise missiles would inflict devastating damage even if all American ICBMs were disabled. As part of the campaign, Dellums met with the LDS Church in Utah.

The rail project was eventually canceled and the missiles were placed in hardened silos, as with previous missiles such as the Minuteman III. The last Peacekeeper was decommissioned in 2005 as part of the START II treaty.

Opposition to the B-2 Stealth Bomber[link]

The B-2 Stealth Bomber is a long-range strategic bomber, that features stealth technology that makes it far less visible to radar. The B-2 was a major technological advance; however, it was designed during the Cold War for military scenarios that some argued were less relevant following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Its total program cost was estimated in 1997 at over US$2.2 billion per airplane.^[23]

Although Dellums opposed the B-2 project from the start, Congress approved initial funding for production of 135 bombers in 1987. However, with the winding down of the Cold War, total B-2 production was reduced to 21 aircraft in the early 1990s. But in 1997, seven former Secretaries of Defense signed a letter urging Congress to buy more B-2s, citing the difficulty of assembling a similar engineering team in the future should the B-2 project be terminated.^[24] Dellums, citing five independent studies consistent with his position, offered an amendment to that year's defense authorization bill to cap production of the bombers with the existing 21 aircraft. The amendment was narrowly defeated;^[25] nonetheless, Congress never approved funding for additional B-2 bombers.

Opposition to integration of gays in the military[link]

In 1993, Dellums was Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. Though he argued in favor of integration, Dellums was the sole sponsor of H.R. 2401, introduced on 14 June 1993,^[26] adding language to the Defense Authorization Act of 1994 to ensure continued support for unit cohesion in the military. Although the bill contained that language, Dellums pointed out that he personally found the language unacceptable, stating in the Congressional Record on August 4, 1993, 'The bill also contains at least one policy that, while unacceptable to this Member in substantive terms, is not as retrograde as it might have been: It supports the President and the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the issue of allowing gay and lesbian service members to serve their country.' Remaining in the bill was Title V Section G "[e]xpresses as congressional policy the prohibition against homosexual conduct or activity in the armed forces. Requires separation from the armed forces for such conduct or activity. Directs the Secretary to ensure that the standards for military appointments and enlistments reflect such policy."^[27] Dellums' "yes" vote on the bill with the unit cohesion support language was the first time in his 22-year congressional tenure that he voted in favor of any defense spending bill, previously opposing them on economic principles.^{[citation needed]} However, Dellums gives several economic reasons in the Congressional Record for his 'yes' vote, on H.R. 2401, including that 'It cuts ballistic missile defense to $3 billion—less than one-half the level planned by the Bush administration . . .' And, 'it devotes a record $11.2 billion to environmental cleanup and improvement, and does so in a way that will stimulate the development of new technologies and new markets for American firms;'

1982 Grenada factfinding[link]

In 1982 Dellums took a trip to Grenada at the invitation of the Prime Minister of the People's Revolutionary Government, Maurice Bishop. Grenada was building an airstrip that U.S. administration officials claimed could be used for Soviet military aircraft. Dellums traveled to Grenada on his own fact-finding mission and described his findings before Congress:

...based on my personal observations, discussion and analysis of the new international airport under construction in Grenada, it is my conclusion that this project is specifically now and has always been for the purpose of economic development and is not for military use.... It is my thought that it is absurd, patronizing and totally unwarranted for the United States Government to charge that this airport poses a military threat to the United States’ national security.

