Headline, February 10, 2023
Longtime activist, writer and beloved baker Jen Angel has died at the age of 48. She owned the popular community-based Angel Cakes in Oakland. She was a pioneering force in independent media, co-founding Clamor magazine and Agency, an anarchist media organization. She was also a longtime organizer of the Bay Area Anarchist Book Fair. Jen Angel was actively involved in antiwar and anti-capitalist struggles through the years, including Occupy Wall Street. She died after she was critically injured in a violent robbery in Oakland earlier this week.
In a statement, Angel’s family and friends wrote, “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. 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.” Jen Angel’s family has asked that traditional prosecution be avoided in her case, and alternatives such as restorative justice be employed instead.
