Hanging Out With the New Meme King of East Oakland, ‘Where Life is Worthless’
The San Francisco Standard 2/19/2024
A Prius hanging out of a dumpster. Stripped-down cars. Burning trash cans. These are some of the East Oakland sights set to a new catchphrase that’s blowing up on social media: “Oakland, California, … donde la vida no vale nada.”
Even cops, government officials, firefighters and kids are repeating the catchphrase on social media and on the streets of the Town.
It’s all because of Gregorio Ramon, who coined the saying in videos on his Instagram @oakland_california_2023 and TikTok @gregorio1976 accounts documenting crime and mayhem in the East Bay city. Since mid-2022, Ramon has been capturing footage of everything from police chases to cars on fire and the boarded-up Denny’s that closed last month due to public safety concerns.
In every video, he says, “Oakland, California, … donde la vida no vale nada, donde la cuidad nos tiene abandonados.” The phrase translates to English as, “Oakland, California, … where life is worthless, where the city has abandoned us.”
“I said it because it is the reality of what we are living,” the 47-year-old East Oakland resident said. “Oakland, California, where life is worthless. Where someone can drive 100 mph, kill a 60-year-old man walking in the street and try to flee. Like nothing. It’s like just another day.”
Sauce: https://sfstandard.com/2024/02/19/oakland-where-life-is-worthless-videos/