The social justice warrior (SJW) wheel has come full circle in Oakland, California.  Four months ago, I wrote about the brutal murder of a well-known SJW activist and proprietor of a popular bakery there:

The large and influential social justice warrior community in the San Francisco Bay Area is reeling with the news of the death of one of their prominent members, 48-year-old Jennifer Angel.  Ms. Angel was the founder and owner of a well known bakery in Oakland, Angel Cakes, and was an outspoken and active proponent of left-wing causes, as acknowledged in a statement issued by family and friends following her death.

We know Jen would not want to continue the cycle of harm by bringing state-sanctioned violence to those involved in her death or to other members of Oakland’s rich community. 

As a long-time social movement activist and anarchist, Jen did not believe in state violence, carceral punishment, or incarceration as an effective or just solution to social violence and inequity. The outpouring of support and care for Jen, her family and friends, and the values she held dear is a resounding demonstration of the response to harm that Jen believed in: community members relying on one another, leading with love, centering the needs of the most vulnerable, and not resorting to vengeance and inflicting more harm.

Ms. Angel’s death was particularly horrifying, as recounted in the San Francisco Chronicle:

Angel Cakes owner Jennifer Angel was leaving her parking spot in the garage of the Wells Fargo on the 2000 block of Webster Street on Monday afternoon when a car pulled up in front of her and blocked her from leaving, her fiance, Ocean Mottley, told The Chronicle. A robber then broke her passenger side window and grabbed something from the car, after which Angel ran after the thieves, suspects, Mottley said.

In the process of trying to chase them down, Angel, 48, got caught in the door of the fleeing vehicle and was dragged more than 50 feet before falling in the middle of the street, hitting her head multiple several times [sic], Mottley said.

Now, the suspected murderer has been arrested and the person or people administering her estate are pleading for no incarceration if the perp is found guilty. KTVU-TV reports:

Ishmael Jenkins Burch, 19, of San Francisco, was charged with murder and second-degree robbery by the Alameda County District Attorney's Office in the killing of Jen Angel in February. Burch also faces one battery charge for a second robbery nearby on the same day. He was arrested June 2. Burch is being held without bail at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin. (snip)

After news of Burch's arrest, Angel's estate released a statement that read in part: 

"To believe in restorative justice and transformative justice is to believe in a deeper and more effective form of accountability than is possible under our current criminal legal system," the statement read. Later adding," We honor Jen Angel’s life, legacy, and values by saying no to incarceration, policing, state violence, and perpetuating cycles of harm in her name."

Ishmael Burch mug shot via KTVU

I am uncertain if a statement from the administrator(s) of an estate has any legal standing at all, compared to an actual victim impact statement from a victim. But few would doubt that’s the statement reflects Ms. Angel’s views, at least as they stood prior to her brutalization and death. We have no way of knowing what thoughts flew through her mind, conscious or unconscious, as she absorbed the impact of the violence and finally succumbed to it.   

But if the estate’s statement has the effect of releasing a suspect found guilty into the community, Ms. Angel’s legacy could result in harming the innocent victims of any further crimes the suspect might commit. She is not the only victim! So are the people who live in fear of crime, particularly a crime committed in a nice, upscale neighborhood, such as where Ms. Angel was robbed.

Fortunately, at least from this perspective, Burch is facing charges for another crime, whose victims may not be as charitable as Ms. Angel was before the attack that cost her life.

But the idea of an SJW activist releasing a violent perp on the community from the grave is a haunting emblem of our times.