Reso 2021-035 Steven Taylor & Sanctity of Every Human Life Day

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RESOLUTION THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAN LEANDRO RESOLUTION NO.2021-035 RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF SAN LEANDRO CITY COUNCIL PROCLAIMING APRIL 18 AS A DAY RECOGNIZING STEVEN TAYLOR AND THE SANCTITY OF EVERY HUMAN LIFE, INCLUDING PEOPLE OF COLOR WHEREAS, on April 18, 2020, Steven Taylor was fatally shot by a member of the San Leandro Police Department (who is now retired from the San Leandro Police Department) at the Walmart on Hesperian Blvd in San Leandro; and WHEREAS, according to contacts Steven Taylor had with the City of San Leandro Police Department, Steven Taylor had a history of suffering mental health crises in San Leandro before his death and that mental health aid or services could have helped him and/or could have helped to de-escalate the April 18, 2020 fatal shooting; and WHEREAS, according to the Alameda County District Attorney's Announcement Filing of Voluntary Manslaughter Charges Against San Leandro Officer, which was posted September 2, 2020, FROM THE TIME THE OFFICER ENTERED THE STORE TO THE TIME MR. TAYLOR WAS FATALLY SHOT LESS THAN 40 SECONDS ELAPSED (DA O'Malley Announces Filing of Voluntary Manslaughter Charges Against San Leandro Officer, alcoda.org, <https://www.alcoda.org/newsroom/files/Fletcher PC Dec.pdf> (last visited February 2, 2021)); and WHEREAS, Steven Taylor was an African American Male, 33 years of age, graduate of San Leandro High School, father of three children and homeless at the time he was fatally shot; and WHEREAS, African Americans are more than three times as likely as White Americans to be killed by police, according to a study by researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. <https•//www hsph harvard edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/blacks-whites-police- deaths-disparity/> (last visited February 7, 2021); and WHEREAS, people with untreated mental illness are 16 times more likely to be killed during a police encounter than other civilians approached or stopped by law enforcement, according to a study released by the Treatment Advocacy Center. https://www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org/key-issues/criminalization-of-mental-illness/2976- people-with-untreated-mental-i llness-l6-times-more-1 ikely-to-be-killed-by-law-enforcement- (last visited February 7, 2021); and WHEREAS, the 2017 City of San Leandro Recreation and Human Services Department Human Services Gap Analysis identified that mental illness and unmet mental health needs emerged as a theme in every stakeholder interview as part of the analysis, in particular in relation to youth and to single homeless adults and homeless parents with children; and WHEREAS, the City of San Leandro has experienced a history of racial discrimination and harassment against people of color. This includes, but is not limited to, housing discrimination, recognized by a former Mayor during a City Council meeting on March 29, 1972. The policy statement was made by the former Mayor following a cross burning incident at a San Leandro home. The former Mayor stated: "The City Council of San Leandro recognizes there is a problem and it is for this reason that the City Council has approved the appointment of