[sudo-discuss] Update on Zachary RunningWolf

[Yardena Cohen]

Dear friends,

At last night's delegates meeting we spent over an hour talking about
RunningWolf. The delegates did not make any new consensus decisions,
but we did review the status quo at length and it now seems clear to
me that:

* Nobody is satisfied with how mediation went
* Many are unsatisfied with his signed statement
* Several people feel that he has personally harassed and threatened them
* When I approved ZRW's key card last week, I acted too quickly
* If his return had been directly proposed to delegates, several would
have blocked
* Many people who I value and care about feel *very* strongly that
they cannot share space with ZRW, to the point where including ZRW
would implicitly exclude them

After hearing all these things, I decided the best thing would be to
revoke his card. Julian and I went upstairs and told him. It was
raining, so we didn't ask him to leave right away, but we told him
that next time he left, he would not be able to get back in.

We spoke for over an hour, and I tried my best to be on good terms
given the circumstances. This was my first extended interaction with
the man, and I understand now why his situation has been so
controversial and so insidious. He talks a good talk about Berkeley
politics, pollution and indigenous sovereignty, he has done real
admirable work as a tree-sitter, and he is an accomplished street
artist whose medicine wheels on every bike path have added joy to
countless lives in our city. He is unquestionably an elder, and
deserves to be treated as such.

He's also a petty, self-centered, delusional liar who seems completely
unable to take any criticism or undergo any of the necessary personal
growth or accountability of a "restorative" or "transformative"
justice process. I see a man who cannot work meaningfully with others,
who's made a long career out of burning bridges, for whom Omni is just
one more proxy battle in his war against masonic lodges, UC regents,
and anybody else he can blame for his conflicts other than himself and
his own behavior. He told me directly that he has no respect for any
mediation process, and doesn't care about how anybody else feels. He
plainly admitted to making threats to break our windows, and to
actually doing similar acts of sabotage (such as cutting off Berkeley
Liberation Radio's antenna) although he claimed he never followed
through on the threat against Omni, saying "I never do just one
window".

He claims to speak for a Real Oakland of vigilante justice which will
rise out of the woodwork to avenge him. Don't buy it. Don't let him
appropriate black struggle when all it means is glorifying gang
violence and throwing the N word around. Don't let him insult his own
ancestors by acting a fool in their name. And most of all, don't let
him distract us from all the other important work we can be doing
besides enabling his abuse.

I tried to give him my best, but he doesn't want it. I am done. I will
no longer waste any time advocating for him to be inside Omni. I am
content with this being the end of this road.

With love and solidarity,
Yar