Oakland Post, week of October 5 - 11, 2022

OPIC in Partnership with Pastors of Oakland Convened Workforce Development Agencies and Reentry Services Providers to Address How Jobs & Services Can Help to Heal Violence & Hostilities in Oakland

Workforce Agencies included: Oakland Private In dustry Council (OPIC), Spanish-Speaking Unity Council, Lao Family Community Development Corp., West Oakland Jobs Resource Center, Oakland Unified School District Adult Education and The YEP

The Oakland Private In dustry Council Career Center organized and hosted a con vening of key stakeholders in Oakland’s battle to reverse the rising and increasingly deadly violence in Oakland. Ray mond Lankford of Oakland PIC credited Gay Plair Cobb, Oakland PIC’s CEO Emerita, and Pastor Phyllis Scott with being one of the driving forces behind the meeting.

Richard Johnson, President of The Formerly Incarcerated

Giving Back and a columnist for the Oakland Post, has been urging Faith and communitybased nonprofits to develop programs for livable wage jobs and affordable housing as a way to “end the Hostilities” plaguing Oakland.

The group in attendance heard from Pastor Scott Rich ard Johnson and other com munity leaders, included youth and adult workforce

Continued on Page 10

Oakland Post

Reimagining Gun Violence Prevention and Public Safety for Oakland’s Children, Youth, and Families

By Council President Pro Tem Sheng Thao

Oakland has fallen short on delivering for our youth. From public school closures to lack of career pathways, to the divestment from important job development programs — it’s made it harder for young Oaklanders and their families to find a path to success. As a councilmember and as Oak land’s next mayor I will make this a top priority.

A few weeks ago, I was in vited to join elected officials across the country to announce a report issued by New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams titled “Reimagining Gun Violence Prevention and

Commentary

Public Safety For New York City.”

The report highlighted spe cific, data-driven investments and policies cities can pass to reduce gun violence. One part of the report highlighted how youth-centered job programs impact crime.

“In ‘The Effects of Youth Employment on Crime: Evi dence from New York City Lotteries’ researchers found that youth who participated in [Summer Youth Employment Program] during the dura tion of the summer decreased their chance of being arrested by 17%, their chance of being

arrested for a felony by 23%, and their chance of being con victed of committing a crime by 31%.” said the report.

Oakland once had an expan sive Youth Summer’s Job Pro gram which hired around 2,000

students, while today we have only about 200 and during the pandemic the program was not active.

Meanwhile gun sales and

Don ‘t Lose Your Rank - Be Pro-Choices When Voting

By Geoffrey Pete

Election season is upon us. An opportunity is before us to choose a fresh face for the Mayor’s chair in Oakland. Since 2010, Oakland has used a system of ranked choice vot ing to select the Mayor, City Council members and other municipal offices. Its basic function is for the voter to rank three people they would select for those offices, if more than two candidates are running. The board of elec tions considers the voter’s 2nd & 3rd choices until a remain ing candidate has more than

Barbara Lee Receives John Lewis Award

At this stage of the cam paign season, candidates are receiving endorsements from leaders and institutions in Oakland and to some extent, from outside the city. Those who publicly endorse a candi date — even though it is only a single person, as responsible citizens they will fill out all three of their choices. Even though ranked choice has been with us since the mid-2000’s in the Bay Area generally, ranked endorsements have not become a part of how lead ers in the community conduct their endorsement announce ments. A single endorsement

from a community leader or respected institution should not be a signal to only vote for one candidate and leave the other slots blank.

Why should I think beyond my No.1 choice? First of all, no one is going to have 50% of the votes after the first round is counted. One by one, the lowest scoring candidates will be eliminated, with their first choice voters having their 2nd and 3rd choices assigned to those candidates who have not already been eliminated.

Suppose you only vote for

Community Coalition Backs People’s Progressive Ranked Choice Slate for Mayor

We are a coalition of grass roots organizations and leaders who support the ranked-choice slate of three mayoral candi dates — the only three candi dates who are working toward values for a future of Oakland that is humane and embod ies the interests of the diverse families and individuals who live in Oakland now.

Our candidates are Greg Hodge, Sheng Thao, and Al lyssa Victory. The coalition is asking voters to vote for these three in whatever order (first, second and third) that they pre fer.

Our coalition has come to gether in opposition to the cor porate-backed coalition that seeks to transform Oakland into a glitzy playground for the rich and another profit cen ter for developers, financiers, and bankers. The leadership of the current administration has produced blight, rampant

violence, rapidly escalating homelessness, and communi ties that are losing their neigh borhood public schools.

We need a mayor’s office that focuses on creating a city that is clean and where ev eryone is housed, employed,

and safe. Oakland residents and city officials

Real Solutions to End Gun Violence

Ignacio De La Fuente Gets Warm Welcome at Acts Full Gospel Church

A coalition of Oakland community leaders and organizations held a press conference Wednesday at Oakland City Hall backing a People’s Progressive Slate for Oakland Mayor: Greg Godge, Allyssa Victory and Sheng Thao. Shown (bottom row) L to R: Allyssa Victory; Walter Riley; and Devonté Jackson, Movement for Black Lives. (Second Row): Liz Suk, Oakland Rising; Doug Blacksh er, Black Business Roundtable; Greg Hodge; Sheryl Walton, East Bay Democratic Club; (Back Row): unidentified; John Holme, Wellstone Democratic Club; and Peter Brown, Schools and Labor Against Privatization. Photo by Ken Epstein.

