Free Workshop on Serious Mental Illness and Substance Abuse
Julie Ethel Dash: The “Strikingly Original Filmmaker”
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Utility Company Recruits Black Californians for Tech Scholarships, Jobs...Page 8
New Bills Aim to Police the Police, Possibly Give State Its First Black Sheriff Page 9
Oakland Post “Where there is no vision, the people perish...” Proverbs 29:18
postnewsgroup.com
57th Year, No. 42
Weekly Edition. Edition. Apr. 7-13, 2021
Coliseum Vaccine Site Will Remain Open Through Contra Costa, Alameda Partnership By Eli Walsh, Bay City News Foundation
Miko Marks. Photo by Beto Lopez, Mooncricket
Miko Marks: Oakland’s Country Music Star By Kiki
Miko Marks, 43, released her third album, “Our Country” in March. The virtual release party was free, and donations were Center for Hope in Flint, Michigan where Marks grew up. Marks told ABC 7 News that “Our Country” was about “ . . . healing, social justice, prayer, system racism, marginalization, and it’s about hope to change.” It has been 14 years since her last album release. Her previous albums were “Freeway Bound” in 2005 and “It Feels Good” in 2007. Marks co-wrote six of the eight songs on “Our Country”. memory growing up was of Loretta Lynn’s “Coal Miner’s Daughter”. She adds that Johnny Paycheck’s “Take This Job and Shove It” was her mother’s anthem. According to SongData, “ . . . between 2002-2020, there were 11,484 unique songs played on country radio. In those 19 years, there were only 13 Black artists among those songs, and only three Black women. In total, songs by Black women received Continued on Page 10
The COVID-19 vaccination site at the Oakland Coliseum will remain open in the coming weeks and will be operated by Alameda and Contra Costa counties instead of state and federal agencies, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday. gency Services and the U.S. agement Agency opened the drive-thru vaccination site in February as part of a federal effort to establish 100 largescale vaccination sites nationwide in President Joe Biden’s The two counties will jointly operate the site once state and federal emergency management personnel leave in roughly four weeks. The site is expected to be able to administer up to 6,000 vaccine doses per day once the two counties take over. The state will contribute half the supply of doses required to operate the site while the two counties will contribute the
Members of the National Guard direct traffic on the opening day of the COVID-19 Community Vaccination Center at the Oakland Coliseum in Oakland Calif., on Tuesday, February 16, 2021. (Photo courtesy of FEMA. gov)
Congresswoman Lee Announces FEMA Funeral Assistance Funding See Page 10 other half. “The only change is that we’re not going to get the direct allocation of vaccines from the federal government,” Newsom Francisco vaccination site. “Otherwise there’ll be no
perceptible change in a meaningful way to the public,” he said. The site was on track to close April 11, but local, state Continued on Page 10
Local Leaders, Activists Angered as State Enforces Permanent School Closings Post Salon April 18 will investigate FCMAT, state-imposed trustee By Ken Epstein
A number of Oakland community leaders and activists are calling for removing the Oakland state-imposed trustee and the semi-private FisDan Siegel Carroll Fife Nirali Jani cal Crisis Management Brian Crowell and Assistance Team (FCwithdrew the disputed lan- the trustee when (former SuMAT), which are enforcing guage. perintendent) Antwan Wilson a regime of austerity budgets “As a homeowner, I pay was blowing through the budthree OUSD parcel taxes: Mea- get a few years ago? They were neighborhood public schools. sure N, Measure G1 and Mea- silent and complicit.” The state trustee, Chris sure G. Why am I paying parCrowell continued: “Now Learned, recently came to a cel taxes to Oakland schools so all of a sudden, FCMAT is public school board meeting to FCMAT can turn around and say he would “stay” or rescind tell the district to close them,” board threatened to stop closa school board decision if the said Brian Crowell, an activist ing schools. Now, they want to board went ahead with a vote and member of the Oakland exercise oversight. They aren’t to halt the closing of schools Education Association, speak- protecting students. They need in predominately Black neigh- ing in an interview to the Oak- to be audited and dismantled.” borhoods. In the face of the land Post. Continued on Page 10 threat, the. board majority “Where were FCMAT and
When I See George Floyd, I See an Asian American Opinion
If you’re a juror and hear the chief come down on Chauvin,
By Emil Guillermo
The defense has said it will focus on Floyd’s fentanyl drug use, presumably to link that as the real cause of death. But the prosecution on Monday brought out Dr. Bradford Lan-
You watching the trial of the now ex-Minneapolis the person I call the “knee man?” That’s what he was. Chauvin’s on trial for the murder of George Floyd, but I’m wondering how the defense is going to play this. Say that Chauvin’s knee acted independently? The evidence is piling up. In Monday’s testimony, no less than the Minneapolis Chief of Police Medaria Arradondo said that Chauvin’s actions were in violation of “our principles and values that we have.” In other words, the placing of the knee to the neck of Floyd,
Frame from witness video, showing Derek Chauvin kneeling on George Floyd’s neck. Courtesy of en.wikipedia.org
who was face down with hands cuffed behind his back, was “in no way, shape or form part of police policy or training.”