Among the government documents retrieved when the government in Grenada was eventually overthrown were the letters from Dellums’ chief aide, Carlottia Scott to its prime minister Maurice Bishop. Scott wrote: "Ron has become truly committed to Grenada. . . .He’s really hooked on you and Grenada and doesn’t want anything to happen to building the Revolution and making it strong. . . . The only other person that I know of that he expresses such admiration for is Fidel."[4]

"Dellums v. Bush" (1990)[link]

In 1990, Dellums and forty-four ^[28] of his congressional colleagues sued then president President George H. W. Bush in D.C. Federal District Court in 1990, in the case Dellums v. Bush, 752 F. Supp. 1141 (1990) attempting to halt a preemptive military buildup in the Middle East in response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. The plaintiff members of Congress asserted that military action without a declaration of war would be unlawful under U.S. Const. art. I, § 8, cl. 11 of the United States Constitution. Dellums is notable in that it is one of only a few cases in which the Federal Courts have considered whether the War Powers Clause of the U.S. Constitution is justiciable in the courts. The Court in Dellums indicated that, in that instance, it was, but because Congress had not yet acted as a majority, the lawsuit was premature.

U.S. House Committee positions[link]

Dellums served as chairman of the House Committee on the District of Columbia and the House Armed Services Committee.

Dellums also served on the Foreign Affairs Committee, the Post Office and Civil Service Committee, the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and the Select Committee to Investigate the Intelligence Community.^[29]

Dellums co-founded the Congressional Black Caucus in 1971.^[30]

Dellums' last Congressional election[link]

Dellums easily won his next eleven elections in the traditionally Democratic 9th District. In his last House election race, in 1996, Dellums bested his opponent, Republican Deborah Wright, by a 77%-18% margin.^[31]

In 1997, Dellums announced that he was retiring from Congress in the middle of his term and a special election was called — which created a series of five special elections in 12 months as various East Bay politicians ran for different political office. For more detailed information, see Special election musical chairs.

Dellums' successor, Barbara Lee won the 2000 election by an even larger, 85%-9% margin.^[32]

Congressional tribute[link]

Upon his resignation, several members of Congress, including Nancy Pelosi,^[33] Jane Harman,^[34] William Coyne, Nick Rahall, Ike Skelton, Juanita Millender-McDonald and Tom DeLay gave speeches on the floor of the House in honor of Dellums. Millender-McDonald described Dellums as a "distinguished, principled [and] educated man." Her tribute went on:

Congressman Ron Dellums is revered on both sides of this aisle because of his integrity and his commitment to progressive ideas. He was always on the cutting edge of the issues. California will miss him in the ninth district, but the State has been enriched by Ron Dellums. While he towers above most of us physically, this attribute is matched by his intellect, faith in the process and optimism for peaceful resolution of conflict.^[35]

Congressman Danny Davis of Illinois described Dellums:

A creative, piercing, probing, incisive, thought-provoking, inspiring, charismatic, careful, considerate and deliberative mind. The mind to stand up when others sit down. The mind to act when others refuse to act. The mind to stand even when you stand alone, battered, bruised and scorned, but still standing. Standing on principle, standing tall and standing for the people.^[36]

Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay described Dellums as "...one of the most giving, open and stalwart, a real stalwart man when he was Chairman"

We are losing one of its finest Members, a Member that I have great respect for, because he always did his homework, was so articulate and eloquent on this floor. He always got my attention when he stood up and took the microphone. He would stop every Member in their tracks to hear what he had to say, and there are very few Members that have served in this body that can claim the respect that both sides of the aisle had for the gentleman from California. And the incredible reputation that the gentleman from California has brought to this House; he has elevated this House. He has elevated the distinction of this House by serving here, and this House will greatly miss him when he leaves.^[37]

Voting record[link]

Dellums' voting records in Congress were "almost without exception straight As" from groups such as the Sierra Club, the National Organization for Women and the AFL-CIO.^[22] He received 100% on consumer group Public Citizen's scorecard.^[38] In contrast, he received an 'F' from NumbersUSA, a group dedicated to limiting immigration.^{[citation needed]}

Dismissal of drug use allegations[link]

An eight month investigation vindicated Dellums of allegations that he had used cocaine and marijuana, finding there was no basis for the allegations. The investigation of Dellums and two other congressmen, Texas Democrat Charlie Wilson and California Republican Barry Goldwater, Jr., began in 1983, based on a complaint from a House doorkeeper,^[16] who pled guilty to drug charges on Capitol Hill himself in March 1983.^[39]

