STATEMENT ON JAMES RAMSEY FROM OAKLAND ORGANIZERS
The following is a joint statement from the Anti Police-Terror Project, Asian Prisoner Support Committee, Asians 4 Black Lives, Tony Douangviseth, Eddie Zheng, and Lavender Phoenix.
We are deeply saddened to learn of the 88-year old Asian elder who was assaulted on Monday, allegedly by Mr. James Ramsey, a 27-year-old Black Oakland disabled resident with a well-documented history of serious mental illnesses and a history of head injuries who has been repeatedly failed and abandoned by the State. We understand the victim’s condition is serious, and we are praying for her recovery. We further understand this is not the first time Mr. Ramsey has been implicated in an incident of attacking elder members of our community, and that this is not an isolated event.
In addition to our grave concern for the victims of the attacks, we are saddened and outraged that we are here. This tragic systemic failure could have been prevented if the State had not completely abandoned Mr. Ramsey despite his serious needs, desire for help, and despite our repeated urgent calls for support.
APTP, along with our partners, tirelessly endeavored to secure housing for Mr. Ramsey over the course of several months. Regrettably, every relevant state and nonprofit agency turned him away, neglecting their responsibility for his well-being and public safety. The state and mental health systems in the Bay Area have a clear history of Mr. Ramsey reaching out for support as his illness is chronic and debilitating. For people in his condition, the State claims to have mechanisms in place as safeguards, but time and again we see those supposed safety nets fail — as they have James Ramsey and others like him — completely. As a consequence, tragedies like this happen, and the prison system swallows people who should have received treatment, and whose condition is then further worsened behind prison bars.
We’ve included an account of our efforts to support James below, and we want to be very clear: The attacks should never have happened. We are building a world that seeks to confront the systems that create crises in our communities and transform them into systems of compassion and care. To only look at the worst moments in a person’s life does a disservice to us all. We implore everybody to take the facts into consideration when reading about this story.
To summarize the state’s neglect of Mr. Ramsey:
APTP tried to reach out to Mr. Ramsey after his previous arrest in 2021, but our letter was returned by the jail.
Mr. Ramsey was sent by the judge to California Medical Facility Vacaville for evaluation but wound up back in Santa Rita Jail; it is our understanding that he was never sent to CMF Vacaville for the long-term care and treatment he needed. The violence inside of jail and prison walls does nothing to heal mental health issues but rather severely exacerbates existing conditions and creates new ones.
Our request for Mr. Ramsey to be referred to behavioral court was denied.
Mr. Ramsey was then released from Santa Rita without any support, follow up or wrap around services adequate for his needs. APTP spent months of intense effort advocating for Mr. Ramsey to receive these services.
He was released from Santa Rita with nothing but his jail-issued uniform, bus ticket and a BART ticket.
The jail did not fill his medications. He sustained an injury to his head while in jail, and his ID was stolen (which prevented him from accessing needed medical treatments.) He finally received his prescribed medications after an advocacy intervention, but was not granted a requested medical reevaluation.
APTP met Mr. Ramsey outside of jail when no one else from the State was willing to help. We provided short-term hotel accommodations and engaged in intensive advocacy efforts to get him into a residential program.
Mr. Ramsey was rejected from every relevant program that could have and should have helped him.
In March of 2022, APTP attempted to get Mr. Ramsey urgent care when he appeared to be in a catatonic state, but Mobile Crisis did not arrive. They took around an hour to call back, and said they prioritized another, more urgent call despite Mr. Ramsey’s suspected grave disability.
The severity of Mr. Ramsey's disabilities led APTP to advocate for supportive long-term housing and residential care.
At no point did relevant state and nonprofit organizations heed our warnings or conduct an adequate evaluation to assess and provide the kind of care and treatment that Mr. Ramsey needed.
We set up a Gofundme to raise funds to support Mr. Ramsey. The funds raised were used to replace identification, provide food, phone and temporary housing for Mr. Ramsey as we spent weeks trying to find him a facility that would have met his needs and contributed to both his and the community's safety.
Again, we are deeply saddened and disturbed by this incident. We are holding the elder in our thoughts and prayers. We cannot imagine the pain she is experiencing and what her family is going through. We are here to be of service to them as well. We were worried a tragic outcome was becoming increasingly likely. Our every plea to provide health, housing, and wrap around services fell on uncaring ears and as a result one of our community members has been harmed.
Moving forward, we believe the people of Oakland and San Francisco can truly care about the safety of elders walking our streets as well as people like Mr. Ramsey with severe mental illness and other disabilities, and we call on state agencies to do more to provide resources, care, and permanent support to people with similar disabilities as Mr. Ramsey.
Unfortunately tragedies like this systemic failure will continue to happen if we don’t seriously invest in culturally relevant mental health services for people with complex and severe needs, and lead with supportive housing. This is the conversation we must have today.
Crucially, we will continue to firmly rise up against any acts of racist hatred and in solidarity with our AAPI community.
Signed,
Anti Police-Terror Project
Asian Prisoner Support Committee
Asians 4 Black Lives
Tony Douangviseth
Eddie Zheng
Lavender Phoenix