Bishop Bob Jackson of Acts Full Gospel Church introduces mayoral candidate Ignacio De La Fuente. De La Fuente came to address the church congregation about the recent uptick in violence in Oakland.

Photo by Frederic Neema/Octamedia Pro ductions.

The March on Washington Film Festival honored Congress woman Barbara Lee by giving her the John Robert Lewis Life time Legacy for being a visionary leader in the fight for civil rights and for “getting into good trouble to advance social justice”. Pre vious recipients included poet Nikki Giovanni,2019, Congress man John Lewis (post humously)in 2020,and House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, 2021.

First row (kneeling from left to the right): Sam Johnson, Jr., Ellie Lefiti, Carde Taylor; Second row (standing, beginning with Ray mond - left to right: Raymond Lankford, Sofia Navarro, Priscilla Drawsand, Phyllis Scott, Richard Johnson, Minister King X, Michele Clark, Sam Johnson, Sr.; Third row (standing - left to right): Earl Jacobs, Charles Turner, Louis King,, Kim Jones, Chris Iglesias, Olu Oluwole. Photo by Jonathan Fitness Jones.

Civil Rights Attorney and Candidate for Alameda County Dis trict Attorney, Pamela Price talks with business owner Dorcia White about recent shootings in Oakland. White is the owner of Everett & Jones in Jack London Square. See story on Page 10.

Geoffrey Pete

Mayoral Candidate Sheng Thao immediately met with PIC, Formerly Incarcerated Giving Back, Oakland Chaplaincy and other non-profits to hear of their plans to encourage an end to the violence and hostili ties. She pledged to be supportive of plans to provide jobs and econom ic opportunities to the reentry community. Photo by Jonathan Fitness Jones.

The Lookout: New State Regulations Put the Brakes on Used Catalytic Converters Thefts

By Aldon Thomas Stiles, California Black Media

Responding to a crime trend involving the theft of catalytic converters, Gov. Gavin New som signed two bills on Sept. 25, 2022. The new laws, the governor’s office said, prohibit the sale of used catalytic con verters by parties who aren’t licensed auto dealers or dis mantlers.

The bills require recyclers to keep specific records estab lishing a paper trail that tracks the devices used to control car emissions, which the legisla tions’ supporters say will re duce thefts.

Catalytic converters convert pollutant gases into less harm ful gases in cars and cost be

tween $800 to $1,200.

“California is helping to put the brakes on catalytic con verter theft with the signing of two new bills. By eliminating a root cause of this issue these bills will help reduce crime and make Californians and their vehicles safer,” read a tweet from the California Bureau of Automotive Repair.

According to a study con ducted by the National Insur

Continued on page 8

Charles Sifford Paved the Way for African-American Golfers

By Tamara Shiloh

Historically, professional golf has held fast to its tradition of lack ing diversity among its players.

But no ‘Brown on the green’ didn’t hold Charles Sifford back. By age 13 he could shoot par consistently and had al ready decided to make golf his full-time job. The Charlotte, N.C., native would one day stand toe-to-toe in the majors with the best golfers in the game.

Born on June 2, 1922, Sif ford’s early exposure to golf came about while working as a caddie. He earned 60 cents a day on the course and shared it with his mother. During his early years on the green, he worked as a golfing coach and was a consistent winner of events outside of the of those sanctioned by the Professional Golfers’ Association of Amer ica. He dominated the Negro National Open, capturing the

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title six times during the 1950s.

Despite the racial tensions in golf, Sifford was never with out encouragement from some of the best and most promi nent athletes during that time: boxers “Sugar” Ray Robinson and Joe Louis, and Negro and Major League Baseball’s Don “Newk” Newcombe and Jack ie Robinson. At his time the Civil Rights Movement was starting to make inroads across America, pressuring the PGA to remove its ‘Caucasian-only’ membership rules.

The rule change became clear when African American golfers Bill Spider and Teddy Rhodes qualified at the Los An geles Open to earn automatic entry into the PGA-sponsored Richmond Open in California in 1948. Some unscrupulous officials, through legal side stepping, convinced sponsors

to agree to represent their tour naments as open invitationals to avoid inviting Black players to compete in the events. In the meantime, Sifford continued to move forward.

In 1957, Sifford made his tory when he not only quali fied but won the Long Beach Open, making him the first the African American golfer to beat white players in a PGA co-sponsored tournament.

Four years later Sifford broke further ground when, under pressure from the Cali fornia attorney general, the PGA permitted him full mem bership on its tour.

Sifford made history again in 1967 when he won the Greater Hartford Open—the first fully sanctioned PGA event ever won by an African

Continued on page 8

Charles Sifford. Photo courtesy of Public Domain.

NAACP Research Finds Black Voters Are Far From Being a Monolith

By Maxim Elramsisy, California Black Media

The NAACP commissioned the leading millennial and mi nority-owned public opinion research company HIT Strate gies to analyze Black voter en gagement and explore trends and devise strategies to reach voters on the issues that they care about. They found that Black voters are far from being a monolith – though they have many similarities.