Presidential nominations[link]

In 1976, Dellums was nominated for president by the National Black Political Assembly but refused, stating "It is not my moment; it’s not my time."^[40][41] That year, he received 20 delegate votes at the Democratic National Convention for the Vice-Presidency.^[42]

Four years later, he was again nominated as the presidential candidate, this time for the Independent Freedom Party, but refused the nomination because the IFP had not yet created an effective political structure.^[43] In that year’s Democratic National Convention, Dellums received three delegate votes for the Presidential nomination.^[42]

Lobbyist[link]

Dellums has worked as a legislative lobbyist, which has drawn criticism described in the East Bay Express, a local newspaper.^[22] Shortly after leaving office, Dellums began consulting for an international health-care company, Healthcare Management International which invests in health insurance programs in developing countries.

Dellums worked in Washington, D.C., as a lobbyist for clients such as the East Bay Peralta Community College District and AC Transit, the public transit district charged with offering mass transit throughout the East Bay. Dellums' firm lobbied for Rolls Royce, a company that manufactures aircraft engines. He has also worked on behalf of the San Francisco International Airport during its attempts to build additional runway capacity, which has been vigorously opposed by environmental groups. His company has been engaged in community relations work for the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory which generates and handles radioactive waste, and has long had a contentious relationship with its residential neighbors and the Berkeley city council In addition he has lobbied for Bristol-Myers Squibb, a multinational pharmaceutical corporation.

Dellums lobbied for the Haitian government in 2001–2002^[44] and has worked to support Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the first democratically elected, former President of Haiti who was deposed in a 2004 coup.^[45]

When running for mayor of Oakland, Dellums listed his most recent profession as "retired Congressman" in election filing forms.^[46] When assistant City Clerk Marjo Keller informed the Dellums campaign that this description was unacceptable, the campaign elected to leave the occupation field blank.

A former East Bay Express columnist once wrote a column titled "Dellums for Dollars" criticizing Dellums' lobbying.^[22] Speaking in defense of Dellums, Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson said that, if asked, Dellums would likely say "just because I'm advocating for a company that may be paying me consulting fees, I'm not selling out my beliefs."^[22]

Mayor of Oakland[link]

2006 Oakland mayoral election[link]

After Oakland Council President Ignacio De La Fuente, and District 3 City Councilmember Nancy Nadel declared their mayoral candidacies, Dellums was recruited to run for Mayor of Oakland. An informal committee, "Draft Dellums," collected 8,000 signatures and presented them to the former Congressman at a public meeting at Laney College. Crowds of Oaklanders chanted "Run, Ron, Run".^[47]

In October 2005, reportedly after weeks of deliberation and speculation, Dellums announced that he would run for mayor of Oakland. The previous mayor, former California Attorney General and current California Governor Jerry Brown, would have been prohibited by term-limits from running again.

On June 16, 2006, after a careful ballot count, and a dispute over whether votes for unqualified write-in candidates such as George W. Bush and Homer Simpson counted towards the total, Dellums was unofficially declared the winner in the Oakland mayoral race. Dellums garnered a 50.18 percent majority to win the election This was 155 votes more than needed to avoid a runoff. Dellums received 41,992 votes, while his nearest challengers received 27,607 votes, and 10,928 votes respectively.^[48]

Transition and citizen task forces[link]

Mayor-Elect Dellums' transition to office involved 800 Oaklanders who joined 41 task forces to make recommendations on issues ranging from public safety to education and affordable housing.^[49] Many of these recommendations helped to shape the policy agenda of the Dellums administration. The task forces recommended a land use policy which would emphasize zoning for job-creating business. This policy was adopted in 2007, and the city is being zoned. The task forces recommended a stronger policy on the hiring of local residents, and the City Council appointed a group to pursue this change. The task forces recommended a focus on the green economy, and the Mayor, along with a variety of community organizations created the Green Jobs Corps, an office of sustainability and the East Bay Green Corridor. The Mayor reports that approximately two-thirds of the recommendations had been implemented as of the end of 2009.^[50] The Task Forces and the Inauguration itself, which included hundreds of the city's least affluent residents, were considered examples of grassroots democracy.^[51]

