Well, I guess there's no denying it anymore. By the time you are reading this, I will have ended my time at the Vallejo Times-Herald.
After eight not-so-short months of government meetings, interviews, records requests and town halls, I will be moving to Arlington, Va. to be closer to family. I'll be continuing to work as a reporter at the local news site ARLnow. But my employment in this captivating and challenging city has come to a close.
Vallejo is a complicated place to report on. The divisions within this community – the frustration, impatience and outrage at injustice – cut deep on all sides. Over and over again this year, I saw a community divided by conflict.
Nowhere was this more apparent than almost any issue involving the Vallejo Police Department.
In July, I covered the Vallejo City Council's decision to declare a state of emergency over its shortage of police officers. I witnessed a mother grieving her slain son and other community members raise cries of alarm over this city's faltering police force. I'll never forget that woman, Dominique, describing how she had to wait 15 hours to find out that her own son had died.
In August, I reported on even more community pain at another public meeting involving Vallejo law enforcement. Only this time, at the ACLU's first in-person town hall in Vallejo, most people weren't calling for more police. They were talking about their fear of the officers this city already has.
Time and again, I witnessed wildly different conversations play out depending on who was in the room.
Another example. When the police department announced a proposal to stop dispatching officers to unverified alarm calls, I watched dozens of irate residents and business owners appear at a town hall to protest this decision and the city's public safety as a whole.
A month later, over 120 people – including several family members of people killed in Vallejo police shootings – stormed a city council meeting I attended to protest the reinstatement of the officer who killed Sean Monterrosa.
No matter the context, most people in Vallejo seem to want the same thing: A police department they can trust. But people's priorities are just so different. From my vantage point, it was sometimes like I was reporting on two separate cities – or at least, two siblings who are no longer on speaking terms.
What will it take to repair this divide?
My job at the Times-Herald was not always a straightforward one. Our role as journalists is to report news – regardless of any politics or personal opinions. Our job is to represent all sides fairly and completely, leaving it to our readers to form their own views and consider what should be done.
This involves something that I sometimes worry is becoming a lost art. In order to properly report on what a person thinks, we have to step, briefly, into their shoes and see things from their position. When someone disagrees with this person, we have to step into the opponent's shoes and view it from their side as well.
We have to, well, listen. We have to attempt to understand viewpoints that we don't always share. More than that, we have to try and make sense of it all. And at a newspaper, we have to arrange it and convey it in a way that an outsider can grasp.
I'm on a tangent now. I'm a reporter, not a philosopher, so I'll just say this.
I fought to understand and communicate the struggles of this community as best as I could. I have faith that local news coverage will carry on that task. I hope that the community will, too.
I hope that there is a way to bridge these divides. I hope there is a future where no one in this city has to live in fear for their safety. I hope there is a way that this city can heal.
I don't know what the solution is. But I think maybe it begins with conversation. Maybe it begins with listening. With trying to figure out what exactly we're all trying to say. Less shouting at each other. More talking to each other.
I think it's possible. I believe in Vallejo. I believe that this city can forge a path forward.
I hope that this city can find a way to believe in itself.
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