“It's not going to make groceries any cheaper” Norma Orozco and other people against Prop. 36 came together to explain why this proposition won’t solve the problem it says it's going to solve.
Prop. 36 is being funded by corporations who barely paid their worker
People against Prop. 36 show up to a San Leandro Walmart to hold a press conference explaining to the public not to support this proposition. Labeled the anti-theft, anti-homelessness bill by the supporters of the proposition, Norma Orozco states it will do the opposite. “All it does is take resources away from the programs that do prevent crime and put it right back into the prison and policing system,” Orozco .
The press conference was significant because Walmart is supporting this proposition. Also, the press conference took place in front of a San Leandro Walmart, where policemen killed Steven Taylor, who was having a mental health crisis. James Burch feels like this proposition “will lead to more deaths like the murder of Steven Taylor.”
April Grayson believes that the media showing smash-and-grab makes voters fearful despite the 20-year decline of crime in California. “If you can put people in a state of fear, you can get people to vote in the way that you want them to vote, it's profit over people,” she said.
Burch believes the media determines how it moved based on the attention of the public in the form of views. He believes that “acts of violence were getting them clicks, and getting them views.”
According to Burch, the media struggle to tell the whole story about retail crime because they are hampered by editors, who need to tell a certain story.
“They don't have fidelity to the real ‘goings-on’ in the community,” he said.
People have called this proposition a backlash of another proposition of state number 47, which decriminalized certain criminal offenses to curb overcrowding in our prison system. Many say if these criminal offenses are penalized again with prison sentences, then we will have a safe society. Orozco feels that is not the case. “There's a lot of profit to be made off of incarcerating and criminalizing people.”
Supporters of prop. 36 is happening because stores are closing down in urban communities. Orozco said CVS and Walgreens, supporters of Prop. 36, are making record profits while closing stores because of the underperformance of sales. The real criminal in these stores is the employers towards their workers.
“Walmart actually is being sued right now for wage theft,” said Orozco.
Grayson also believes the solutions for the criminals have little to do with heavy policing and sentences.
“Community resources, believing in people, whole person care, making sure that the programs who have experts who can navigate people through these systems are there to provide housing vouchers, provide them with stipends so that they can go get their groceries, making sure that their grandmas are safe.”
While Orozco understands people's frustrations about their personal finances might push people to vote for proposition 36, criminalizing people won’t solve their economic situation, she said. “We understand that people are frustrated by feeling like the world is unfair right now, by inflation, by seeing other people maybe not doing their part. But continuing to incarcerate and police people isn't going to solve the issue.” Orozco lastly states, “It's not going to make groceries any cheaper.”