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The family of an Oakland baker and former publisher who espoused anarchist beliefs believe that the thieves who killed her in a daylight robbery and assault shouldn’t go to jail and her death shouldn’t be used to argue for more police.
Jennifer Angel, 48, founded Angel Cakes bakery in Oakland in 2008. Prior to that, she was a publisher of what she described as ‘radical, progressive’ magazines and a publicist for authors.
On Monday, Angel was leaving her car in front of a bank in uptown Oakland when two robbers smashed her car window and ran off with her belongings, her fiance Ocean Mottley said.
She then went after the robbers’ getaway car, catching up with it but getting trapped in its door and being dragged over 50 feet. Her head was crushed on the sidewalk and the car drove away.
By Thursday, her family had confirmed her death after spending days in a coma at a local hospital.
Jennifer Angel (pictured), 48, founded Angel Cakes bakery in Oakland. Prior to that, she was a publisher of what she described as ‘radical, progressive’ magazines and a publicist for authors
While local authorities investigate her death as a homicide, the family has requested that her brutal killers not be sent to jail.
In a statement on a GoFundMe that has raised over $130,000 as of Saturday, those close to her said they would pursue ‘alternatives’ to prison for the criminals.
‘As a long-time social movement activist and anarchist, Jen did not believe in state violence, carceral punishment, or incarceration as an effective or just solution to social violence and inequity,’ they wrote.
They added: ‘We know Jen would not want to continue the cycle of harm by bringing state-sanctioned violence to those involved in her death or to other members of Oakland’s rich community.’
In fact, she once bragged on Facebook that she had taught her employees to do what she does and ‘never call the cops.’
Emily Harris, a close friend of Angel and an ‘anti-prison director,’ told the San Francisco Chronicle that the statement fits with her radical liberal principles.
‘I think Jen would affirm that of course that’s what people have been trained to believe is the answer, to lock people up,’ Harris said. ‘But we know that if the people who cause her harm are sent to jail, all we’re doing is perpetuating more harm.’
Before starting her bake shop, Angel was an editor of the left-wing publication Clamor and also worked for the seminal punk rock journal MaximumRocknRoll, as well as a personal zine entitled F**ktooth.
Leftist outlet Democracy Now and radical Canadian punk rockers Propagandhi were among those to celebrate Angel in her wake.
On Monday, Angel was leaving her car in front of a bank in uptown Oakland when two robbers smashed her car window and ran off with her belongings, her fiance Ocean Mottley said
Angel ran Angel Cakes Bakery in Oakland, which her friends and family are hoping to continue to support via a GoFundMe
Angel then went after the car, catching up with it but getting trapped in its door and being dragged over 50 feet away from the Wells Fargo. Her head was crushed on the sidewalk and the car drove away
Angel once bragged on Facebook that she had taught her employees to do what she does and ‘never call the cops.’
Democracy Now described Angel as ‘actively involved in antiwar and anti-capitalist struggles through the years, including Occupy Wall Street.’
In a remembrance, Crimethincc quoted her stating her anarchist leanings as: ‘The core tenets of anarchism are autonomy, mutual aid, voluntary association, and direct action. These are all positive things.’
Her bake shop’s website even included a statement of political beliefs.
‘[Angel] believes that Black Lives Matter and that every person has the right to choose their own gender identity and gender expression,’ the store’s ‘About Us’ section proclaims.
‘As a shop we strive to reduce waste through limiting use of plastics and choosing products that are gentle on the environment. We do our best to be a good neighbor and community member through donating to and providing desserts for various social justice efforts, particularly in the areas of environmental justice, housing, and criminal justice reform.’
Democracy Now described Angel as ‘actively involved in antiwar and anti-capitalist struggles through the years, including Occupy Wall Street’
Angel in a photo with her fiancee Ocean Mottley
Emily Harris (pictured), a close friend of Angel and an ‘anti-prison director,’ said that her friends and family’s statement fits with her radical liberal principles.
The GoFundMe celebrating Angel elaborates further.
‘Jen believed in a world where everyone has the ability to live a dignified and joyful life and worked toward an ecologically sustainable and deeply participatory society in which all people have access to the things they need, decisions are made by those most directly affected by them, and all people are free and equal.’
During the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, Angel posted articles in favor of both riots and looting on her Facebook page.
They wrap up the GoFundMe, largely meant to continue her bake shop by asking that people ‘do not use her legacy of care and community to further inflame narratives of fear, hatred, and vengeance, nor to advance putting public resources into policing, incarceration, or other state violence that perpetuates the cycles of violence that resulted in this tragedy.’
‘We are really trying to orient towards her brilliant life, and that actually, she is not a person who would support the policing and imprisonment of the people who harmed her,’ Harris, who called Angel her first political mentor, said.
Angel’s bakery in Oakland. The baker would frequently post in favor of looting and riots and proudly professed to never call the police
Angel posted this photo to Instagram following the 2020 Presidential Election
‘That doesn’t mean that there isn’t accountability that we would want ,’ she added. ‘What [that] could look like isn’t about putting a person into further harm…but understanding how we’re going to prevent this from happening to the next Jen Angel.’
Though crime in Oakland was down slightly from a 15-year high in 2021, 120 people were still murdered in the city, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
Murders are still over 50 percent above the averages for the five years prior to the pandemic, as Oakland suffers the same issues with crime as neighbors San Francisco.
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