On Tuesday, the Brentwood City Council unanimously agreed to move forward with a proclamation to support peace and condemn Islamophobia.
At its November 14 meeting, Mayor Joel Bryant and councilmember Pa’tanisha Pierson each made formal requests for a proclamations. Meanwhile, councilmember Jovita Mendoza has since withdrawn her request for a ceasefire proclamation.
Council Discussion Tuesday Night
After nearly an hour of public comments, the council shared their reasons behind the proclamation while citing they received many template emails and letters—and they wanted to hear from Brentwood residents, not outsiders. The council also called out the tone and demands within the letters.
Mayor Joel Bryant highlighted there had been a lot of assumptions made by speakers tonight but was still recommending the original recommendation noting he has been to Gaza and knows what its like to pick up bodies.
“What amazes me is that there has not been a single call for the destruction and disbanding of Hezbollah or Hamas. There was a ceasefire last week, Hamas sent hundreds of rockets into Israel to end the ceasefire,” stated Bryant. “I have put my life on the line to protect humans of every ethnicity around the world, I’ve taken an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States and every member of Brentwood I will protect and defend.”
Bryant took offense to one of the callers who defended the actions of Hamas on October 7, stating he is actively working on a commission to release hostages—some were released noting he has spoken to families who are victims of Hamas who disemboweled family members.
“I’ve seen the video captured from Hamas phones of what was going on,” stated Bryant. “I do not believe that any ethnicity, any culture, can be or should be covered in a blanket description or definition of what an extremist is in any society, culture or any nation. But while we had a ceasefire, there hasn’t been a single call, I’ve listened to the meetings around the country and around the Bay Area, no one is calling for steps to taken against Hamas.”
Bryant, who was interrupted by members in the audience, continued stating he is someone who doesn’t know what was going on, but rather he has been there and was astonished that no one was speaking out against Hamas.
Hecklers in the audience continued to interrupt Bryant, who then called for a 5-minute recess.
Upon returning from the recess, Councilmember Pa’tanisha Pierson shared some of the emails she received were “quite frightening and demanding” noting some of them stated “we will not accept less than” or “this is what has to happen” and stated that is not how government works but was happy to listen to all the constituents.
“I am comfortable to make a proclamation that supports peace in the middle east and condemn Islamophobia,” stated Pierson. “There were comments that were mentioned that we intentionally or unintentionally left out antisemitism, no, antisemitism we have made proclamation and at that time there were no statements where we needed to add anti-Islamophobia. So here, I specifically wanted to spend time on Islamophobia specifically as its own separate issue.”
Pierson further explained the council already stands strong against antisemitism and stands strong against Islamophobia.
“What I am proposing is peace in the middle east and a proclamation for anti-Islamophobia The proclamation for ceasefire has been withdrawn by another councilmember,” stated Pierson.
Vice Mayor Susannah Meyer shared she believed there was nothing they could say to please everyone and they were getting inundated by people wanting to speak their voice.
“In the end, we want all our residents in Brentwood to feel safe, respected and heard,” said Meyer. “I am in support of what the mayor and Pierson are recommending… I would stand against terrorism, I would stand against Hamas, I would stand against genocide of anyone. Those are all horrible things. The ceasefire for me, say what you will, those are the ones that are most controversial. My opinion right now, I would love to stand for peace, I would love to stand for you feeling safe and heard and care for in your own community. I would stand next to any of you if you feel unsafe walking down the street. What I wont do, is vote to support something that other people have told me is very hurtful to them.”
Meyer further shared that taxpayer dollars in Brentwood are not going toward what is going on overseas and its not how the funding works.
“We did receive emails that were very demanding. We received a lot of template emails. I definitely prefer hearing from people from Brentwood and hearing from people why they feel a certain way rather than using a template,” said Meyer noting when they hear someone’s story it has more impact versus a “very aggressively demand” that is a template.
Councilmember Tony Oerlemans shared he supported the proclamations and wished he could have the power to create world peace.
“I will not vote for a ceasefire for how it will make other people feel. I will 100% support the proclamation before us,” said Oerlemans who added they wanted to make Brentwood residents feel safe. “This is not a Brentwood government issue, this is a federal government issue. Please bring it up to the Federal Government.”
Councilmember Jovita Mendoza believed they had to think about the City of Brentwood and wanted peace in the town, peace in the middle east, and no wars anywhere.
“I don’t want anyone hurt anyone of the Muslim religion in Brentwood. That is not acceptable to me, any religion. We stood by our Jewish neighbors, I stand by you,” stated Mendoza. “What we can do is tell people that in Brentwood we accept each other, and we stand by each other.”
Prior to the vote, Mayor Bryant offered additional commentary stating he loved everyone but was frustrated by some of the commentary.
“A call for a ceasefire, if it worked, if a ceasefire would work and cause peace, we would have had it,” stated Bryant. “There has been many ceasefires, some lasted longer than others but they don’t last. Until we can remove those full of hate that don’t care about their own people, they don’t care about other people. They want what they want and only what they want, if there was something we could do about that I would be happy to do it. I would be happy to go there again and try and make it happen. But in the City of Brentwood, we have many families, many ideas, many cultures, its what makes our community wonderful and we want peace here and will have peace here, but I cannot move forward with wording for anyone that is going to make someone afraid to go outside, to school, afraid to walk in their neighborhood. I am happy to support the wording that we have. But I cannot support the wording for a ceasefire.”
The council then voted 5-0 on the proclamation for peace in the middle east and the condemnation of islamophobia.
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