Alexander Thomas Augusta: Surgeon, Veteran of the American Civil War Page 2
Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service Observed Throughout Oakland Page 6
In Dr. King’s Honor California Black Doctors Calln for Urgent Action During COVID-19 Crisis Page 11
New Way Homes Board of Directors Appointee to Help Accelerate FaithBased Affordable Housing in East Bay Page 12
Oakland Post “Where there is no vision, the people perish...” Proverbs 29:18
postnewsgroup.com
57th Year, No. 30
Weekly Edition. Edition. Jan. 13-19, 2021
Capitol Riot Response Prompts Black Women to Join Forces to Seek D.A. and Sheriff Positions to End Criminal Justice System Double Standards
Cat Brooks
Opinion
Black Women Wailing. Black Women Healing
Black Women Respond to the Violence in our City By Cat Brooks
On Sunday, Jan. 17, 2020, as part of Anti Police-Terror Project’s Reclaiming King’s Radical Weekend, Black women will engage in an online healing ceremony for Oakland. We are Oakland’s mothers, daughters, sisters, aunties, grandmothers, spouses, partners and elders whose hearts are shattering. We are artists, advocates and organizers. We are Black women. Every bullet that steals one of our own also steals a piece of our soul. For months, we have waited for a response from city leaders that has not come. Our collective grief has turned to collective rage and a collective determination to insist the violence stops today. We grieve these tragedies and long for freedom from institutions and systems that perpetuate violence. Despite attempts to divide our movements, we remain firm that all violence is state violence. Whether it be police or one of our own who steals a life; it is the state that creates the conditions that facilitate blood running through our streets. It is the state who benefits from our communities existing in perpetual chaos. It is the state that withholds the resources, supports and services from our communities that could stop the violence, heal the trauma and forge a pathway toward safe communities. We are tired of waiting for the state. We are a collective of women who lead, live and love within the Black community of Oakland, CA. This King weekend, we join the collective dreaming of Oaklanders for a city where humanity is held sacred, communities are free from violence and Black people can breathe. Why We Wail Oakland lost more than 100 people to gun violence in 2020. At the time we are writing this letter, two people have already been shot and killed. Our city’s response? A press release from the Oakland Police Dept. criminalizing our young people and a call for more money for a failed police agency that is failing us at evContinued on Page 12
A pair of progressive Black women – a prominent civil rights attorney and a veteran police officer - are joining forces to even the playing field by eliminating the double standards that work against women and minorities in the Alameda County criminal justice system. Attorney Pamela Price, one of the only Black women to win a civil rights case before the U.S. Supreme Court, and 25-year veteran police officer JoAnn Walker have just announced they are running separate but parallel campaigns for Alameda County District Attorney and Alameda County Sheriff respectively. Together, Walker and Price
Pamela Price
JoAnn Walker
will run as a ticket for Alameda County Sheriff and District Attorney, which they’ve named the “Justice Done Right” slate. The slate unifies the candidates on many of the issues that Alameda County residents want
addressed including: ● Ending mass incarceration and over-criminalization of Black and Brown youth ● Eradicating racial, gender Continued on Page 14
Black Theology and Historic Black Church Gets Boost in Educational Series By John Thomas III
As the new year gets moving, so is the Black church. As believers soldier on despite the impact of the pandemic they are using the tools of technology for worship and to extend and expand knowledge. Using that technology, The Gift of Black Theological Education & Black Church Collaborative is doing its part to bolster the Historically Black Theological Institutions (HBTI) and the Black Church by offering an online event with Dr. Eddie Glaude. The renowned Princ-
conversation with Dr. Michael Joseph Brown, which will be streamed on January 21 at 7:00 p.m. EST. The Black Church has been at the center of Black culture for more than 200 years, as well as one of the ways to combat systemic racism and other social ills. The HBTIs were founded to address the needs of the Black Church. The Church has long been Dr. Eddie Glaude a source of leadership in the eton University professor’s pre- Black community and provides sentation is titled “Awakening the pathway for enrollment the Church: A Call to Respond to Continued on Page 14 Systemic Racism.” He will be in
No Charges Against Cop Whose Conduct Led to Oscar Grant’s Death
By Post Staff
The family of Oscar Grant was disappointed with the decision by the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office to decline to press charges against the former transit police officer whose conduct led to Grant’s shooting death on New Year’s Day in 2009. Nancy O’Malley, who had agreed to review the conduct of officer Anthony Pirone in October and perhaps file charges against him, made the announcement on Tuesday morning in response to
Rep. Barbara Lee speaking from the well, US House of Representatives, on impeachment of Donald J. Trump on 1/13/2021.
Barbara Lee Votes to Impeach
Trump First President to be Impeached Twice By Kiki
The United States House of Representatives, in a 232197 vote, approved an “incitement of insurrection” charge for President Donald John
Trump’s role in the January 6 Capitol riot. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA 13th District) said during the impeachment from the floor of Continued on Page 14
Vice Mayor Kaplan, Councilmember Reid Appointed to Coliseum JPA Commission
Rebecca Kaplan By Post Staff
The Oakland City Council on Jan. 12 unanimously passed a resolution to appoint Vice Mayor Rebecca Kaplan and Councilmember Treva Reid
Treva Reid
to the Oakland- Alameda Coliseum Joint Powers Authority (“JPA”) Commission. The Oakland - Alameda County Coliseum JPA was esContinued on Page 14
Racism at Core of Attack on Capitol and Black People, as Usual, Rise to the Occasion
The mural of Oscar Grant that is painted on a wall at the Fruitvale BART Station where he was killed in 2009.
pressure brought by the Grant family last month. According to the New York Times, O’Malley released a
report saying that Pirone, who was removed from the BART Continued on Page 14
The 1965 Selma to Montgomery March’s Meaning is Still Relevant for 2021 Eugene Goodman at the moment he notices that the door to the Senate chamber was open and unguarded on January 6. He subsequently led rioters in another direction. A bipartisan group of lawmakers supports awarding him the Congressional Gold Medal for his heroism. Twitter photo. By Wanda Ravernell Post Staff
Post Publisher Paul Cobb (with pencil and glasses) is shown in a 1965 photo with Dr. M.L.King, Jr. when he was a reporter for the Oakland Post. They marched from Selma to Montgomery,Alabama for voting rights. Cobb will discuss the relevance and the march’s mission for present events around today’s political climate of voter intimidation online at www.postnewsgroup.com and in next week’s edition.
The attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters on January 6 was practically a picture postcard of racism in America. Firstly, it was prompted by the victory of Joe Biden over Pres. Donald Trump in November’s election, a victory that had significant support from Black and Brown voters. In denial, Trump, with the
Commentary
help of right-wing media, claimed the election had been stolen and turned to the MAGA crowd and Republican politicians to ‘Stop the Steal.’ Wearing MAGA hats, carrying Confederate flags and armed with tactical gear and carrying military grade weapons, the crowd of mostly white Trump Continued on Page 14