Antioch Police racist, homophobic text scandal draws protest and rally

One year after the text scandal exploded, protestors are rallying on Sunday at the Antioch Police station.

Protestors are gathering at Antioch Police Department on Sunday to address concerns over the reinstatement of some officers involved in last year’s racist, homophobic and sexist text scandal.

“A bunch of them are starting to get their jobs back and we don’t want them (to),” said Reimagine Antioch’s Frank Sterling Jr., one of the organizers of the rally.

The rally was set to begin at 2 p.m. Sunday in the parking lot of Walgreens on Deer Valley Road in Antioch. The plan — as detailed on First Voice Media’s Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/firstvoicemedia — was then to move to the police department about 3.5 miles away.

The disturbing texts emerged during an FBI and the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office investigation nearly two years ago into allegations of police misconduct in Antioch and Pittsburg. In late April of 2023, the DA’s office released text messages from 17 Antioch officers between 2019 and 2022, though more were involved according to Ellen McDonnell, the county’s chief public defender.

The timing of the rally, Sterling said, is pegged to the one-year anniversary of the text scandal erupting, which led to a number of officers being put on leave.

He says the timing also has to do with it being 10 years since the first time that Malad Baldwin was beaten by Antioch Police in 2014. Baldwin, who sued the city in 2015 after those beatings left him injured, died in 2021.

Sterling also said that Antioch Police have not been forthcoming with information as to which police offciers involved with the racist/homophobic/sexist texts have been reinstated. He also said that demoting an officer, with a history of racism, will not fix the problem.

“I don’t think that is going to cure their racism – getting demoted,” he said.