Public safety initiatives[link]

Crime rates were high when Dellums took office in January 2007 and at his first State of the City Address in January 2008, Dellums called for hiring more police officers. Dellums promised that by year's end, the police department would be fully staffed at 803 officers.^[52] On November 14, 2008, 38 Oakland police officers were added to the force after graduating the 165th academy, bringing the department's force to 837 officers, the most in OPD history.^[53]

In addition, to follow through on his calls for hiring more officers, Dellums offered Measure NN on the November 2008 ballot, a voter initiative parcel tax to hire 70 additional police officers at a hiring and training cost of $250,000 each. Though 55 percent of Oakland voters supported Measure NN, this failed to meet California's "two thirds" constitutional requirement for the enactment of a new tax.

Dellums's administration negotiated the passage of a new police contract which was especially noteworthy, as it broke the Oakland Police Officers Association’s opposition to the civilianization of certain OPD positions which were previously staffed by "sworn," uniformed police officers, with concomitant payrolls and police academy training costs. OPD then hired "non-sworn" personnel to work some of its desk jobs and administrative jobs, freeing up academy uniformed officers for street patrol and investigative work.^[54]

Dellums instituted a new community policing program under which Oakland has been divided into three geographic areas — central, east and north-west, the officers in these three areas overseen by three police captains who are purported to be held accountable for getting to know residents and neighborhood issues and reducing crime in his or her district. Dellums' staff successfully negotiated a police officers contract which allowed the police chief to set officers' hours which resulted in a larger number of police on the streets during the hours of greatest crime.

Dellums called on the City Council and Police Chief Wayne Tucker to increase the number of recruits in the city's police academy, to establish incentives to keep older officers on the force beyond retirement — some of them to train new recruits — and to better prepare Oakland residents and others interested in law enforcement for jobs with the city's Police Department.

Other plans to reduce violence include training at-risk youth and ex-offenders for jobs, and intensifying police efforts to get weapons off the streets by cracking down on illegal gun dealers and establishing a city program to buy back guns.

On Saturday, March 21, 2009, during the 2009 Oakland police shootings incident, the Oakland Police Department lost three sergeants and one officer. One of the officers left instructions in his emergency packet that if he were killed in the line of duty that Dellums not be permitted to speak at his funeral. Two of the officers' families requested the same, and when Dellums attended the March 28 public memorial service at the Oracle Arena he honored the requests^[55][56]

In his State of the City address in 2008 Dellums promised to reduce the crime rate by 10% during 2009; the crime rate actually went down by 13%.^[57]

In 2009 Dellums hired the highly regarded Anthony Batts, formerly the Long Beach police chief. Batts had a record of reducing both crime and officer-involved shootings in that Southern California city.

Education Initiatives[link]

Noting that reducing teacher turn-over and improving the engagement of teachers with the families of their students would require increasing the number of teachers who came from the local community, Dellums initiated a program to create more teachers who were diverse local residents. He held teacher recruitment summits in City Hall, helped the Teach Tomorrow in Oakland program to obtain $2.7 million in federal funding, and spoke to the U.S. Conference of Mayors about the national potential of such programs.^[58] The Community Task Forces remained active in these efforts.

In 2009 Dellums launched an anti-drop-out initiative which included sponsoring back to school rallies at City Hall and participating with the school district in truancy reduction efforts. He accepted an invitation from the national organization, America's Promise, to join their efforts at drop-out prevention. As part of this effort, he started Oakland's Promise, recruited several dozen community based organizations to participate, held a Summit with 350 participants, and adopted an Action Plan to cut Oakland's drop-out rate in half.^[59]

Commission appointments[link]

The resident task forces requested that the Mayor appoint a resident of the "frontline" communities which are most health-impacted by truck and shipping emissions of the Port of Oakland. His first appointment to the Port Commission was Margaret Gordon, a well-known community activist credited with playing a major role in altering public policy on air quality.

In September 2008, members of the Oakland City Council blocked Mayor Ron Dellums' appointment of Ada Chan to the Oakland Planning Commission in a 3-4-1 vote. Chan has a history of land-use activism in San Francisco. In January 2008, newly elected at-large City Coucilmember Rebecca Kaplan appointed Chan as her office's Policy Aide.

Promoting Oakland[link]

As Mayor, Dellums proposed the idea of Oakland as a "Model City." He argued that Oakland is "big enough to be significant and small enough to get your arms around," and that the federal government needs a city like Oakland on which to try out new urban policy inventions.^{[citation needed]}

Since 2008, Dellums has campaigned to bring millions in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act federal stimulus funding to Oakland, using both his extensive Washington contacts and the idea of the Model City. By the end of 2009, his efforts had yielded US$65 million in stimulus funding for Oakland, including the largest police grant of any city in the country, and the second largest amount in competitive funding after Chicago.^[60]

Criticism and recall efforts[link]

After his election to mayor of Oakland, Dellums came under criticism for a wide range of issues, including a lack of transparency in government,^[61][62] ineffectual governance,^[63] and alleged extended absence from his duties at City Hall.^[64] He was criticized for refusing to disavow a staff-generated letter sent in his name in July 2007 to a Federal Bankruptcy Court in support of the Your Black Muslim Bakery, whose owners were suspects in the 2007 murder of reporter Chauncey Bailey.^[65] In 2009, Dellums and his wife were cited with failure to pay over $239,000 in federal income taxes.^[66]

In 2007, Oakland reporter Elise Ackerman launched an unsuccessful campaign to recall Dellums and released an open letter addressed to Dellums.^[67] Other petitions to recall Dellums circulated at the same time.^[68] When addressing a town hall-style meeting in 2007, Dellums declared, "I'm giving it everything that I have. If that's not enough, that's cool. Recall me and let me get on with my private life."^[69]

Dellums later announced he would not seek a second term as mayor of Oakland in the 2010 election.^[70] He was succeeded by Jean Quan.

Partisan affiliations[link]

Though he ran as a Democrat, and caucused as a Democrat in Congress, Dellums describes himself as a Socialist. In the 1970s, Dellums was a member of the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (DSOC), an offshoot of the Socialist Party of America. He later became vice-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA),^[10] which was formed by a merger between the DSOC and the New American Movement, and which works within and outside the Democratic Party. As of 2006, Dellums is no longer a vice-chair of the DSA.

While running for mayor of Oakland, Dellums was officially registered as a member of the Democratic party.^[13][71] All city offices in Oakland are officially non-partisan.

On October 1, 2007, Dellums endorsed Hillary Clinton in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary at a press conference held at Laney College in Oakland. He was named national chair of Clinton's Urban Policy Committee.^[72][73]

Autobiography[link]

in 2000, Dellums published an autobiography, cowritten with H. Lee Halterman, entitled Lying Down with the Lions: A Public Life from the Streets of Oakland to the Halls of Power.^[74]

See also[link]

• The Color of Friendship

	Biography portal
	United States Marine Corps portal

References[link]

External links[link]

• Profile at Citymayors.com
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Issue positions and quotes at On the Issues
• Dellums victory signifies a sea change in Oakland politics San Francisco Chronicle, June 19, 2006.
• Ron Dellums's oral history video excerpts at The National Visionary Leadership Project.

