Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf is putting to good use the insight of paroled former San Quentin News Sports Editor Garry “Malachi” Scott.
“I think he will bring an authentic and wise viewpoint of how we can prevent our young people from committing crime in the first place and how we can also welcome back people out of prison in a way that supports them not recidivating,” Schaaf told Oakland Tribune columnist Tammerlin Drummond.
“So many people are trusting me to make decisions that impact so many lives. I have to be able to honor that. I really, really care about the community,” said Scott at a Kid CAT banquet inside San Quentin.
He was invited to meet with Schaaf while she was running for mayor, along with other formerly incarcerated people, to discuss reentry issues, according to Drummond’s article.
Scott saw Schaaf again when she attended his birthday party, which was a tree-planting community event in North Oakland to celebrate Scott’s first birthday in society after serving 15 years for second-degree murder.
Later Scott’s name came to mind when Schaaf was thinking of whom to appoint to a Measure Z Public Safety and Services Violence Prevention oversight committee.
The nine-member committee makes recommendations to the City Council on what to do with approximately $22 million annually. It also oversees how the funds are spent.
The money involved is collected from a public safety tax. Sixty percent of that automatically goes to police-related programs, Drummond reported.
“None of the money is coming to me,” joked Scott.
In an interview shortly before his parole, Scott had said, “My goal is to have a successful transition into society, earn a living, volunteer my time working with at-risk youth and find a good church.”
The 49ers fan worked for the Oakland Raiders on a volunteer basis. He was also a sportscaster for the Cal Berkeley Bears.
He said there was a fire inside him that called him to use the Restorative Justice skills he learned in prison to help troubled youth.
Scott now works full-time as a peer counselor for West Side Community Service, which is a mental wellness organization that serves youth. He also goes to the Alameda County Juvenile Hall in San Leandro to help facilitate Restorative Justice circles to assist juveniles coping with life after release, according to Drummond’s article.
Scott is a cofounder of the North Oakland Restorative Justice Council. The volunteer organization hosts block parties in North Oakland at sites where people have been killed in homicides and holds peace walks. The idea is to give people in neighborhoods traumatized by violence a way to come together so they can begin to heal, Drummond wrote.
Scott has been to Washington, D.C., to talk about criminal justice reform with Roy Hamilton and Congress members Tony Cardenas (D-Rep. Virginia) and Bobby Scott (D-Rep. California).
Additionally, he is part of the Free Hunger Program with Auntie Francine; RJ Oakland Youth with Fania Davis; and Pueblo People United for a Better Life in Oakland.
“Doing Restorative Justice is a part of my healing process,” said Scott. “Killing a man left a hole in my heart. What I get out of helping others is healing.”
