Interim Oakland Mayor Kevin Jenkins terminated chief of staff Leigh Hanson after she was criticized for a note referring to Black individuals as 'tokens.' Hanson contends that her comments were misrepresented and stemmed from an anti-recall meeting discussing recruitment strategies. She stated that the note aimed to highlight the tokenization of African American operatives by wealthy backers of the recall. Jenkins acknowledged her service and appointed Deputy Mayor Burt Jones as the acting chief of staff during this transition period.
These handwritten meeting notes record a group discussion that included proposed messaging points that the anti-recall campaign wanted to provide to potential surrogates. They are a specific reference to Seneca Scott, a paid African American political operative, who was hired by the wealthy white funders of the recall campaign to obscure the public's understanding of the recall's political origins.
I regret that my short-hand note-taking has been taken out of context on social media and inadvertently harmed close friends, colleagues and members of my community who have been marginalized by our political system.
Interim Mayor Jenkins expressed his gratitude for Hanson's service and announced Deputy Mayor Burt Jones as the new Chief of Staff until further notice.
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