v t e Chairs of the Congressional Black Caucus Diggs • Stokes • Rangel • Burke • Mitchell • Collins • Fauntroy • Dixon • Leland • Dymally • Dellums • Towns • Mfume • Payne • Waters • Clyburn • Johnson • Cummings • Watt • Kilpatrick • Lee • Cleaver

Oscar Grant was fatally shot by BART police officer Johannes Mehserle in Oakland, California, United States, in the early morning hours of New Year's Day 2009.^[1][2] Responding to reports of a fight on a crowded Bay Area Rapid Transit train returning from San Francisco,^[3] BART Police officers detained Oscar Grant and several other passengers on the platform at the Fruitvale BART Station. Officer Johannes Mehserle and another officer were restraining Grant, who was prostrate and allegedly resisting arrest.^[4][5][6] Officer Mehserle stood and, according to witnesses, said "Get back, I'm gonna tase him."^[7] Then Mehserle drew his gun and shot Grant once in the back; Mehserle appeared stunned, put his hands to his head and exclaimed "Oh my God!" During his court testimony, Mehserle said that Grant then exclaimed, "You shot me!"^[3][4][8] Grant turned out to be unarmed; he was pronounced dead the next morning at Highland Hospital in Oakland.^[8]

The events were captured on multiple digital video and cell phone cameras. The footage was disseminated to media outlets and to various websites, where it was watched millions of times.^[9] The following days saw both peaceful and violent protests.^[10]

The shooting has been variously labeled an involuntary manslaughter and a summary execution.^[11] On January 13, Alameda County prosecutors charged Mehserle with murder for the shooting. He resigned his position and pleaded not guilty. The trial began on June 10, 2010. Michael Rains, Mehserle's criminal defense attorney, argued that Mehserle mistakenly shot Grant with his pistol, intending to use his Taser when he saw Grant reaching for his waistband.^[4][5] Pretrial filings argue that his client did not commit first-degree murder and asked a Los Angeles judge to instruct the jury to limit its deliberations to either second-degree murder or acquittal.

Oakland civil rights attorney John Burris filed a $25 million wrongful death claim against BART on behalf of Grant's family.^[12][13]

On July 8, 2010, the jury returned its verdict: Mehserle was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and not guilty of second degree murder and voluntary manslaughter.^[14] Initial protests against the ruling were peacefully organized; looting, arson, destruction of property, and small riots broke out after dark. Nearly 80 people were eventually arrested.^[15][16]

On Friday, July 9, 2010, the U.S. Justice Department opened a civil rights case against Mehserle; the federal government can prosecute him independently for the same act under the separate sovereigns exception to double jeopardy. The Department of Justice will be working with the U.S. Attorney's office in San Francisco and the FBI.^[17]

On November 5, 2010 Mehserle was sentenced to two years, minus time served. He served his time in the Los Angeles County Jail, occupying a private cell away from other prisoners. He was released on June 13, 2011 and is now on parole.^[18]

The incident[link]

Background[link]

Oscar Grant had been celebrating New Year's Eve with his friends on the Embarcadero in San Francisco, and was returning to the East Bay in the lead car of a BART train bound for Fruitvale.^[3][19] BART offered extended service and a special "Flash Pass" for the New Year's Eve holiday.^[8][20] At approximately 2:00 a.m. PST, BART Police responded to reports that up to 12 people were involved in a fight on an incoming train from the West Oakland BART Station and the participants were "hammered and stoned."^[3][4][21]

Officers removed Grant and several other men suspected of fighting from the train and detained them on the platform. A source familiar with the investigation said that Grant and another man ran back onto the train after being detained; Grant returned voluntarily while BART Police Officer Tony Pirone grabbed the other man and dragged him from the train.^[3] Pirone handcuffed Grant's friend, angering other riders.^[3] Pirone then lined up Grant and two other men against the wall.^[3][22] According to Mehserle's motion for bail, Pirone confirmed with the train operator that the men detained were involved in the fight.^[5] When five other officers, including Johannes Mehserle, arrived at the Fruitvale station, they found the situation chaotic.^[3][23] Mehserle's partner on duty, Officer Jon Woffinden, said the "incident was one of the most frightening he had experienced in his 12 years as a police officer." ^[24]

