City-Funded Agency Demonstrates Against Police

"Iko" Bayarsaikhan murdered, age 15

On Halloween night 15-year-old Iko Bayarsaikhan and her friends were relaxing in an Alameda park. Her life ended when a pack of thugs shot her in the back after their armed robbery went awry.

The fast investigative work of Alameda police apprehended six youth who have been indicted with murder. Charged as the trigger-puller is 16-year-old Oakland resident Quochuy "Tony" Tran. He will be tried as an adult. According to the police investigation, Tran and his pack decided to rob them partly because they were angry that someone in a passing car had thrown eggs at them earlier during the Halloween evening. Tran had reportedly carried around the weapon he used to kill Bayarsaikhan for several days. After these youth were apprehended, an Oakland woman reported the casual violence she had observed this group of thugs enjoying a year earlier.

While police executed search warrants, they recovered a .25 caliber handgun and two .22 caliber handguns.

A tragic story now becomes Oakland Bizarre. An agency with the ungainly name of Asian Youth Promoting Advocacy and Leadership (AYPAL) called a demonstration against the police. Claire Tran (no relation to indicted Tony Tran) told the Oakland Tribune, "Instead of breaking down doors and terrorizing families, the police should have done what they are paid to do – investigate. This wasn't an investigation, it was harassment of a community because of who they are, not what they did." (Oakland Tribune, Nov. 27, 2007)

Tran later said, "They arrested people in our group (the Southeast Asian community) and detained a half dozen youth without their parents' notification." (Alameda Sun, Nov. 30, 2007) Apparently, Ms. Tran thinks the police should have located the alleged killer's parents and requested that they all come in for a chat. Jay Conui, co-director of AYPAL, also referred to "charges against three of the leaders of our group."

A month later, AYPAL's Tran was still trying to get mileage on the case, only with blunter illogic. In one breath she told a reporter, "We're still calling for an independent investigation." In the next breath, she demanded that "the offending police officers get training and discipline." (Oakland Tribune, Dec. 22, 2007) Apparently, Tran already knows the conclusion of the investigation she wants.

Observing the AYPAL demonstration, retired truck driver Joe Seawell, 64, observed, "What brings people here (to Alameda) is the relative safety. This is not Oakland."

Youth at demo hold AYPAL-printed sign (Photo: Alameda Sun)

It turns out the police had plenty to go on, and they did excellent investigative work. Little Iko's friends saw the attackers were Asian youth. The Alameda police even commandeered an AC Transit bus and dusted it for fingerprints when they developed evidence that the killers took the bus back to Oakland. The night of the murder, a passenger on the bus overheard one of the thugs ask another one, "Why did you shoot the girl? I wanted you to shoot the guy." The boy then mocked the victim by imitating her falling forward.

AYPAL, along with the Youth Media Council (YMC), is teaching Asian youth that police should be criticized for doing their job, even when the victim is Asian (Iko Bayarsaikhan was from Mongolia).

AYPAL is teaching Asian youth that casual killers should be above the law – if they happen to be Asian.

AYPAL is playing the race card.

Who funds Asian Youth Promoting Advocacy and Leadership? You guessed it – the City of Oakland. This year the City gave AYPAL $200,000 of Measure K ("Kids First!") money. AYPAL has received similar amounts for "youth empowerment" at least since 2002 and will get another $200,000 next year. (OFCY grant list)

Councilmembers have their political reasons for funding "nonprofit" agencies while they close the City jail and maintain only half a police department. By handing out the City's money to barely accountable private agencies, councilmembers practice a kind of Tammany Hall patronage system. "I'll help you, and you support me." The fact that basic services like public safety are starved of funds does not matter to the politicians.

Will any City official criticize AYPAL for its unfounded attack on the Alameda police? For promoting racist politics to youth? Will any councilmember suggest reviewing the grant for next year? Don't hold your breath. Oakland councilmembers and top executives gave another agency, Youth UpRising, $1.5 million over five years without requiring any accountability. Youth UpRising promotes sideshow culture and welcomes gutter rappers as "career counselors," and no Oakland official has ever criticized the agency for such counterproductive use of public funds.

More Oakland Teen Robbers Caught in Alameda

Alameda police caught another two separate groups of three teenagers each, charging they committed two robberies. Five of the alleged robbers live in Oakland.

One holdup occurred near Jackson Park. The other happened near an AM-PM mini-market on Park Street.

Alameda police were able to apprehend the robbers because they have enough officers to act in time. In the Park Street incident, police responded quickly to the store clerk's call. In the other holdup, a witness reported the robbers boarded an AC Transit bus; police arrested them near the ferry terminal on Main Street. (Oakland Tribune website, Jan. 8, 2008)

First news reports did not specify the racial or ethnic background of the alleged robbers. Last November, an agency named Asian Youth Promoting Advocacy and Leadership (AYPAL) held a demonstration in protest of the Alameda police, basically because they used standard police methods to identify and arrest the alleged killers of 15-year-old Iko Bayarsaikhan. The killers happened to be Asian. Will AYPAL, funded by City of Oakland grants, check out the racial identity of the robbers and hold another protest? Such are the contradictions that ensnare those who practice race-card politics.