doc who pronounced Floyd dead. He noted the length of time before Floyd got any breathing aid, and said Floyd’s death was more likely caused by asphyxia, or a lack of oxygen. From the drugs or the knee? The defense will claim it wasn’t the knee, which at times was also on Floyd’s shoulder. Is that enough reasonable doubt? Remember it was when Chauvin’s knee was on Floyd’s neck, not when he was walking
around with drugs in his system, when Floyd said, “I can’t breathe.” So far, the trial’s most compelling moment came when Darnella Frazier, the teenager who took the cell phone video we all have seen, recalled her trauma at witnessing of Floyd’s death. “When I look at George Floyd, I look at my dad, I look at my brothers, I look at my cousins, my uncles, because they are all Black. I have a Black brother, I have Black friends. And I look at that and I look at how that could have been one of them,” Frazier said. “It’s been nights, I stayed up apologizing and apologizing to George Floyd for not doing more. And not physically interacting.” Van Jones on CNN said FraContinued on Page 10
Vice President Kamala Harris and Congresswoman Barbara Lee. Photo courtesy of Barbara Lee’s office.
Rep. Barbara Lee Welcomes Kamala Harris Back to Oakland for First Time as VP By Alex Katz
Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-13) welcomed Vice President Kamala Harris back to her hometown of Oakland
ents for diverse events and dining experiences. While there, they discussed the impact the pandemic has had on small businesses and the importance of Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs). Notably, Red Door Catering
vice presidency. Lee greeted Vice President Harris on the tarmac of Oakland International Airport alongside Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis. They traveled to Red Door Catering, a local business that prepares fresh, local ingredi-
technical support from two Bay Area Community Development Financial Institutions: Action Opportunity Fund and ICA. “I was honored to welcome back a daughter of Oakland Continued on Page 10
City of Oakland Receives Millions of Dollars to Help Tenants, Property Owners with Back Bills By L. Autumn King
The City of Oakland’s Keep Oakland Housed Emergency Rental Assistance Program (KOH/ERAP) began accepting applications April 1, 2021. The program, one of two being offered to Oakland residents and property owners, targets the most vulnerable community members who are behind in rent and/or utilities. The City is partnering with four local community-based, Bay Area Community Services (BACS), Catholic Charities East Bay, Centro Legal de la Raza, to engage with and identify potential applicants as well as to screen and process applications. Tenants may apply to the City’s program through a single portal (linked below). Property owners are also eligible to ap-
L. Autumn King ply for funding for unpaid rent and/or utilities on behalf of their tenants once gaining written permission from the tenants. There are currently two rental assistance programs offered to Oakland tenants and property Continued on Page 10
Umoja Community Health Offering Moderna Vaccine Umoja Community Health will offer both doses of the Moderna vaccine at Beth Eden Baptist Church located at 1183 10th St. Oakland, California on Sunday, April 11, 2021 from 9:30 am to 4:00 p.m. The second dose will be administered on Saturday, May 8, 2021. There is also a pop-up, walk-up and drive-thru for COVparticipants at Bay Fair BART on Saturday, April 10, 2021, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Call (888)763-0007 and leave a message with your phone number or log onto United in Health Oakland.