Mehserle's motion for bail, citing the police investigation, stated:

"Officer Pirone directed Officer Mehserle to arrest two of the individuals who had not been handcuffed. One of the individuals to be arrested was Oscar Grant, and Officer Pirone’s direction to Mehserle was overheard by Grant. Grant, upon hearing that he was under arrest, attempted to stand up, but was forced to the ground face first. Both Officer Mehserle and Officer Pirone attempted to restrain Mr. Grant and to seek his compliance by ordering him to put his hands behind his back to be handcuffed, but Mr. Grant resisted and refused to submit to handcuffing. Officer Mehserle was pulling at Mr. Grant’s right hand and arm, which remained under his torso near his waistband. Mr. Grant had not been searched by any officer for weapons, either prior to his initial detention or after being seated near the wall."

A cell-phone video broadcast on local television station KTVU on January 23 showed what appeared to be Pirone rushing towards Grant and punching him in the face several times two minutes before he was shot.^[3][22][25] Grant's family alleges in their civil claim against BART that an officer threw Grant against a wall and kneed him in the face.^[26] Pirone's attorney stated that Grant provoked Pirone by trying to knee the officer in the groin and by hitting Officer Marysol Dominici's arm when she attempted to handcuff one of Grant's friends.^[27][28] Witnesses testified that Pirone was the aggressor during the incident.^[29] Burris also disputes Pirone's account and claims that Grant and his friends were "peaceful" when the train stopped.^[28] Grant then raised his hands while seated against the platform wall.^[30] Additional footage from a cell phone was presented in court showing Pirone standing over the prone Grant before the shooting and yelling: "Bitch-ass nigger, right?" Pirone and his attorney say he was merely parroting an insulting epithet that Grant had yelled at him.^[31]

BART police had been on edge before the shooting because two guns had been recovered in separate incidents along the rail line over the previous hour.^[32] Immediately before he arrived at Fruitvale, Mehserle was involved in an incident at the West Oakland station where a teenage boy with a semi-automatic pistol had fled from police and jumped off the station platform, breaking several bones.^[3]

Fatally shot[link]

While dozens of people shouted and cursed at officers from the stopped train, Mehserle and Pirone positioned Grant face-down. According to Pirone, Grant was disobeying instructions and cursing at officers.^[4] Witnesses stated Grant pleaded with BART police not to shock him with a Taser.^[12] Pirone then knelt on Grant's neck and told him that he was under arrest for resisting an officer.^[4][22]

Mehserle's motion for bail, citing the police investigation, stated:

Pirone said he told Grant "Stop resisting, you're under arrest, put your hands behind your back." At that time Pirone said he heard Mehserle say, "Put your hands behind your back, stop resisting, stop resisting, put your hands behind your back." Then Mehserle said, "I'm going to taze him, I'm going to taze him. I can't get his arms. He won't give me his arms. His hands are going for his waistband." Then Mehserle popped up and said, "Tony, Tony, get away, back up, back up." Pirone did not know if Grant was armed. Mehserle had fear in his voice. Pirone had never heard Mehserle's voice with that tone. Mehserle sounded afraid.^[5]

The motion also states that the man sitting next to Grant also told police he heard Mehserle say "I'm going to taze him."^[5]

Mehserle then stood up, unholstered his gun, a SIG Sauer P226,^[4] and fired a shot into Grant's back.^[30] Immediately after the shooting, Mehserle appeared surprised and raised his hands to his face; according to Michael Rains, Mehserle's criminal defense attorney, several eyewitnesses described Mehserle as looking stunned.^[4][33] Witnesses say Mehserle said "Oh my god!" several times after the shooting.^[34] and many saw him put his hands to his head.^[35]

