Opinion
Seeking police reforms and answers in Joseph Mann’s death
Good morning. On behalf of The Sacramento Bee’s editorial board, welcome to The Take, your opinion-politics newsletter. Please sign up for it here.
We offer our recommendation on the bilingual education measure, Proposition 58, and provide our analysis of the response by Sacramento police and City Hall to the shooting of Joseph Mann. And Jack Ohman provides our latest installment of The Trump Follies.
Take a step back
In Charlotte, the fatal police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott led to riots. In Tulsa, the killing of Terence Crutcher, a black man who was walking away from police with his hands up, has prompted peaceful protests.
In Sacramento, the death of Joseph Mann, a mentally ill man shot by cops on Del Paso Boulevard, might lead to reform – as we urge in our editorial.
The pressure surely is on Sacramento officials who, so far, have utterly failed their first post-Ferguson test of transparency. Transparency also is an issue in North Carolina, our colleagues at The Charlotte Observer write.
Members of an ad-hoc committee appointed by Mayor Kevin Johnson will travel to the Bay Area in search of lessons from other police departments. That could include ways to give the toothless Community Police Commission more authority to investigate officers.
Johnson promises a “sense of urgency.” We agree the city must act, with all deliberate speed. – Erika D. Smith, @Erika_D_Smith
Take a number: $423,109
No one took seriously Donald Trump’s claim that he would compete in California; it was a lie. But Trump has spent some money here, paying $423,109 to Cali Headwear, the Carson factory that makes his campaign hats. We hope the hat company finds the work fulfilling.
Our take
Endorsement: The world has changed since 1998, and language instruction must keep up so California students can compete in the global economy. Proposition 58 will help.
Joe Mathews: Diversity is not something to be celebrated as a virtuous luxury. It must be developed as a core strategy for survival. Unfortunately, California is so diverse that we’ve come to take our diversity for granted.
Caleb VanderVeen: The cap-and-trade program isn’t working for many poor Californians.
Their take
L.A. Times: Autonomous vehicles will be a tremendous benefit. The biggest challenge is preparing for this dramatic shift; Barack Obama’s administration’s guidelines offer a welcome framework for how Washington, the states and local governments should proceed. We agree.
Mercury News: Nobody takes apart icons of corporate greed better than Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. And nobody deserved it more than Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf.
Lexington Herald Leader: We get that in face of the scandal unrolling at Wells Fargo it’s hard for big-bank-loving Republicans like Rep. Andy Barr to keep whining about the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform act. Our take.
Ronald Brownstein, National Journal: Hillary Clinton has struggled to garner support among millennial voters. Can she achieve it before November?
Jonah Goldberg, National Review: Barack Obama’s trolling may have Donald Trump as its legacy. Like Obama, Trump exploited birtherism for his own advantage, worming his way into the GOP. Obama allowed the issue to fester in the fever swamps of the right, and now he’s facing the real possibility that he will be replaced by the Swamp Thing.
Syndicates’ take
Dana Milbank: Wells Fargo: Too big to fail, too arrogant to admit it.
Thomas L. Friedman: 2 ex-spies and Donald Trump.
Leonard Pitts Jr.: Donald Trump is a ‘BS artist.’
E.J. Dionne Jr.: Americans are deciding for the world.
The Trump Follies
Earlier this week, the Cleveland City Council tabled a proposal to name a quarter-mile stretch of a street after Don King, the very street where King stomped a man to death in 1966.
On Wednesday, the Cleveland Plain Dealer was witness as King accompanied Donald Trump to a black church in suburban Cleveland Heights, part of Trump’s attempt to reach out to African Americans.
Trump endorsed the “stop-and-frisk” police tactic, highly unpopular in many in urban areas but popular with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, the unhinged Trump surrogate.
“America needs Donald Trump, especially black people,” King said – and he proceeded to use the N-word. Trump held a fixed grin. Perhaps the Republican nominee had a mouthful of Skittles. – Jack Ohman, @JackOhman
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