Civil war breaks out in rich, white California town as activists from crime-plagued neighboring city demand its canceled

A bitter battle has erupted over one of California’s wealthiest enclaves, with activists from neighboring Oakland calling for the predominantly white city of Piedmont to be “canceled.”Oakland resident Jesse Rosemoore is behind the provocative “Cancel Piedmont” campaign targeting the 1.7-square-mile city of roughly 11,000 people that is surrounded by Oakland but maintains its own schools, police, parks and tax base, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.Rosemoore, 44, began handing out “CANCEL PIEDMONT” stickers and selling $10 T-shirts bearing the slogan 14 months ago.The professional transit planner now regards the campaign as a way to tackle the sharp racial and economic divide between Piedmont and the rest of the city.“It really is ridiculous that a place like Piedmont even exists,” Rosemoore told the outlet.“I felt like someone needed to bring even more attention to it, because what’s going on there says a lot about our society as a whole.”The median price of homes in Piedmont is almost $2.6 million, which is more than three-and-a-half times that of Oakland’s.Census data cited by the outlet shows Piedmont is roughly 70% white and around 1% black, while about one in five Oakland residents is black.In some places, the divide comes down to a property line, with neighboring households potentially having access to different school districts and police departments depending on which side of the Piedmont-Oakland boundary they fall on.Rosemoore and other “Cancel Piedmont” supporters argue the city’s efforts to confront its history of racial exclusion have not done enough to address the economic barriers that continue to make living there inaccessible to many people.Those efforts have included hiring a consulting firm to address implicit bias and organizing community discussions focused on racial equity, according to the report.However, certain officials and residents from Piedmont have objected to the criticism and think that their co...