The .40 caliber bullet from Mehserle's semi-automatic handgun entered Grant's back, exited through his front side and ricocheted off the concrete platform, puncturing Grant's lung.^[33][36] According to one witness, Grant yelled, "You shot me! I got a four-year-old daughter!"^[37] Grant died seven hours later, at 9:13 am, at Highland Hospital in Oakland.^[23]

Initially there was disagreement about whether Grant was handcuffed before he was shot. Court filings by the district attorney's office say that Grant's hands were behind his back and that he was "restrained and unarmed" but do not say he was handcuffed. Video evidence showed Grant never surrendered his hands, and Mehserle voiced his fear that Grant was "going for his waistband," where weapons are often kept.^[1][4][38] In addition, the day after the shooting, BART spokesman Jim Allison said that Grant was not restrained when he was shot,^[8] and multiple witnesses testified that Grant refused to give up his hands for handcuffing prior to the shooting.^[39] The family's claim against BART stated that Grant was handcuffed only after he was shot.^[26] The Los Angeles Times video of the shooting shows that Grant was not cuffed at 2:03 seconds into the video, 5 seconds after the shot was fired.^[38]

BART Officer Marysol Domenici was first officer on the scene with her partner, Tony Pirone. Domenici testified at the BART incident hearing that Grant and his friends swore at her and did not obey her orders. She is quoted as having testified that: "If they would've followed orders, this wouldn't have happened. They probably would've just been cited and released." She was terminated by BART on an accusation that she was untruthful in her statements to transit investigators. On December 18, 2010, it was reported that San Francisco labor arbitrator William Riker ordered her re-instated with full back pay because there was no basis to find that Domenici was not telling the truth. Domenici's attorney, Alison Berry Wilkinson, was quoted as saying that "She [Domenici] has been vindicated." ^[40]

Oscar Grant III[link]

Oscar Juliuss Grant III, (February 27, 1986^[41] – January 1, 2009), lived in Hayward, California.^[23] Grant had worked as a butcher at Farmer Joe's Marketplace in Oakland's Dimond District after jobs at several Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets.^[12] He attended both San Lorenzo and Mount Eden High Schools in Hayward until the 10th grade and eventually earned his GED.^[12]

Grant served two state prison terms for various felonies including a conviction for drug dealing.^[42] In 2007, San Leandro police stunned him with a Taser to subdue him after a traffic stop, during which Grant threw his loaded pistol into the air and ran.^[12] He was sentenced to 16 months in state prison.

Grant was released from prison on September 23, 2008, and according to the attorney for Grant's family, John Burris, "had been doing well in recent months;" at the time of the shooting he was still on parole.^[12] Burris also stated that the criminal conviction and Tasering were "irrelevant to the BART shooting because Mehserle wasn't aware of it when he opened fire."^[12][43]

In the motion for bail, Mehserle's attorney, Michael Rains, stated that toxicology testing of Grant's blood revealed the presence of alcohol (0.02%) and Fentanyl, a potent pain reliever.^[5] The coroner's bureau said the pathologist's autopsy protocol would be finalized in March 2009.^[44]

Grant's funeral was held at the Palma Ceia Baptist Church in Hayward on January 7, 2009.^[45] Grant's mother, sister, daughter, and girlfriend (his daughter's mother) filed a wrongful death claim against BART following his death.

Johannes Mehserle[link]

The oldest of three children, Johannes Sebastian Mehserle (born in Germany^[46] c. 1982) was raised in the Bay Area from the age of four.^[4] He graduated in the class of 2000 from New Technology High School in Napa, California. He attended college in Napa, in Monterey, and at Sonoma State University, where he majored in business, and he developed an interest in police work through a friend who was a police officer. He went on to graduate from Napa Valley College Police Academy in 2006, where he placed in the top five of his class academically and placed well physically.^[35][47] Mehserle's girlfriend gave birth to their first child on the day after the shooting, on January 2, 2009.^[47][48]