Rohnert Park responds to Black Lives Matter movement with listening sessions

Rohnert Park officials have announced a series of city meetings geared to taking public input on potential reforms as Black Lives Matter activists and other allies press the city for more concerted and immediate change.

Rohnert Park’s elected officials, including its mayor, have yet to make the kind of public denouncement of systemic racism or show of solidarity that activists have called for. City officials, however, point to a host of actions that they say show Rohnert Park has been responsive, including a formal resolution adopted last month by the City Council condemning racism.

The five public discussions slated to start later this month are a start, activists acknowledge, but the City Council needs to take more initiative on the prejudice and discrimination that people of color endure in Sonoma County’s third-largest city, activists say.

“I feel like we’re getting further behind every day that our city officials don’t make a stand and say at least that Black lives matter,” said Anferny Moore, a 26-year-old Sonoma State University student who is Black. “Rohnert Park has the potential to be very progressive and one of the leaders in this movement, but, with the current leadership, they haven’t been. We’ll be voicing our concerns, but I don’t want to be sitting there speaking to a blank wall. I would like to see positive changes in policy and see actions and not empty promises.”

Moore last month joined several hundred people rallying in support of racial equity and police reform in front of the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety headquarters. He has since spearheaded calls on the city to improve its transparency with residents on decision-making at City Hall and make stronger investments in social programs that help people of color and the community at large.

“It seems like the initiatives that the city is trying to take are to cover themselves so they can say, ‘Oh we did something,’” Moore said. “I don’t feel like they could comprehend what’s happening the last few months in public comment. They’re listening to constituents, but only to a certain point. I would like to see the issues addressed.”

City officials say the listening sessions are just one of several upcoming steps to give Rohnert Park residents more say about the priorities of local government.

Mayor Joe Callinan last month joined the other eight cities in the county in signing on to the My Brother’s Keeper Alliance pledge, including a review of police use-of-force policies, community input and a pathway for prospective changes to police procedures.

City staff created a new webpage listing all city and law enforcement policies, and provided a place where people may submit comments about “how any city practice or policy may contribute to feelings of inequity, inequality, or disparate treatment due to race,” City Manager Darrin Jenkins said.

Still, a virtual City Council meeting on June 23 continues to fuel more questions in the community about elected leaders’ handling of equity issues and calls for change. Callinan, in particular, has become a target for his comments.

The moment in question came when, in response to a request from Councilwoman Gina Belforte to ensure the city pledge be inclusive of all people, Callinan responded using the word “it” to describe what some have taken as a reference to transgender people and those who identify as nonbinary — neither exclusively male or female.

“Maybe I’m the only naïve one,” Callinan said during the June 23 meeting. “I thought everyone was included in this — every race, every person, every him, her, it — whatever it happens to be. I see what you’re saying and I agree with you 100%. We’ll keep that in mind.”

An online petition was launched two days later demanding Callinan resign and has since garnered more than 400 signatures. The council’s first regular meeting since his comments is scheduled for Tuesday night.

Callinan, who previously stated his intention to run for a fourth term in November, declined repeated requests for an interview to explain his comments or elaborate on what he meant. He ignored a written question about whether he intended to issue an apology and in a statement said he had “absolutely no plan to resign.”

“I am and always will be inclusive,” Callinan said in the statement. “Like all of us, we are trying to learn new terms and how best to identify the many diverse factions of our community.

“On the subject of systemic racism,” he continued, “it’s important we acknowledge there is an issue. I am proud of our community and the Rohnert Park City Council. We have taken a proactive approach. … It has always been my goal to make Rohnert Park a more inclusive and better place.”

Vice Mayor Jake Mackenzie, the council’s longest-serving member, said he planned to be present at the city listening sessions — two of which are scheduled to be in-person, and the other three held virtually, including one in Spanish.

Mackenzie, Belforte and Councilwoman Susan Hollingsworth Adams attended the June rally supporting the Black Lives Matter movement in Rohnert Park.

“I think any council member would feel that they would want to hear what the community concerns are. It’s in our best interest to be aware,” said Mackenzie, who is seeking his seventh term on the council this November. “This is a really serious effort to try to find out what’s on people’s minds to actually help. I know there are a number of skeptics who have already been commenting it’s all just whitewash, but that is not the case as far as this council member is concerned.”

Rohnert Park resident Jackie Elward, who grew up in the Democratic Republic of Congo and organized the Black Lives Matter rally in the city last month, said she wants to see follow-through on reforms after the community meetings.

“I applaud the city, because they’re doing something. We have to start somewhere, but the somewhere has to start with listening to constituents, because they know what they want,” Elward said. “However, how can you expect people who have experienced racial injustice to share with the people they don’t trust? It doesn’t make sense.”

Elward, who lost her bid for City Council in 2018, plans to run again this year in the city’s first round of district-based elections, which would have her square off with Mackenzie. One of her main priorities is the creation of a citizen oversight committee to serve as a watchdog for Rohnert Park’s police department.

“The city needs to change the way they approach things. Politicians right now are capitalizing on our victimization as people of color. You can see it everywhere, even here in Rohnert Park,” she said. “My first thing is the recognition. Without recognizing people of color and what we go through every day, I don’t see where this conversation will go. I don’t see how the community can relate to them and trust them, that’s the problem.”

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin Fixler at 707-521-5336 or kevin.fixler@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @kfixler.