However, critical nuances contribute to creating diverg ing trends among Black voters, particularly when researchers factor in sex and age.

The 2020 election cycle had historic turnout among people of color. HIT Strategies found that 14% of Black vot ers, 31% of Latino voters, and 39% of Asian American or Pa cific Islander voters were new voters. Joe Biden did worse with all three of these demo graphics than Hillary Clinton did in 2016, though he did significantly better with white seniors, white men, and white college-educated voters.

The Democratic Party had one of the most diverse tickets ever. Candidates of color like Stacy Abrams and Raphael Warnock are supported by sig nificantly different coalitions from Joe Biden. They may not do as well with white voters, thus it is imperative to increase their support among Black vot ers to succeed, according to the report.

Gender Gap

The research showed that the “Trump Bump,” where Don ald Trump’s support increased among Black men voters, af fected down ballot elections as well. Tom Tillis (R-NC), who beat Cal Cunningham by

just 95,000 votes, would have lost if Black men were voting for Cunningham at the same rate as Black women. Though the Trump bump is not unique among Black men, since polls find men are generally more conservative than women, it was unique because they vot ed Democratic during Barack Obama’s election. In order for Democrats to succeed, they will need to reach voting Black men at the same rate as former President Obama did.

Pain – Power – Progress

In 2020, among Black vot ers polled in Georgia, 73% said that they felt extremely power ful and 71% turned out to vote. HIT Strategies determined there was a direct correlation between perceived political power and voter participation.

Astonishingly, in 2022 this perception of power has dropped by almost 30%. If this leads to an equivalent decline in Black voter participation in any state, HIT Strategies be lieve that it is likely that the candidates at the top of the ticket are much less likely to succeed.

From these results, the NAACP found that in order to

increase political participation, they must make Black voters feel powerful, knowing that if they feel powerful that they will not waste that power.

Understanding that Black voters are not a monolith, the research group conducted a combination of high propensi ty surveys and low propensity focus groups in different bat tleground states where Black voters could be the margin of difference for a winning candi date.

The goal of the high propen sity surveys was to see how voters’ views changed over time, while the focus groups al lowed researchers to dive more into the nuances of people’s views.

They found that, consistent with other groups, Black voters were deeply concerned about the economy, probably driven by anxieties associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The voters also expressed that they want solutions for gun violence – encompassing mass shootings and gang vio lence.

“They do not want a gun

Gov. Newsom Vetoes Bill to Extend Term of Reparations Task Force

By Antonio Ray Harvey, California Black Media

On Sept. 29, Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed Assembly Bill (AB) 2296 authored by As semblymember Reggie JonesSawyer.

The bill proposed extending the term for the California Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for Afri can Americans by an addition al year until July 1, 2024.

“I am returning Assembly Bill 2296 without my signa ture,” Newsom said in a writ ten statement. “At the request of the author of the original legislation that created this task force, I am vetoing this bill.”

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber authored AB 3121 the legislation establish ing the task force in 2020 –while serving in the Assembly. The task force was formed to study slavery and its lingering effects on African Americans with a “special consideration” for descendants of persons en slaved in the United States.

Jones-Sawyer is a member of the Task Force.

As written, AB 2296 would “remove the specified term of office for appointees and, in stead, subject the appointees to removal at the pleasure of their appointing authority.”

That action would authorize the Task Force, by majority vote, to elect officers and cre ate advisory bodies and sub committees to accomplish its duties.

Currently, Los Angeles at torney Kamilah Moore is the task force chair and civil rights leader Rev. Dr. Amos C. Brown of San Francisco serves as vice chair.

The Task Force consists of nine members. Five of them

family’s future—

are appointed by the governor, two members are appointed by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, and another two are appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly.

The Assembly passed AB 2296 with a 59-13 majority vote. In the Senate, it passed 32-6 at the end of August. It was sent to the Governor on September 9 for his signature.

Jones-Sawyer avoided mak ing any public comment about AB 2296 since introducing the bill in the Assembly on Feb. 16, 2022.

At a two-day meeting in Los

Angeles on Sept. 23 and Sept. 24 at the California Science Center and the Wallis Annen berg Building in Exposition Park, Jones-Sawyer made a public statement about the bill.

“The Task Force report will be completed on time as richly envisioned by Dr. Shirley We ber. It will not be delayed and will be done (July 1, 2023) whether the governor signs my bill or not,” Sawyer said. How ever, he avoided commenting on the removal of members mentioned in the bill.

on page 8

Endorsed by the Democratic Party

A Black woman at a rally held by the Justice 4 Women Task Force in New York in 2020. Photo by Steve Sanchez.

Gov. Gavin Newsom turned down a bill authored by Assembly member Reggie Jones Swayer (D) Los Angeles.

Black Youth Mental Health: Will Our Kids Be All Right?

By Rhea Boyd and Jade Davis, Special to California Black Media Partners

We are living in unusual and challenging times, when de spair and despondency have replaced hope as a more com mon, and perhaps as the more acceptable lens, through which too many of us view the future.

