By Brinda Kalita, Daphne Ho and Destiny Gurrola
ALAMEDA, CA- In a YouTube video message, new Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price this week – in light of Martin Luther King Jr. Day – talks about MLK Jr’s “drum major instinct.”
“In my lifetime one of the most inspiring messages that has guided me has been Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s sermon about the drum major instinct. Dr King’s words are as relevant today as they were when he gave his sermon in 1968,” said Price DA, elected last November by 27,000 votes to become the first Black woman DA in Alameda County.
MLK Jr., said Price, “describes the drum major instinct as a desire to be out front, a desire to lead the parade,” and helped her “desire to be first as Alameda County’s first Black female district attorney… his wise words are even more inspiring for the work ahead in fixing our broken criminal justice system.”
“Dr. King’s life and death changed the course of my life and inspires me to serve you in this moment of time as your district attorney,” Price said in her message.
Price noted she “will do everything in my power to be worthy of the Justice pursuing tradition that Dr. King embodied and be a drum major for real justice reforms which lead to public safety.”
Price campaigned as a progressive civil rights attorney, with promises to enact reforms and eliminate racial inequality in the criminal justice system, limit the use of incarceration and expand the role of the DA to advocates for mental health care services, human trafficking and affordable housing.
Price inherits problems in the county, including misconduct in the DA’s office, horrific tales of cruelty in Alameda jails and gun violence in Oakland.
