Leigh Hanson, chief of staff to interim Oakland Mayor Kevin Jenkins, received intense backlash on social media Saturday over a portion of a handwritten note she wrote last year that appeared to refer to Black people as “tokens.”
The note was produced alongside nearly 1,000 documents the city released last week related to the FBI probe that led to the indictment of former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao. Thao, Hanson’s former boss, was recalled by voters in November and pleaded not guilty to federal bribery charges. Hanson had to hand over binders of notes, her daily planner and all written communication to the FBI for its investigation. The city released the notes after the Chronicle filed a public records request.
The documents included a note Hanson wrote in March 2024 sketching out how Thao planned to fight the recall. Written on the note was a line that read, “CM Fife can reach out to NAACP — use BP as tokens.”…