Tag: North Richmond

RYSE debuts its third annual production at El Cerrito High School Performing Arts Theater on May 6 and 7. “Richmond Renaissance” is an original play written and performed by Richmond youth. Set in AnnaBelle’s, a Black-owned juke joint in 1940s North Richmond, Richmond Renaissance counters the often negative Richmond narrative of poverty and violence by highlighting the community’s wealthy cultural past as an epicenter for blues, jazz and zydeco.

Over 200 community members, activists, union members, transportation experts, family and friends flocked to Oakland’s New Parish for non-profit leader Lateefah Simon’s kick-off fundraiser for her 2016 campaign to join the BART Board of Directors. Despite running as a first-time candidate, Simon has already built a broad coalition that includes some of the Bay Area’s top elected officials and civic leaders. True to her reputation as a tireless community advocate, Simon spoke passionately about her personal connection to BART and her commitment to transit justice for working people.

Bay Area attorneys John Burris, Matthew Kumin and Patrick Goggin joined forces to file a lawsuit Wednesday on behalf of victims of the Chevron refinery explosion on Aug. 6. The resulting toxic plume released after a pipe failed in the troubled Crude Unit No. 4 covered areas in which thousands of residents live, work and play. More than 9,000 sought treatment after the fire. The lawsuit charges that Chevron was grossly negligent in handling an accident that, with proper safety measures and a timely response, could have been avoided.

Renay Jackson is the literary son of the timeless writers who were the first popular street-lit legends, Donald Goines and Iceberg Slim. Renay Jackson’s stories of ghetto street life are based right here in the Bay Area’s Black experience. This extremely talented author is also a publisher of six titles who teaches people in Oakland about self-publishing in workshops at libraries in Oakland throughout the year. The home of independent rap music is also quickly becoming the home of self-published lit.