Oakland Post “Where there is no vision, the people perish...” Proverbs 29:18
57th Year, No. 40
Weekly Edition. Edition. Mar. 24-30, 2021
postnewsgroup.com
Gov. Newsom Nominates Rob Bonta as Next Attorney General of California By Antonio Ray Harvey, California Black Media
After weeks of speculation, Gov. Gavin Newsom has picked Assemblymember Rob Bonta as his replacement for former California attorney Gen. Xavier Becerra. Last December, President Biden nominated Becerra to his Cabinet as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. He was recently sworn into that role. On Wednesday, the governor’s nouncing Newsom has submitted the nomination of Rob Andres Bonta (D-Alameda), 48, as the state’s next Attorney General. “Rob represents what makes California great – our desire to verse systematic injustices,” said Newsom. “Growing up with parents steeped in social justice movements, Rob has become a pair our justice system and defend the rights of every Californian.” Under California law, the leg-
State Supreme Court Declares Money Bail Unconstitutional State Senate Majority Leader Bob Hertzberg, Senator Nancy Skinner, and Assemblymember Rob Bonta, who are authors of this year’s Senate Bill 262 and Assembly Bill 329 to end cash bail, issued the following statements Thursday, celebrating the California Supreme Court’s ruling that the state’s money bail system is unconstitutional: “We are thrilled with this morning’s California Supreme Court unanimous ruling that the current money bail system Continued on Page 10
Oakland’s state overseers (L to R): California Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction Nick Schweizer, Trustee Chris Learned, FCMAT CEO Michael Fine and Alameda County Superintendent of Schools Karen Monroe speak at Board of Education about what the state is demanding from the school district, Oct. 24, 2018. Photo by Alyson Stamos/Oakland North.
State Orders Oakland School Board Not to Pass “Reparations for Black Students” By Ken Epstein
Rob Bonta
islature has 90 days to approve Bonta’s nomination. Born in the Philippines, Bonta was elected to the California State Assembly’s 18th District in 2012, where he represents sections of Alameda County, including parts of Oakland and San
pino American state legislator in California’s then 160-plus-year Filipino American Attorney General. Continued on Page 10
The State of California, acting through its appointed trustee Chris Learned, this week ordered the Oakland Board of Education not to pass a community-driven policy on Reparations for Black Students,” threatening to rescind the policy if it passed because it halts the continued closing of largely Black neighborhood schools in the city. “For four years, the district has been told it has too many schools,” said Learned, speak-
ing Wednesday evening at the board’s Zoom meeting. He told the board in the public meeting he would not allow the policy to stand because the district’s large number of schools was the cause of its economic woes. Learned maintained that school closings save money, despite the lack of evidence that it does. Highly respected research shows that in districts around the country closures do not save money and instead are very costly, not to mention the damage to the quality 0f education and the morale of students,
Photo of Chris Learn Memo: For the complete March 24, 2021 memo by State Trustee Chris Learned, go to postnewsgroup.com.
families and teachers. Since the state took over in Continued on Page 10
Two Minority Women Promoted Within Oakland Police Department By Bay City News
Two minority women were promoted within the Oakland Police Department Friday. Capt. Angelica Mendoza was promoted to Deputy Chief of Police and will be assigned to the newlyformed Bureau of Risk Management. For the last 25 years, Mendoza has served the community of Oakland, where she was born and raised. She is the first Latina to be promoted to the rank of Deputy Chief.
Since 2019, Mendoza has been the Area 4 Commander, where she has fostered trusting relationships, especially in the Latinx community, officials said. She is fluent in Spanish and incorporates her personal experiences and background to connect with the community. Manager Kiona Suttle was promoted to Deputy Director of Bureau of Services. In her new position, the Oakland native will become the department’s first African American Deputy Director and the highest-ranking
professional staff member. Suttle has served our Oakland community for more than two decades. She has overseen the department’s human resources section, the record’s division, served in both internal affairs and the Office of Inspector General. Officials said newlyappointed Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong has appointed the most diverse executive team in the history of the Oakland Police Department, and these promotions reflect his commitment to the department and the community it serves.