In the wake of widespread dis ease, mass loss, economic in stability, climate breakdown, police violence, erosion of bodily autonomy for women and girls, violence towards transgender and non-binary communities, and an actual insurrection, no wonder many have lost hope.

Our kids are no exception.

Nationally, there has been a concerning rise in reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness among teens. Suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts are up. And hospi talizations for mental health crises for children and youth are at an all-time high. These trends pre-date the pandemic and have only worsened over recent years.

In this, California is no ex ception.

In 2019, almost 1 in 3 ado lescents experienced serious psychological distress. Suicide rates remain worrisomely high. And California ranks 43rd in the nation for providing screen ings that could identify chil dren and youth who are suffer ing and in need of support.

By a number of measures, Black children and youth in California are particularly in need of the types of support that, unfortunately, few are finding.

Black children in California are most likely to report seri ous emotional disturbance. Yet, they are less likely to have ade quate public resources directed to their social, emotional, and developmental needs.

They are more likely to at tend low-income schools that experienced the greatest learn ing loss over the past two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. And they are more likely to have their developmental needs criminalized and serviced in punitive settings, where Black children are astonishingly 31.3 times more likely to be com mitted to Juvenile Justice than white children in California.

But these problems that now burden our children are not entirely new. Their current needs expose past oppressions,

Dr. Rhea Boyd.

unvanquished by time. Just as their new struggles reveal older issues, unchallenged by the status quo.

And so, the work to address the mounting mental health challenges our children now face - and Black children are too often left to face without adequate support - must begin with confronting systems of oppression and challenging the status quo.

We, as a state, must fol low the model of those most impacted, particularly Black communities, who have long imagined and worked to re alize a loving path to mental, physical and emotional wellbeing.

These folks, including Black children and youth, are building on the rich legacy of social activism, mutual aid, and intergenerational bonds in communities of color, that can and should be brought to bear as California considers how best to support young people’s mental health and well-being.

For example, the thoughts and dreams of young Black people should be used to guide the apportionment of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s re cent multi-billion dollar in vestment in youth behavioral health. The promise of these investments, alongside some major changes in Medicaid policy, have created an enor mous opportunity to shift how the state shows up for our kids and how our kids can show up for each other.

Placing billion-dollar in vestments in Bay Area institu tions like Ryse’s Community Commons in Richmond or Dream Youth Clinic in Oak land would allow the state to return to communities of color some of what systems of oppression have taken from them.

Moreover, it would allow the state to learn from and sup port powerful models of sanc

tuary for youth of color. These protected spaces provide free health services, including coun seling, and green space to gath er, collaborate, advocate and heal. And they are particularly important for Black LGBTQ youth, who are less likely to at tempt suicide when they have access to a LGBTQ- affirming space.

If California were to take se riously the aspirations of young Black people in reshaping our state’s behavioral health pro grams, it might also lead to the uplifting of the students and par ents of color who have called for Police Free Schools in Oakland and Los Angeles.

The racial inequities in expo sure to policing, judicial scru tiny, and incarceration for chil dren of color are enormous in California and contribute to and compound the barriers to learn ing and mental health in underresourced schools.

Finally, to address the state’s crisis of children’s mental health, it is important that care givers and youth be positioned to intervene on behalf of their family or friends who are strug gling.

That positioning might in clude an expansion of Guar anteed Income Pilots. It might include Peer to Peer programs in schools. Or it might include employing young people from impacted communities to work on Crisis Intervention Teams deployed for children and youth experiencing a mental health crisis.

In short, the possibilities to respond to the crisis affecting our children’s social and emo tional well-being are only lim ited by the confines of our col lective imagination. And there are those among us, particularly in the Black community, who have been busy imagining, for generations. If, we, as a state, collectively, choose to turn to those folks, especially our kids of color who are disproportion ately impacted, and work along side them to create a new future together, our kids will be more than all right. They can thrive.

About the Authors Rhea Boyd, MD, MPH is a pediatrician, public health ad vocate and director of Equity and Justice for the California Children’s Trust.

Jade Davis is an administra tive assistant for the California Coalition for Youth (CCY) and a member of the California Chil dren’s Trust’s Youth Advisory Board.

Amid Rising Food Costs and Insecurity, Biden Announces Plan to End Hunger By 2030

By Brandon Patterson

President Joe Biden announced a federal plan to end hunger by 2030, a lofty goal that has eluded policymakers for de cades but that is as urgent as ever as food insecurity in creases nationwide, worsened by record inflation and the CO VID-19 pandemic.

Among the plan’s propos als, which also aim to improve access to healthy foods and op portunities for physical activity, are proposals to increase fund ing for school meals and federal food aid like SNAP, expanding Medicaid to pay for “medically tailored” meals, and encourag ing reduced use of sodium in the food industry.

“The Biden-Harris Admin istration envisions an America where no one wonders whether they will have enough money to put food on the table, where the healthy food choice is the easier choice, and where everyone has the same opportunity to be physi cally active,” the White House said in a written statement on Sept. 28, 20228.

“That is why President Biden announced a goal of ending hun ger and increasing healthy eating and physical activity by 2030 so fewer Americans experience diet-related diseases— while reducing related health dispari

ties.”

