Global Perception

Oakland, California—city of perpetual reinvention, birthplace of both the Black Panthers and artisanal toast—has once again reminded the planet that its most reliable export isn’t software or sourdough but gunfire. On a balmy Wednesday evening, a modest fusillade erupted near Lake Merritt, that algae-fringed jewel where joggers from 40 countries dodge goose droppings and, apparently,…