Deputy Chief Angelica Mendoza (left) and Deputy Director Kiona Suttle have been promoted to the executive team of the Oakland Police Department. (Photos courtesy of Oakland Police Department)
Over 1,000 Bay Area March in Solidarity Asian Americans Know With Asians Against Hate and Violence Centuries of White Supremacy Too By Emil Guillermo
Over 1,000 people rallied in San Francisco last weekend to stand in solidarity with the Asian community against racist hate and violence. Photo courtesy of SF Mayor’s Press Office. By Ken Epstein
More than 1,000 people demonstrated in San Francisco this past weekend, marching down Market Street to express
outrage and call for united community action against Anti-Asian hate and violence. Speaking at the rally, San Francisco Mayor London Breed pledged citywide soli-
darity with the Asian community. The protest began in San Francisco’s Castro District at 17th and Castro streets, where LGBTQ leaders spoke
out against the racist attacks. Breed said, “We’re going to bring something back something similar to the Guardian Continued on Page 10
I’m all for recycling. The good kind. Paper. Plastics. Just not the hate. But what do we have with us in Atlanta? It’s Vincent Chin, you know the Asian American killed in Detroit in 1982 with a baseball bat by a white auto worker angry at Japanese imports taking over the market. But Chin was Chinese, not Japanese. Details. That’s why I say Atlanta was Vincent Chin with the names changed. Soon Chung Park, 74, worked at Gold spa. Hyun Jung Grant, 51, the single mother who worked at Gold Spa to support herself and her two sons.
Commentary Suncha Kim, 69, a Gold Spa worker. Yong Ae Yue, 63, a worker at the Aromatherapy Spa. Xiaojie Tan, 49, the owner of Young’s Asian Massage. Daoyou Feng, 44, an employee at Young’s Asian Massage. Those six names strike the discordant history of the hateful treatment of Asian Americans in this country, from the Chinese Exclusion Act in the 19th Century to today. Asian Americans know hate in America. President Joe Biden recognized it. And now suddenly, Biden has become one of the most pro-Asian American Continued on Page 10
Time for the Mayor and the City to Stop the Madness and Settle the Coal Dispute By Paul Cobb
We need the City Council to be the adults and step in to settle the controversy surrounding the Oakland Army Base once and for all. For nearly a decade, the the potential shipment of coal at a proposed bulk com-
modity terminal at the former Oakland Army Base, under a development agreement that it awarded to California Capital Investment Group (CCIG). A new developer, JMB Capital, has acquired the project and has offered to sit down the potential to not ship coal through the terminal despite cials in the Schaaf administra-
tion have not accepted invitations to meet and try to resolve the dispute. The consequences of failing to voluntarily settle the coal istating for the city. Already, the federal courts have indicated that the city cannot deny the right to ship coal. The United States Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal upheld a May 15, 2018 ruling by US District Court Judge Vince
Chhabria that the city of Oakland failed to prove that the transportation of coal posed a health and safety hazard to residents. Judge Chhabria found that a report presented by the city’s expert consultants, Environmental Science Associates (ESA), was “riddled with inaccuracies, major evidentiary gaps, erroneous assumptions, and faulty analyses.” Thus, it appears that the city has already lost on the is-
sue of whether it has the right to ban coal. Now the city attorney and city administration hang their hats on a sketchy pending state court case where they argue that the master lessee of the property, CCIG, lost the lease because they failed to commence construction of the terminal within the timeframe agreement. The likelihood of the city prevailing on that argument is
very slim. The City caused a delay in the completion of the terminal when they denied CCIG’s permits to resume construction and then claimed that the developer did not act in a timely manner. Now the developer asserts it is ludicrous for the city to claim that it did not act in a timely manner. I do not understand the Continued on Page 10