Healthy eating was also a ma jor priority of the Obama Admin istration through former first lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” initiative. Many of the initiatives policies were rolled back by the Trump administration, however.

Food insecurity is increasing in the United States, worsened by record inflation and the eco nomic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a fed eral report on consumer prices released earlier this month, the cost of food increased 10.45% nationally from a year earlier, the largest 12-month increase in over 40 years, the New York Times re ports.

A Department of Agricul ture report released earlier this month found that 13.5 million U.S. households – or nearly 10% of all households – had trouble providing enough food for their

families.

Food insecurity is also a ma jor issue in Oakland and in the Bay Area. According to Feed ing America, there were nearly 800,000 Bay Area residents experiencing food insecurity in 2019, just before the pandemic, including more than 12% of Al ameda County residents, or about 198,950 people. These numbers have likely increased.

According to the New York Times, seven of the 10 California counties that saw the biggest in crease in food stamp enrollment between 2020 and 2021 were in the Bay Area. Black, Brown, and low-income residents are most likely to experience food insecu rity. For example, food insecurity in Alameda County is correlated with redlining, according to the Alameda County Community Foodbank.

Yet parts of Biden’s plan could be difficult to achieve. Some can be done through federal regula tions, but others require legisla tion from Congress, and others still are mere guidelines for the food and restaurant industry which will not be mandatory. The White House is rallying Congres sional partners to try to get it done.

Among them is Congress woman Barbara Lee who mostly recently held a national listening session on food in security and poverty with the Food Research and Action Center in July.

The Filipino Roots of the 1857 Supreme Court Dred Scott Decision and Ishmael Reed’s New Play

OpinionBy Emil Guillermo.

October 2022 marks the coinci dence of the new session of the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS), the start of Fili pino American History Month, and the opening of a new satiri

cal history of race in America by the esteemed African Amer ican writer and Oakland resi dent, Ishmael Reed.

First, the Supreme Court. No matter how much we hail and praise Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s arriv al, the first African American

woman to serve on the court will not be able to mitigate the foulness we are about to expe rience.

Affirmative Action, gay rights, abortion rights, voting rights --- we are almost cer tainly assured that the hits will keep on coming.

But if you think it’s bad

President Joe Biden. Photo courtesy of White House.

Among a slate of new actions by the Biden-Harris administration, the vice president announced that the Small Business Administration (SBA) would propose a rule this fall to expand its lender base by lifting the moratorium on new Small Business Lending Companies.

Vice President Kamala Harris Announces Slate of Actions to Help Black and Minority-owned Small Businesses

By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire

Vice President Kamala Har ris used her time at Freedman’s Bank Forum on Tuesday to an nounce new public and privatesector efforts to advance racial equity.

Harris said the administration recognizes the continued difficul ty that Black-owned businesses have in finding funding.

She acknowledged that they routinely are the first to suffer during an economic downturn.

Among a slate of new actions by the Biden-Harris adminis tration, the vice president an nounced that the Small Business Administration (SBA) would propose a rule this fall to expand its lender base by lifting the mor atorium on new Small Business Lending Companies.

The action would allow new lenders to apply for a license to offer SBA-backed 7(a) small business loans.

Also, the Minority Business Development Agency (MDBA) will issue a $100 million notice of funding opportunity to pro vide technical assistance grants for entrepreneurship technical assistance providers to help busi nesses owned by socially and economically disadvantaged in dividuals launch, scale, and con nect with growth capital.

Harris said to facilitate greater availability of small-balance mortgages, HUD would issue requests to solicit specific and actionable feedback on the barri ers that prevent the origination of these mortgages and recommen dations for increasing the volume of small-mortgage loans in fed eral programs.

The White House said these and a host of other new policy steps follow two recent an nouncements by the Adminis tration of billions of dollars in investments for Community De velopment Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and Minority Deposi

tory Institutions (MDIs).

The actions aim to deliver cap ital and resources to underserved small businesses and the com munity lenders who serve them, Harris said.

“Small businesses are the engines of our economy and the path to economic prosperity for countless Americans in under served communities,” the vice president asserted.

“Community lenders – in cluding CDFIs, MDIs, and oth ers – are vital to unlocking the full economic potential of these communities, turning previously sidelined talent into a source of economic growth and shared prosperity for all.”

Earlier, Janet Yellen, the U.S. Department of Treasury secre tary, said the White House sought to use the Freedman’s Bank Fo rum to shine a spotlight on how the administration’s pandemic re lief efforts supported Black – and

To read the full story, go to

The Filipino Roots of the 1857 Supreme Court Dred Scott Decision and Ishmael Reed’s New Play

now, you should have seen SCOTUS in 1857.

That’s when, by a 7-2 vote, the high court rendered what some have called the worst SCOTUS decision ever, the Dred Scott opinion, written by Chief Justice Roger Taney.

Most people know of the case from history, if history hasn’t been banned from your school yet (if you’re young). Or if the history has been total ly forgotten (if you’re older). I dread if you stop any American today at random and ask about Dred Scott, you might hear something vague like, “It’s about slavery, right?”

To refresh, the case involved Scott, a slave who had been allowed to move from Mis souri to a free state (Illinois), but then sued his owner for his freedom in Missouri.

