Oakland resident Jesse Rosemoore began the campaign to “cancel Piedmont” more than a year ago against the 1.7-square mile city with its own police force and school district.
Rosemoore hands out stickers reading, “CANCEL PIEDMONT” and sells $10 T-shirts bearing the provocative slogan, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
‘I felt like someone needed to bring even more attention to it, because what’s going on there says a lot about our society as a whole.’
Some have referred to the city as “Oakland’s Doughnut Hole” because it is encircled by the larger city.
The Chronicle acknowledges that residents in Piedmont have tried to make up for admitted historic efforts of racial exclusion, but those efforts have just led to more backlash.
“I know people want to always think that we’re horrible,” said Jean Chen Takazawa, a diversity, equity, and inclusion director for the Piedmont school district. “The reality is we’re doing good work here. Stop judging us and let us just do the work.”
Rosemoore disagrees.
“It really is ridiculous that a place like Piedmont even exists,” the 44-year-old said. “I felt like someone needed to bring even more attention to it, because what’s going on there says a lot about our society as a whole.”
While one in every five Oakland residents is black, the Chronicle reported that only 1% of Piedmont residents are black.
“Back in the day, segregation tended to look like you having the white neighborhood and the Black neighborhood in the same city,” said Stephen Menendian, an assistant director of a DEI center at UC Berkeley. “But now, most segregation is felt between cities, rather than within them.”
Piedmont residents report feeling scapegoated after city officials attempted address the inequality by hiring DEI experts and trying to build multi-unit apartments with lower-income units. Critics say the efforts are performative rather than substantive.
Rosemoore also recognizes that it’s nearly impossible to have Oakland annex Piedmont because it would require the approval of the wealthy enclave’s residents.
“If I proposed that, I’d be tarred and feathered,” said a former Piedmont mayor to the Chronicle.
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The Chronicle noted that a “young jogger” had enthusiastically endorsed Rosemoore’s campaign against Piedmont, but an older black woman issued him a warning after furrowing her brow.
“Don’t feel bad if you get some pushback,” she said. “People feel strongly about their small towns.”
Another woman described as a young woman wearing a “Free Palestine” hat also told Rosemoore she supported Piedmont after moving there.
“I’m not going to lie,” she said. “As a Latina who has lived in really bad areas my whole life, it’s pretty sick. And I’m hopeful it’ll only get better. I heard they might be building more apartments.”
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