Raye Jean Montague: A Hidden Figure in Ship Technology
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A Passion-Driven Life: Remembering Educator Brenda Harris
The Godly Mother, the Matriarch Lillie Mae Whitehead on a Mission at 100
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Opinion: What’s Really Driving the Oakland Police Department’s So-Called Staffing Crisis Page 7
Oakland Post “Where there is no vision, the people perish...” Proverbs 29:18
postnewsgroup.com
58th Year, No. 40
Weekly Edition. Edition. March 23-29, 2022
Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Family, and Colleagues Celebrate Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Resilience at Senate Confirmation Hearings Ketanji Brown Jackson
Confirmation Hearings Begin for First Black Woman Supreme Court Nominee
Lydia Floyd Jackson fought tirelessly for education and women’s rights. Wikipedia.org photo.
By Brandon Patterson
Confirmation hearings began Tuesday in the Senate Judiciary Committee for Biden Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson. The hearings marked the fourth time that Jackson had come before the Judiciary Committee for confirmation, having done so three times previously when nominated for lower judiciary positions. Jackson, 52, currently serves as a federal judge in Washington, D.C. She will be the first Black woman ever to sit on the Supreme Court upon confirmation. The first day of hearings featured opening statements from the 22 members of the Judiciary Committee and opening remarks from Jackson. Democratic Senator Corey Booker noted the historic nature of Jackson’s nomination. “This is a ‘Jackie Robinson’ moment for our nation,” he said during prepared remarks. “For generations, America has been blessed with extraordinary legal talent in people of all backgrounds, but for the first time in our history an extraordinarily talented Black woman will Continued on Page 11
Left to right: Francis and Pamela Jackson, Mazie Hirono, Sheila Jackson Lee, Barbara Lee, Alex Padilla, Ellery Brown, Johnny Brown. Photo courtesy of Congresswoman Barbara Lee’s office.
Councilmember Carroll Fife: Let Voters Decide If They Want to Spend Public Money for New Ballpark and Real Estate Project By Ken Epstein
Councilmember Carroll Fife is considering a proposal to let Oakland voters decide in November whether to approve the Oakland A’s $12-billion real estate development on public land at the Port of Oakland, which would take the final decision on the project out of the hands of City Council members, who are under intense, behind-the-scenes pressure from the project’s powerful backers. “I’m working on spelling out the details this week. The voters should decide,” Fife said in an interview with the Oakland Post. Fife, who first announced the proposal at a town hall meeting last weekend, represents District 3 where the new A’s stadium and real estate
Job Seeker Ronald Fletcher inquiring about employment with United States Postal Service Recruiter Maria Villanueva. Photo by Germaine Davis.
Councilmember Carroll Fife
complex would be built. According to observers, the City Council is under pressure from A’s owner, billionaire John Fisher, as well as powerful state Democratic politicians and the building trades unions to settle the deal in the next few months, even before
all the evaluations of the site, potential costs and community benefits are discussed and approved. The amount of public funds the A’s is seeking is estimated at more than $1 billion, including onsite infrastructure, offsite infrastructure, community benefits and other expenses. Fife said that putting the project on the ballot would ensure that the public has a voice in the project and to discuss whether public funds should be used to pay for it. “What I find to be lacking in some of the decisions that are made by people who have a position of power is the lack of input from the community,” she said. At present, she said, “Nobody is talking to District 3 residents Continued on Page 11
PIC Hosted Mini Career Fair, March 17
Close to 200 people showed up for the Mini Career Fair on March 17 hosted by the Oakland Private Industry Council, Inc. and its collaborative partners, Alameda County Social Services and Oakland Housing Authority. Employers from Southwest Airlines, the United States Postal Service, Oakland Roots, Army National Guard, Peralta Services Corp, Sysco Foods and FedEx assisted applicants with available jobs at the PIC office in the West Oakland Library at 1801 Adeline St.
Honoring Black Women in Bay Area Who fought for Equal Education for Children Part 3 By Rev. Dr. Martha C. Taylor
One of the most egregious laws enacted in the State of California was the denial of Black children having an equal opportunity for education. Not many people think of California as having deep roots embedded in slavery, and practices of white supremacy. California was admitted as a free state on Sept. 9, 1850. Pioneer Blacks and those who came during the Great Migration, were in search of freedom, yet they were met with the same oppressive racism and hostility that existed in the South. Blacks were aware that the key to upward mobility was education. It is important to note in Black history that, as the late Alice Childress, playwright, actress and novelist once said Blacks “are the only racial group
Rev. Dr. Martha C. Taylor
within the United States ever forbidden by law to read and write.” Though not as extreme as the anti-literacy laws of the South, one racist California law stated: “every school, unless otherwise provided by special law shall be open for white children.” On the other hand, “The education of children of African descent... Continued on Page 11