Taney’s majority opinion ruled for Scott’s owner primar ily because African Americans couldn’t be citizens, and that Congress couldn’t prohibit slavery in new U.S. territories like Missouri in the first place. More startling was the finding that people of African ancestry had, to quote Taney, “no rights which the white man was bound to respect.”

Whites were simply seen as superior.

So, what does this have to do with Filipino American His tory Month?

Taney based his terrible Dred Scott opinion on an 1840 case in which Taney himself wrote the opinion regarding one Lorenzo Dow.

Dow was a Filipino-born sailor on an American ship, who had been accused of mur

der and tried in Maryland.

In the U.S. v. Dow decision, Taney asserted for the first time the notion that whites were a master race (“the race of which the masters were composed”) and used that as proof of supe riority since only those of Eu ropean backgrounds could be part of political society in the colonies.

Therefore, the only ques tion Taney saw as significant was whether Dow was a per son who had any rights at all, meaning “a white Christian person.”

Dow was not. His convic tion of murder was upheld.

It is from this case that Taney reasoned that non-white, or es sentially all people of color, could be reduced to slavery for the white man’s benefit.

For Taney, it made his Dred Scott decision forever indebted to Dow, a Filipino in America at the heart of what is arguably the worst Supreme Court deci sion ever.

Dow was the basis for the racist view that “inalienable rights” under the Constitution were indeed whites only and did not include us.

Ponder that as you wish people a happy Filipino Amer ican History Month. It’s for all of us.

Ishmael Reed’s Play, ‘The Conductor’ American history is also personal history. And this month I honor the noted Afri can American novelist, essay ist, poet and playwright Ish mael Reed.

When I was in graduate school at Wash U. in St. Louis, I wanted to be a funny novelist like Philip Roth. But my profs said I had too many Filipino characters and should take them out.

Reed, a visiting writer from Oakland, told me to put the Filipinos back in.

This week, New York’s Theater for the New City pres ents a reading of Reed new play, “The Conductor.”

Reed’s satirical view of America’s race situation tar gets the recent elections recall ing progressive politicians in San Francisco led by conser vative Asian Americans.

Reed’s twist is a fictive In dian prime minister who cre ates an international scene that forces Indians to flee the U.S.

That includes Shashi Par mar, one of the Indians who led the recall effort.

Parmar, on the run, seeks help from a new “Under ground Railroad” to get to Canada. And the conductor? It’s Warren Chipp, a columnist who was fired for speaking out against the recall.

As Chipp and Parmar en gage, you’ll learn a lot about

To read the full story, go to

Dred Scott

OPIC Hosts Convening of Workforce Development and Reentry Programs to Combat Violence in Oakland

Continued from page 1 development providers, faithbased organizations, and re entry service providers. The purpose of the meeting was to kickstart an initiative to combat increasing violence in Oakland through a com bination of development of good-paying jobs and career pathways for Oakland’s youth and reentering citizens and in creased efforts at outreach and mediation among disaffected Oakland populations. Among the attendees were: Richard “Razor” Johnson, Minister King X, Sofia Navarro of the Oakland Workforce Develop ment Board, Michele Clark of Youth Employment Partner ship, Chris Iglesias of Unity Council, Kim Jones of Oak land Adult Education, Phyllis Scott, head of the Pastors of Oakland and the Police Chap laincy Program, Raymond Lankford of the Oakland PIC, and Ellie Lefiti of She Bliss and Jonathan”Fitness”Jones of the African-American Sports and Entertainment Group. Also in attendance were several community ac tivists concerned with rising Oakland violence.

The Oakland Post’s Paul Cobb started the meeting off with a recap of the current dire state of violence in Oakland. Attendees were then invited to discuss their current roles in the efforts to combat violence and to indicate their willing ness to participate even more

fully in a joint effort to combat violence Asian Hate, elder at tacks, anti-semitism and other hostilities among gangs and youth in Oakland through in creased communication and jobs. The group will continue to actively draw more partners into their initiative and will

meet regularly to establish and implement a formal plan of action. “Our goal is to get our leaders to focus on resources for jobs, affordable housing and money into the pockets of Oakland’s neediest,” said Cobb.

Since the Monday meeting, several state, county and city officials have contacted Mr. Johnson, Pastor Scott and the other attendees to offer pledg es of support.

Minister King X and Rich ard Johnson announced that a meeting will be held Oct. 10 to work to get various organi zations to sign an agreement to end hostilities that is pat terned after the AEH (Agree ment to End Hostilities) that was signed while they were in Prison with such groups as (Northern Structure, South ern Structured, Nuestra Fa milia, Mexican Mafia, Aryan Brotherhood, Nazi Low-rid ers, Skinheads, BGF, CRIPS, BLOODS and others) .

We need to stop fighting and killing each other and turn our anger and disappointments into voting and organizing for economic change,” said John son.

Community Coalition Backs People’s Progressive Ranked Choice Slate for Mayor

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gether to solve the deep social problems that we face, with an understanding of the ravages caused by the economic, racial, gender, disability, and national origin disparities. Respectful collaboration, and listening to community voices and con cerns, is the way forward for our city.

Our vision and our values:

1. Build affordable housing that current Oakland residents – seniors, working families,

unemployed and middle-class residents – can afford.

