The last time we checked in with former California Sen. Barbara “Call Me Senator” Boxer, she was explaining her double standard regarding complaints about the Electoral College.
It seems she is back in the news again, as the latest victim of the state’s crime free-for-all.
Former California Sen. Barbara Boxer was assaulted and robbed while walking in Oakland on Monday afternoon, a spokesperson said.The ex-congresswoman, 80, who retired in 2017, was attacked by an assailant in the city’s Jack London Square neighborhood, according to a statement posted on Boxer’s Twitter account.Without identifying Boxer, Oakland police confirmed a robbery occurred in the neighborhood on the 300 block of 3rd Street at about 1:15 p.m.The suspect punched the former lawmaker in the back and stole her phone before fleeing in a waiting car, according to Boxer’s statement.
The police have not offered a description of the suspect as of yet. The department is offering a reward for information.
The department’s robbery section is investigating the incident. A $2,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest.Boxer, 80, served in the U.S. Senate from 1993 to 2017. She was succeeded by then-California Attorney General Kamala Harris after she chose not to seek re-election.
Legal Insurrection readers will note that I indicated that opponents of Gov. Gavin Newsom have used the escalating crime rates to persuade voters to support his recall. An attack on a former senator is likely to underscore the need to address this issue seriously.
Of course, effective solutions are not likely to occur when the explanation for the crime rate is….anti-black bias.
Hate crime in California surged 31% in 2020, fueled mainly by a big jump in crimes targeting Black people during a year that saw the worst racial strife in decades, according to an annual report released Wednesday by the state’s attorney general.Overall hate crimes increased from 1,015 to 1,330 last year, while the number of victims increased 23%, from 1,247 to 1,536. Black people account for 6.5% of the state’s population of nearly 40 million people but were victims in 30% of all hate crimes — 456 overall, up 87% from the previous year.“What we see from these reports is what we have seen and felt all year — we are in the midst of a racial justice reckoning in this country. It’s multi-faceted, and it cannot be solved overnight.” Attorney General Rob Bonta said.
Furthermore, it was only a few, short weeks ago that Oakland stripped $17.4 million from the police department.
“I’m challenged by the decisions that were made on Thursday around the budget for the city of Oakland, particularly for the Oakland Police Department,” Chief LeRonne Armstrong said at a Monday news conference.”We find ourselves in a crisis,” he added. “We find ourselves reeling from a weekend of violence, where we’ve seen four homicides over a three-day period. It now has us currently at 65 homicides for the year—a 90 percent increase compared to last year.”Other crimes in the city are also on the rise, he said, noting that shootings have gone up 70 percent this year, robberies 11 percent and carjackings nearly 88 percent.
We hope Senator Boxer fully recovers from this incident. Yet, I think this might be a great opportunity for her to reflect on some of her past positions on crime.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY