Store
Fred T. Smith’s Celebration of Life is on Wednesday, July 20, 2-3 p.m., at the West Oakland Senior Center, 1724 Adeline St., Oakland, and 4-7 p.m. at Middle Harbor Shoreline Park, 2777 Middle Harbor Road, Oakland, Group Picnic Area. There will be food and music at the outdoor event.
by Wanda Sabir
Fred Tyrone Smith, known as Fred T., was born Jan. 20, 1945, in Toledo, Ohio, to Fred Smith and Grace (Smith). He was younger brother to Shirley, born a year earlier. He was also a father, grandfather, uncle and great uncle.
When one thinks about Race Men, Fred T. is the archetype. Fred would visit plantations where the slave quarters were intact. He also would hop on a bus and head for Allensworth. Quiet and fierce, Fred T. was the kind of guy you wanted as a friend. Affable, he knew lots of people and could call in favors the way others collect mileage points.
Towards the end of his life when he had debilitating illnesses, he owned his errors and forgave trespasses. He was a good guy who liked a good game of basketball, cherished his dred locs and made sure his soul was right with his lord before he went home May 12, 2022, 11:00 p.m.
Fred spoke fondly about his high school. He attended the esteemed St. Francis de Salle in Toledo. It was an all-boys Catholic school. After he convinced his parents he would work to pay his tuition, he had to travel over an hour each morning to get to the campus which was on the other side of the city. It was one of the best schools in Toledo and Fred loved it. In 1963, he graduated with honors and was recruited for Howard University, which he attended on scholarship.
Fortunately, the scholarship covered Fred’s classes, books and board. Unfortunately, it didn’t cover food. Fred jokingly spoke of having to eat ketchup soup when his dad couldn’t send him money and his funds ran out. His first roommate was Stokely Carmichael, later Kwame Ture. Fred said he never saw him that first year because Ture was so involved in the SNCC movement. Fred eventually left school to become a Freedom Rider too.
But not before completing his second year and rooming with Donny Hathaway. Donny, believe it or not, recruited Fred to sing his hits because at that time, the composer didn’t sing. In 1967, Fred joined his mother, Grace, at Merritt College in Oakland, where he became a member of the Soul Students and the Black Panther Party.
Sister Makinya had him run as her VP on an all-Black slate for Associated Students at Merritt in the fall of 1967. In spring 1968, he became president of Associated Students at Merritt College. The budget was huge, so Fred T. hosted a who’s who of Black intelligentsia. The partial list included Ralph Ellison, Langston Hughes – who died before he could attend; Arna Bontemps took his place – Alex Haley, H. Rap Brown (Min. Jamil Al-Amin), Kwame Ture (former roommate), Eldridge Cleaver and Drs. Nathan and Julia Hare.
There was a riot at Merritt College; Norvel Smith was the Associated Students president then. He and Fred stood outside the bookstore and begged students not to steal books – they weren’t successful. Fred loved a good book and owned many, especially books about Black history and culture.
As a Panther, Fred T. served on security detail and guarded Eldridge Cleaver. He’d later parlay this experience into his organizing skillset. Sister Makinya, Leon and Fred T. took the bus to one of the first Black Studies conferences in the country. Hosted by Maulana Ron Karenga, leader of US, it took place in Los Angeles.
Karenga gave Sister Makinya two bolts of green gabardine to make uniforms – to participate in Kwanzaa you had to be a member of US and practice Kawaida. She made Leon a dashiki. Karenga also gave Sister Makinya two pieces of paper that explained the Nguzo Saba with symbols and the seven principles.
Fred was a part of the first Community Kwanzaa on Dec. 26, 1967, hosted by Sister Makinya at her house on Stanford Street in Berkeley. While getting the word out, the Berkeley police took offense and kneed Fred in his testicles because he was hanging Kwanzaa posters in Berkeley.
Fred was able to bring this assault to the Berkeley City Council’s attention because Ron Dellums, newly elected to the council, put the issue on the agenda and Fred and others spoke. Before Dellums joined the council, Black people did not have a voice. The police did not like these Black people speaking up, but even they were not so bold as to use force after the meeting with so many witnesses.
Once he graduated from Merritt College, Fred T., Elvoyce Hooper and Rayford Bullock went to Loyola University – the three Black men left Black Merritt College and attended white Loyola. They all graduated from law school. Fred T. owned a bar too which was located in Venice Beach.
His interest then and throughout his life thereafter was housing and tenant rights, especially for Black elders, the disabled and the poor. He married while in Southern California and had a son, Showazi.
Fred T. kept working for the betterment of Black people through grassroots organizations.
When Fred left LA and returned to the Bay Area, he enrolled at UC Berkeley as an undergraduate in the architectural program under the auspices of rock star African American architect Kenneth Simmons. Simmons designed Dock of the Bay in Berkeley and mixed use buildings. Fred had a law degree, associate’s degrees, but not an undergraduate degree when he enrolled. Now he had both as a graduate of UC Berkeley’s renowned design program. He later worked for the City of Oakland in the City Planning Department.
Fred was always active in the community and was one of the founding members of the Coalition for West Oakland Revitalization. After the 1989 earthquake, the City of Oakland was looking to help residents buy property and start businesses. Empowerment Zones were a new catch phrase. The only problem was folks like Fred who knew where the skeletons were buried couldn’t get a paying job. All he could secure was a volunteer position.
Nonetheless, Fred T. kept working for the betterment of Black people through grassroots organizations. He ultimately wanted to become a good Black contractor. He took every class required. Fred was such a good student, he had about ten AA degrees in African American studies, real estate, math, science, electrical, contracting etc. He was head of the tutoring department at Laney while going to UC Berkeley. Fred liked to learn and he was brilliant.
During the last five years of his life, he was chairman of the Advisory Committee at the West Oakland Senior Center. Councilperson Larry Reid appointed Fred to serve on a Youth Delinquency Program. He was also on the Alameda County Steering Committee for Health and Wellness. Fred attended meetings from his hospital bed.
Fred T. is survived by his sister, Shirley, her children, Roger, Scott, Imani and Hoshi and his son, Showezi, and their children; his beloved, Linnett Saunders; friends, Darinxoso Oyamasela, Leon Williams, Elvoyce Hooper, Wanda Sabir, Kenneth Greene Jr., Tarika Lewis, Ustadi Kadiri, Sidney F. Walton, Robert Woods, Leo Bazile. Fred T. touched many people directly and through others. If you are one of those people whom he inspired, pass it along. May we all grow because Fred touched our lives. May Fred find peace and freedom, a freedom he knew tangentially while housed in Black male flesh in Oakland, a town he loved but a town that didn’t always love him back.
Fred T. Smith’s Celebration of Life is on Wednesday, July 20, 2-3 p.m., at the West Oakland Senior Center, 1724 Adeline St., Oakland, and 4-7 p.m. at Middle Harbor Shoreline Park, 2777 Middle Harbor Road, Oakland, Group Picnic Area. There will be food and music at the outdoor event.
Fred did not have insurance, so donations are appreciated. Please make checks or money orders out to Ms. Linnett Saunders, P.O. Box 30756, Oakland, CA 94604. Or donate via Venmo to @Fred-T-Memorial-Donations or via PayPal to linnettsaunderspeal@gmail.com.
Bay View Arts and Culture Editor Wanda Sabir can be reached at wanda@wandaspicks.com. Visit her website at www.wandaspicks.com throughout the month for updates to Wanda’s Picks, her blog, photos and Wanda’s Picks Radio. Her shows are streamed live Wednesdays and Fridays at 8 a.m., can be heard by phone at 347-237-4610 and are archived at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/wandas-picks.