2. House the unhoused im mediately. Provide housing, social and health services. End policies that criminalize the homeless driving them from one neighborhood to another.

3. Focus on public safety. Develop highly trained and hu mane police and strengthened violence prevention institu tions. A proactive approach requires a broad understanding and funding that includes men tal health and family dispute

intervention, social services to support families and violence reduction workers who can help when disputes flare.

4. Make this a clean city. End illegal dumping, and clean up trash in all areas of the city.

5. Protect and support small, locally owned businesses.

6. Work with parents, teach ers, school officials, young people, and residents to main tain and improve neighborhood public schools, Head Start, and services for youth.

7. Address the dangers of

hate crimes and protect the civil rights of all Oaklanders, including Muslims, Jews, im migrants, African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans and LGBTQIA.

8. We support a No Coal Pledge considering the ongoing threat to the health and safety of Oaklanders – and especially residents of West Oakland, who live closest to the proposed toxic coal terminal and already suffer health disparities from disproportionate pollution in their neighborhood.

De La Fuente Gets Warm Welcome at Acts Full Gospel Church

By Post Staff

Oakland Mayoral Candidate Ignacio De La Fuente received a warm welcome at the Acts Full Gospel Church when he addressed the congregation about the recent uptick in vi olence in the city of Oakland and provided an update on his quest to be the city’s next mayor.

Sunday morning, Oct. 2, De La Fuente told the 1,000 plus worshipers, that he has been “going east to west and north to south talking to families,” hearing the challenges resi dents are facing in Oakland.

De La Fuente left the politi cal stage ten years ago, when he chose not to run for re-elec

tion in 2012. “I am coming back to run for mayor because I believe that this city needs someone that understands the challenges that people face every day. I was on city council for 20 years. I know I can change this city,” De La Fuente said.

Increasing rates of violence and the escalating homicide rate is on everybody’s minds. Oakland has reached its 100th homicide this year. There were eight deaths in a single week last month. At the current rate, homicides could reach more than 120 people before the year is over. De La Fuente cited the recent shooting at city hall in broad daylight, that left two dead, followed within

a week by six young adults shot at the King Estates school campus.

Referring to a city overflow ing with garbage, homeless ness, and riddled with crime, De La Fuente acknowledged that people are paying taxes, but the city is not providing basic services.

“The mayor and the city council set the tone of the city,” explained De La Fuente. “People come here to do things they wouldn’t do elsewhere. We’re tired. I am coming back and running with no other as pirations than to serve you for the next four years. I am not looking for reelection. I am not looking for anything else. I am looking to give back to a city

that has given me a lot.”

“I came here 51 years ago without a penny in my pock et,” explained De La Fuente. He immigrated from Mexico at the age of 21. His first job was as a dishwasher, before becoming a machinist in a foundry. In 1977 he became a trade union representative. He was elected to the Oakland City Council in 1992, where he ultimately became the Pres ident of the City Council. De La Fuente served until 2012.

“I am the only one with the political backbone and po litical will to make the streets safe. I will die trying to make it happen,” De La Fuente de clared. “If you elect me this city will never be the same.”

Don ‘t Lose Your Rank - Be Pro-Choices When Voting

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one candidate and leave the next 2 spaces blank? Or vote for the same candidate three times? In that case, once your single choice is eliminated, you know longer have a say in the outcome of the Mayor’s race. Only those who filled in different names for 1, 2 & 3 are determining who your next mayor is going to be.

Your number one choice can be any of the candidates, whether you think they have a shot or not. That number one choice expresses how you re ally feel about who can do the job. Your 2nd & 3rd choices may have to be more practical — who can you live with as Mayor and most importantly, who is less likely to have been eliminated when it’s time to count your 2nd and 3rd votes.

For many years, the op portunity for Black voters to elect a Black mayor was a motivating factor in election cycles in many cities in the United States. Starting with Cleveland and the election of Carl Stokes in 1967 as the first

Black mayor of a major U.S. city, that crusade continued in Washington, DC, Atlanta and periodically in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago, New Or leans and of course Oakland, considered by many a mecca of Black thought and action.

The reality is that since 1977, Oakland has had only three

Black mayors, a run of 21 and four years over a 45 year pe riod.

Motivating the Black vote by the opportunity to elect a Black mayor has diminished somewhat over the years. A Black mayor does not have a magic wand to undo issues of poverty, homelessness, dis

crimination and crime that have plagued Black commu nities in many cities over the years. As a result, many Black voters want to make other choices among the candidates vying for that office.

The three choices afforded by ranked choice voting al lows the Black voter to exer cise a range of options. Many are still motivated by the op portunity to elect a Black mayor and with three choices, can do so, without feeling that the opportunity to do so will escape them because there are too many Black candidates.

Others can determine that a non-African American would be an appropriate choice, while at the same time exercis ing an option in their 2nd and 3rd choices to pick an AfricanAmerican who shows promise in executing their agenda for the next administration. Con versely, the Black voter can also elect to choose an African American first and other eth nic groups with their 2nd and/ or 3rd choice.

