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Oakland Work Investment Board fails to allocate federal funds
December 21, 2011
The Scotlan Center, located in historical Defremery Park, aka Bobby Hutton Park, has not received their $175, 000 contract to continue drastically needed services in West Oakland. “They are withholding funds from youth, yet they sit quietly as kids get gunned down in the streets,” said Linda Handy.
Oakland Freedom School encourages literacy in Black youth
September 29, 2011
Students learned many things about African and African American history, ranging from the classical African civilizations of Kemet (ancient Egypt), Songhai and Mali to the Black Arts Movement and the Harlem Renaissance. The African-centered curriculum is designed to encourage youth to read during the summer while building self-esteem and a strong cultural identity.
Hunger strike updates: Legislative hearing on Pelican Bay SHU tomorrow in Sacramento
August 22, 2011
The Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity coalition will hold a press conference Tuesday, Aug. 23, 11:00 a.m. at the California Capitol Building in Sacramento where families of prisoners, community members and activists from around California will converge to rally and participate …
Buy Black Wednesdays: What does it mean to be a born-again African?
July 1, 2011
First of all, let’s not get it twisted: You can be a born-again African and a born-again Christian at the same time! Being a born-again African has nothing to do with religion, other than religiously going out of your way to support Black people and Black businesses. Being a born again African means you realize that you and your people have been stripped of your land, language, culture, heritage and spirituality and you know it is your responsibility and delight to reclaim it for yourself and your kin.
Wanda’s Picks for July 2011
June 29, 2011
A number of trees have fallen in the forest this past month and we want to acknowledge the huge spaces their absence brings: Geronimo ji jaga Pratt, Black Panther, decorated veteran of multiple wars …
A West Oakland hero
March 10, 2011
Washington (Bob) Burnsis a retired pathologist. Unlike most retired doctors, he has spent the past 15 years trying to aid those who have been dealt a hand of poverty and desperation.
What we need is our 40 acres and a mule!
March 2, 2011
In 1910 there were over 1 million African-American farmers, and today there are fewer than 17,000. Now, an emerging movement is sweeping across urban areas to reclaim abandoned lots, under-serviced public parks and vacant lots to grow fresh food for the people.
‘Losing Just the Same’: Classic 1966 film on West Oakland
February 22, 2011
This documentary reflects on the lives and aspirations of a West Oakland family, “a story of people caught in a lifelong struggle between their hopes and their abilities and their discovery that no matter how hard they try they will be losing just the same.”
Survival Radio
January 31, 2011
We don’t need to be “given” a voice. We have a voice. What we don’t have is our own radio transmitters, television and radio broadcasts, and TV stations. PNN is the voices of people who are never heard.
AeroSoul 2: Urban Hieroglyphics
January 28, 2011
In honor of African History Month, the Bay Area Aerosol Heritage Society is proud to present AeroSoul 2011, which will kick off on Feb. 4 at the Joyce Gordon Gallery in Downtown Oakland and be followed by a month-long series of events showcasing some of the most cutting-edge, dynamic Black urban calligraphers in the world. Refa 1 is the event curator.
Bay Area Black Builders call on Black churches to build Black
January 23, 2011
On Saturday, Jan. 30, at 10 a.m., the Bay Area Black Builders plan to picket the Lord’s house. Beth Eden Church, a great church in the Black community, indicates that it has contracted with a White contractor apparently chosen by the lender, to build an addition.
We must help ourselves
January 12, 2011
How do we as a Black community build capacity in our own people? How do we learn to circulate our money in our own community? It is not just Beth Eden; it is all of us.
‘Mirrors in Every Corner’ by Chinaka Hodge, directed by Marc Bamuthi Joseph, at Intersection for the Arts through March 28
March 17, 2010
The characters’ stories in Chinaka Hodge’s debut as a playwright, “Mirrors in Every Corner,” capture a sense of tragedy lurking near all of us. From Rodney King to Oscar Grant, Loma Pieta to urban removal, one sits on the edge of her seat waiting for the wrecking ball to fall.
The Green Movement comes to inner-city West Oakland
November 21, 2009
With the economic depression setting in and the effects of global warming being seen all over the planet, people are having to find ways to employ themselves as well as create cost effective healthy, earth friendly alternatives to expensive fast food and cheap GMO products. Marcel Diallo, a longtime Oakland community activist and cultural worker turned real estate tycoon, thinks that he has one of the answers, the Village Bottoms Farm in West Oakland.
The Village Bottoms Open House: an interview Duane Deterville of the Village Bottoms Cultural District
October 26, 2009
Duane Deterville is a dedicated organizer in the Village Bottoms Cultural District in West Oakland and is the host of their Oct. 29 open house. The SF Bay View thinks that this open house is important because the Village Bottoms is a collective of Black business owners and homeowners who are working together to protect their property and institutions and to generate business. Listen to Duane in his own words …
The First Annual Mindfunk Public Art Festival: Meet the founder, visual artist Eesuu Orundide
October 14, 2009
Eesuu has been one of my favorite visual artists for the last six years that I have been aware of his work. I like the vibrant colors and the overall vibe that his work transmits. He has recently finished a new sculpture and has founded an annual art festival in West Oakland. It will sound better reading it if you hear it from Eesuu direct.
The Ghetto to Gaza Speaking Tour featuring Mutulu Olugbala aka M1 of dead prez
October 4, 2009
The first stop on the Ghetto to Gaza Speaking Tour was in Sacramento with the Hip Hop Congress at Capital Garage. The usual Wednesday event is their weekly open mic, but it was altered to feature M1’s experience in Cairo and Gaza. Then we went to East Oakland, San Francisco, Berkeley, West Oakland, San Jose, Santa Cruz and Sonoma.
Stealing public housing from Oakland’s poor
September 30, 2009
Currently, the OHA contracts with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to provide public housing to low-income households in Oakland and is reimbursed by HUD at around $500 per unit on a monthly basis. But under the new Section 8 model being promoted to end public housing, the OHA and their affiliates may be reimbursed by HUD for as much as $900 to $1,000 for the same rental units if the plan works out to their way of thinking. Unfortunately for the poor, this scheme results in the loss of Oakland’s desperately needed public housing units, and in the future public housing will be one less option for the homeless needing a place to call home.
Soul Food Co-op: an interview wit' co-owner Yasser
September 13, 2009
Right after the chattel slavery era, the great Marcus Mosiah Garvey taught our people all over the world the importance of providing for ourselves as well as the importance of being able to employ our own community. Today Garvey would be proud of ATL transplants Yasser and Vahid, two young adults who brought the Soul Food Co-op (grocery store) to West Oakland’s Village Bottoms Cultural District. We finally have a place, in the hood, where you could send your children to the store to get real fresh fruits and vegetables, without them having to see cigarette and alcohol ads.
Wanda’s Picks for September
September 1, 2009
Next month the most important item on my agenda is Maafa Commemoration Month to reflect on the legacy of slavery and how everyone benefited from this human rights travesty except those who did the work. We began Aug. 30 with a successful Maafa 2009: Hurricane Katrina Fundraiser and Reportback, thanks to all the poets and the visual artists who donated art for the silent auction and of course to Tess and Yeme, the proprietors of Shashamane Bar and Grill.