As it stands, for the African

Real Solutions to End Gun Violence

By Pamela Price

Gun violence has long been considered a public health cri sis. In March 2016, the Ameri can Journal of Medicine found that 82% of all people killed by firearms in the world were in the United States, includ ing 90% of all women, 91% of children under 14, 92% of youth aged 15-24 years.

In 2016, the CDC reported 11,078 gun-related homi cides. By comparison, there were only 173 in Canada, 30 in Sweden, 11 in Japan, 155 in the UK, 158 in Germany and 142 in France. Over the last 30 years, increased criminal pen alties and harsh sentences have had no impact whatsoever on the access to guns or the num ber of people killed by guns.

Even Oakland’s acclaimed Ceasefire program stumbled under the pressure of the pan demic as homicides shot up.

According to the U.S. Bu reau of Justice Statistics, from 1980 to 2008, 84% of white ho micide victims were killed by another white person and 93% of Black homicide victims were killed by another Black person. According to one esti mate, a woman is fatally shot by her boyfriend, husband or ex-partner every 16 hours. Mass shootings in schools, churches, stores have become commonplace in America.

There are so many prevent able deaths that only happen because there is a gun avail able. In fact, there are always more gun suicides than gun ho micides in America. In 2016, 22,938 people committed sui cide with a gun, while 14,415 people died in gun homicides.

In 2012, 64% of all gun-related deaths in the U.S. were sui cides.

As the next Alameda Coun ty District Attorney, I will pri oritize curbing gun violence in all forms across every com munity. My administration will implement the following solu tions:

1. Create a Commission on Gun Violence Prevention that brings together survivors of violent crimes and family

members, representatives from law enforcement and commu nity organizations, prosecutors and international experts in gun reduction strategies to develop and help us implement new ini tiatives to curb gun violence;

2. Assign a Deputy of Gun Violence Prevention to spear head our conversation with the community on best practices and strategies to reduce the number of gun-related homi cides, including suicides, and coordinate our efforts and infor mation-sharing with the mul tiple law-enforcement agen cies across Alameda County, violence interruption programs and the public;

3. Establish and enforce a robust “witness protection” protocol and ensure that survi vors of gun violence receive the financial and emotional support they need to heal from the trau ma of their experience.

4. Prioritize the enforcement of extreme risk protection or ders and removal of firearms from high-risk individuals;

5. Prioritize the prosecution of (a) “straw purchases” that circumvent background checks, (b) illegal possession of assault weapons and high capacity magazines, (c) sales of “ghost guns” and illegal weapons; and (d) armed white supremacists;

6. Work with the Alameda County Board of Education, lo cal school districts, youth-led organizations and the State to promote interventions to pre vent student firearm access, with renewed emphasis on re storative justice methods; and 7. Invest in evidence-based community violence preven tion and intervention programs, including neighborhood courts.

Civil Rights Attorney Pamela Price is a longtime advocate for gun violence prevention strate gies in the City of Oakland. She has received the Guns Sense Candidate distinction from Moms Demand Action. When she is elected to serve as Alam eda County District Attorney, she commits to stop the flow of guns into our community, curb violence and build community trust.

Reimagining Gun Violence Prevention and Public Safety

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violent crimes increased dra matically and we are still seeing this crisis today. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that the epicenter of these violent crimes are commu nities where schools are be ing closed, where good-pay ing jobs are hard to come by, and where decades of sys temic racism through lack of investment has led to higher rates of poverty and poorer health outcomes.

Scaling up this program is one of my top priorities and that needs to be done inten tionally to ensure it is suc cessful. Currently Oakland has anywhere from 25% to 40% vacancies in every single department. These jobs pay a living wage, have great benefits and pensions, and don’t require a four-year degree. There is no reason why we can’t use our Youth Summer Jobs program as an introduction to public ser vice and create strong path ways into good paying jobs that will allow for Oakland families to work in Oakland, live in Oakland and play in Oakland.

American voter in Oakland, the most important element is not to leave any of your choices blank (this includes ranked choice City Council races). To do so is to concede the ultimate choice for May

Ensuring this is success ful begins by centralizing the efforts under a depart ment or dedicated subset of the Human Services Depart ment for Children, Youth and Families.

I won funding to kick start this department last year with the intention of hosting youth and family serving programming under one umbrella while help ing tackle issues facing this unique demographic.

For example: the San Francisco Department held summer camps in order to help students catch up on their education during the peak of COVID-19-induced school closures. This helped thousands of public school children get back on track with their studies as well as have a fun, educational summer reconnecting with their classmates.

When we invest time and money into ensuring our young Oaklanders have a quality education and an op portunity for a good career they can be proud of, we in vest in healthier and safer communities.

or to others. The continuing struggle for the right to vote is such that the Black electorate should not abdicate its respon sibility to maximize its influ ence in places where they can.

Minister King X presented the Plan to End Hostilities in the Streets as a part of the solution to help heal Oakland to State Attorney General Rob Bonta. Bonta encouraged them to work to bring peace to Oakland. Photo by Jonathan “Fitness” Jones.

Congresswoman Lee hosted a panel during the Congressio nal Black Caucus’ Annual Legislative Conference to promote Black women in leadership in the 50th year since Congress woman Shirley Chisholm’s campaign for president. Included (Joy Reid, Aimee Allison, Telva McGruder (General Motors) Donna Brazil)